The HOPE 2007 tour is coming to Halifax. LZ7, thebandwithnoname & Blush will be appearing live at the Victoria Theatre on Sunday 20^th May. The event, which promises to be a great event for young people from Calderdale and further a field is designed to inspire young people for the hope 2008 initiative. Tickets are available from The Victoria theatre box office, 01422 351158 and are priced at £6.00 each. This fee is purely to cover costs. If you require any further information about this event or HOPE 2008, contact me or visit www.hope08.com

Please encourage your young people to attend this event and why not come along and support it yourself.

CICS has been heavily involved in organising and promoting the above event over the last month or so. We will have delivered 10,000 flyers into the secondary schools by the end of this week to secondary schools in the district. We will also be involved in some follow up youth work on a weekly basis after the event.

The day to day schools work continues to bear fruit, quite literally in one of the lunchtime clubs. We are looking at the fruits of the spirit and using this topic as an excuse to sample some of the more exotic fruits available at the local supermarket. The other groups continue to see good numbers in attendance and we have started a new group at The Crossley Heath School on Friday lunchtimes with a good number in attendance at the first session last week.

We continue to offer schools the delivery of assemblies and lessons, We are currently delivering assemblies at Rastrick High School and we are also booked in to return there later this term as well as delivering another week of assemblies at Brooksbank towards the end of term.

We are all excited at CICS by the possibility of employing a 2^nd schools worker. Please pray as we near the interview date, 19^th May that God will guide us to the right person for this role.

If you require any more information about the work of CICS, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Blessings,

Tony Buck

Imagine a group of four teenagers, three grandparents, a teacher, four parents and a school librarian in a frontroom. What have you got??

In my experience it could be a prayer-cell for a local school. For Sharnbrook Upper School, Bedfordshire, our group of four to thirteen people of all ages met once a term. We came from a wide range of churches, but with one aim - to pray for and support our local High School. The teenagers were members of the school Christian group, and they told us how the group was doing, and the challenges they were facing. The teacher was the member of staff who sponsored the group, and he or she would share any special needs of the school community at that time. The rest of us had varied connections with the school: our children or grandchildren were or had been there, or it was our place of work, or we were local church members with the school on our heart.

Over the years it was exciting to see how God answered our prayers. On one occasion we provided refreshments for a special event which the school Christian group organised to share their faith with their friends. Other contributions included being invited in to talk about our life and faith, or to be on an 'Any Questions?' panel.

My experience in Bedford leads me to hope for such prayer cells in Calderdale. Could you set up or join such a group in your area to support your High School? Each group I knew of was different, making their own arrangements to suit their members. But we all shared the same longing and excitement - to see God at work and blessing our local school and its members of all ages. If you think you'd like to be involved, why not talk to others in your area, or phone Mark Stephenson (01484 714148) to find out what might already be going on in your part of Calderdale. Who knows what God will do as we pray?

Update on Schools Work

Assemblies
We have been able to present another week of assemblies at Rastrick High School the week commencing 29th January. We looked at the subject of making excuses and encouraged students to become slow at making excuses and quick to take responsibility for their own actions.

The week commencing 5th February we were invited to lead a week of assemblies at The Brooksbank School, Elland. We used the 'Puma/Adidas' story to look at the topic of friendship. This was an excellent opportunity for the profile of CICS to be significantly raised in this school as we were also delivering RE lessons in the school this week. We were very well received in the school, who showed us great hospitality throughout the week.

Forthcoming Assemblies:

• Rastrick Assemblies w/c 19th March
• Crossley Heath - We will be leading the year 9,10 & 11 Assemblies in the w/c 5th March
• Rock Solid will be taking Easter Assemblies at Brighouse High School w/c 26th March
• We are continuing to try to raise awareness with schools that we are able and willing to lead assemblies.

Lessons
'What is a Christian? - We spent 2 weeks at Brooksbank School delivering this session to 10 year 7 classes. The students really enjoyed this participative lesson and I'm sure there will be further openings for us in this school. We are currently in the process of delivering this session to 8 year 7 classes at Hipperholme & Lightcliffe High School.

Christians and Poverty - We have been asked to give some input to a 2 hour session on the subject of poverty for a year 10 group at Brooksbank. Comic Relief is just 2 days after this session. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate what Christians believe about the outworking of their faith.

Morality - We have also been asked to take a year 11 session at Brooksbank on the subject of moral decision making. We will look at the Christian perspective on this issue.

Faith Day - We will also be having discussions with the head of 6th form at this school with a view to CICS having some kind of input at their 6th form faith day.

Lunch Clubs
The lunch clubs that are running include:

• Holy Trinity - one on Monday and one on Wednesday. Tony tends to lead one and Heather leads the other. Monday's group continues to be very well attended and cannot be run unless both Heather and Tony are present. We have recently taken the decision to run a youth alpha course with this group. Whilst the numbers have initially dropped we feel that those who are still attending are gaining more from the group.
• Calder High School - led by James (vicar at Daphne's Church) - Tony will be working on attending this more frequently over the next two terms. This is difficult to attend unless cover can be found for the Monday group at Holy Trinity.
• Hipperholme and Lightcliffe - Both of these groups have experienced a decline in numbers recently. Please pray that we will be able to continue the work at this school.
• Brighouse - Lorna and Steve Bowers run this club and invite Tony to lead a session occasionally.
• Rastrick - on Friday. Tony gets to this as often as possible. It is led by Mark Stephenson and John Bouckley. We will be working through the 10 Commandments with this group until the Easter holidays.
• North Halifax Grammar - Praise God for answers to pray with regards to getting involved in this group. There is already a core group of 6-8 'churched' young people attending this group. We are working towards running a youth alpha course at the school with the intention of the young people inviting their friends o attend.
• Brooksbank - We will be launching a CU at Brooksbank on Thursday 8th March. The school have been really helpful in the setting up of this group supplying a room, helping with the publicity and a Christian member of staff is willing to come in on her day off to assist with the group.
  

Update Re: Other Schools

• Crossley Heath - As detailed above we have been booked to lead assemblies here. We have also been given the green light in terms of running a lunchtime club. Tony is waiting for David Sharpe to get in touch to finalise the details of this group. Tony will make sure he speaks to David when he is in the school this week.
• Sowerby Bridge - Tony is trying to contact the RE teacher he met at the school when he had a tour recently. There is potential for a church visit and helping out with the RE lessons at the school in the future. We already have a volunteer in place to help to run a CU and a couple of members of staff have approached me about helping to get a group going.

Training for Volunteers
Scripture Union held a training day for Children's & Youth Workers at Oakes Baptist Church, Huddersfield on Saturday 24th February. Tony has been involved in the planning and promoting of this event. He lead two seminars at the event, one was age specific: working with 14-18's and the other was reaching young people beyond the church - exploring church links. The whole day was well received by the 58 people that booked and attended. Bob Hartman was excellent and the other seminars were well received and feedback from those who attended suggests they were useful for their ministry.

After liaising with the trust I offered places to some of our volunteers with CICS offering to pay their booking fee. Unfortunately only one of our volunteers was able to take the offer and attend the training day. He (Sam who helps at Rastrick's Rock Solid) found the training day very useful.

The overall take up for the day was less than anticipated and Scripture Union has made a £187.00 financial loss.

3. Church Presentations

Tony has arranged visits to the following churches;
18th Mar - Brighouse Evangelical Youth Service
4th May - St. Matthew's Men's Group (Northowram)
17th June - St. Andrew's

We are also waiting to confirm dates with Christ Church, Pellon & 'The New Beginnings Centre'

Tony was also booked in at short notice to speak at a recent joint baptismal service held at Halifax Elim Church. This was a joint service with Halifax Central Church. 9 people in total were baptised with 3 of them being young people who go to Holy Trinity. There first real contact with Christianity was through attending the CU at Holy Trinity. This was an awesome evening.

We also had the opportunity recently to promote our work at The King's Church. This was very well received by the church who was encouraged to hear about the work we are involved in.

4. Other Events
XV - God is really moving in this area. I'm a little out of the loop as I've missed the last few planning meetings. There has been a wonderful core group established containing a diverse mix of people who are united by their desire to serve young people in this area.

The first XV youth congregation will be held at The King's Church on the 20th April.

As I'm sure you are all aware we are hosting the HOPE 2007 tour with appearances form LZ7, thebandwithnoname & Blush at The Victoria Theatre on the 20th May. We aim to be instrumental in the publicising of this event. We need to sell in excess of 1100 tickets to young people in this district and beyond.

X:sport unfortunately it is not feasible to run an event this year. However, Tony will look at the possibility of being involved in the event running in Bradford 23rd - 25th July. There may also be opportunity to offer places to young people that Tony has regular contact with in Calderdale.

5. Links with SU
Su Training Event - Mentioned above

SU Holiday - The en:gage holiday was a real success with 25 young people attending the holiday. I was apprehensive about the holiday before hand because of the age group. I found that I adjusted very well to the age group and felt that I was able to contribute a great deal to the team. This was great experience for me of an SU holiday and it would be great to be involved in a similar holiday in the future that is attended by young people from some of the CU's that we run!

The work of CICS continues to steadily grow and new opportunities seem to be arising o a regular basis. I believe we currently offer a great deal to the schools and there is real opportunity for our work to expand further. It is important at this stage that we are careful about the extra work we take on. We must be protective over the quality of the work we deliver and focus on maintaining quality in this season. Please pray as we seek to follow God's will for this work.

"What a team", says Percy

I've followed CHURCHDALE UNITED all my life, and they never learn", grumbled Percy as he made his lonely way home from the ground. "All they ever do is defend and they'll never win that way. It'll be another relegation." Very few people bothered to support the team, and they were mainly pensioners. Indeed, young graffiti artists had ridiculed the team so persistently that the name boards showed 'CRUTCHDALE UNTIED'. That evening Percy searched out his 50 year old copy of "How to play football", put it in an envelope with a suitable comment and posted it to the Directors.

Well, I'd forgotten", said the Chairman as he read the ancient booklet, "The aim is to score goals. We should be attacking the other goal, not just waiting for the ball in our penalty area. We need an attacking formation, practise till we're match fit, and plan for a new strategy. Our lot have been putting all their time and ingenuity into arguing in the dressing room. But first we must certainly find some attacking players or forwards as this booklet calls them."

The Directors were convinced by this and dug deep to restructure the team. With two forwards going for goals and the others supplying and supporting them, CHURCHDALE began to make headway. No longer UNTIED but UNITED advancing.

Matthew 9. The sight of the crowds moved Jesus to pity; they were like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless. He said to his disciples, "The crop is heavy but the labourers too few; you must ask the owner to send labourers to bring in the harvest".

Do you know?
How many schools in Calderdale serve secondary age pupils? - 12 or 15 or 19
How many secondary pupils are in these schools? - 5000, 10000 or 15000
How do you eat an elephant?!!

Like eating an elephant, our single CICS worker has tackled a portion at a time, of the 19 schools and 15000 scholars. He has made a considerable contribution already in assemblies, lessons and clubs as this and previous copies of Inform indicate.

Schools and churches are learning what CICS can offer, and our reputation has become established as a reliable and professional organisation.

But look at the numbers! The Trustees always realised that at least two workers will be essential if CICS is to offer help in schools from Todmorden to Brighouse. We have had 27 months experience to refine our structures. We are deeply grateful for and strengthened by the growing prayer and financial support, and this gives us the confidence to aim to employ TWO workers from September 2007, a target which we are calling CICS Second Goal.