Sum

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Blessing young people facing disadvantage with life-changing holidays full of fun, friendship and faith

Update

What a privilege it will be to share this great Christian truth with children and young people on all our Falcon holidays in the fast approaching summer season!

As Christians we know how lavishly we are loved by God. On Falcon holidays, we try to show children and young people a little of what it is liked to be loved so extravagantly through our words and actions. Some of the 8-18s come lacking in confidence, some from complex families and some from particularly difficult circumstances. The holidays are a wonderful opportunity for everyone to have fun together, hear about Jesus and receive quality attention from Falcon leaders.

Our prayer is that every young person goes home with a new awareness of their place in God’s kingdom as well as a collection of happy memories of fun, games and activities and a host of new friends.There will be joy and laughter all over the country in just a few weeks as the busy summer season gets underway. Thank you for standing alongside us in making Falcon holidays happen through prayerful support – we couldn’t do it without you.

Every blessing

Jane Stephenson Falcons Development Manager

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

Discover more at falcons.org.uk or call 0300 123 0780

Please contact us for extra copies of Falcons Update (or to unsubscribe from mailings).

CPAS Falcons, Sovereign Court One (Unit 3), Sir William Lyons Road, University of Warwick Science Park, COVENTRY CV4 7EZ T: 0300 123 0780 E: jstephenson@cpas.org.uk

Church Pastoral Aid Society Registered charity number 1007820 A company limited by guarantee Registered in England no 2673220 Registered office at address above.

Fun activities Team games and outings.

New friends Building relationships.

Meeting Jesus Knowing God’s love.

Creative crafts New gifts and skills.

Growing together Gaining confidence.

Joy and hope To last a lifetime.

Children’s names have been changed to protect their identities

‘I learnt

that God

cares about

me.’

‘God is the best.’

WE ♥ LEE ABBEY!

The 8-11s at Lee Abbey Falcon tell us what they loved about their week of fun in the sun on the North Devon coast.

‘When I

went on the zip

wire I screamed

so loud that I got a

certificate for it!’

‘My favourite thing was doing

crafts and I finally found out that I am

good at archery. Thank you, it was

fun!’

‘Jesus is my friend

and nobody is going to tell me

different.’

A Royal Reason to RejoiceWe were delighted to receive £2,500 towards Falcons from The Patron’s Fund, the charitable fund set up to acknowledge the work of the charitable organisations for which Her Majesty the Queen acts as a Patron, on the occasion of her 90th birthday.

‘Can we come

again next year?’

‘THANK YOU to churches and

individuals for the greatly needed prayer and financial support and THANK YOU to the kids – who are what it’s

all about!’ John Fryer, Overall

Leader

‘I don’t think we can quite put into words the experience of our first Falcon holiday. We have never been so amazed and humbled by a group of young people, or by what God can do through us if we follow his calling.

‘We wanted to reach new young people who had never heard about Jesus before. As a community and families worker for the Salvation Army, I [Dan] had various links through after school clubs and local organisations which we used to invite children and teenagers to come on Wydale. We had some young people come along from our church and several came to us through CAP (Christians Against Poverty) debt and refugee centres. We also had a link with TLG (The Education Charity). We were delighted to be fully booked with 25 young people!

‘As the majority of young people coming on Wydale had little or no experience of Christianity, we wanted to make sure we introduced them to Jesus in a relevant, sensitive way.

SAYING YES TO JESUS

‘Because it was all new to a lot of them, we decided to focus first on explaining who God is, and then later in the week ask them to think about what that means for them. We prayed and listened to God and felt he was saying it was important to offer the young people the chance to respond to the gospel.

‘There was ‘holiday club’ style teaching just for about an hour each day involving silly games and sketches, crafts, chatting in groups and lots of fun. Our theme for the week was ‘Under the sea’ so we used Bible passages involving water, from the Spirit of God hovering over the water in Genesis, to God rescuing Jonah to Jesus telling the wind and the waves to obey him.

‘We started with just one worship song and it went down so well we ended up adding more through the week. By the end, the young people knew five or six worship songs and we had a spirit-filled time of worship which was amazing!

Many youngsters on Falcons have little or no experience of Christianity. Dan and Anna Wood tell us how they introduced young people to Jesus on the first ever Wydale Falcon.

‘We had an outside speaker from a local youth charity give a gospel presentation later in the week, inviting the young people to respond. It was incredibly exciting to see 14 young people say “yes” to following Jesus, especially when so many of them started the week rejecting God or with little knowledge of him.

‘We saw God working in the young people in all sorts of ways – the behaviour and attitude of a couple of boys in particular changed dramatically. One girl who was not a Christian asked a leader to pray with her and we also had young people praying for one of our cooks who had a bad back.

‘It was wonderful to be able to give youngsters so many new and exciting experiences. Our trip to Flamingo Land was a huge highlight, particularly as many of the young people come from families with financial problems who wouldn’t normally be able to afford a trip to a theme park. We also had a day out in Scarborough at the Sea Life Centre and beach.

‘On site we played “Finding Nemo” which involved finding rubber sea creatures hidden in various places, fusketball (our own creation – half football, half basketball!) and other sports. We also had a campfire, complete with singing and toasted marshmallows.

‘We’re running Wydale again this summer and we’d love your prayers for us and our team as we share Jesus’ love with the 10-15 year olds. Thank you!’

‘It was incredibly exciting to see 14 young people say “yes” to following Jesus.’

Carroty Wood 1 takes place among the leafy woodlands of Kent. Sue Shrubb tells us what the 8-11s get up to.

‘We had a fantastic time last summer with Carroty Wood’s Got Talent, a campfire, ten pin bowling, Drusilla’s zoo and play park, barn dancing, guessing leaders from baby photos, lots of ice lollies and ice cream and of course crafts, games and swimming. One girl who’d never seen a bonfire before commented “This is a magical night!”

‘During the Seaside Rock meetings everyone really paid attention and we had the joy of six children making a commitment. Each night was a different part of Peter’s life told in imaginative ways. The children laughed at the daily drama, sang their socks off with our theme song (written by one of the leaders) and prayed for each other.

‘All the youngsters went home with a goodie bag, The Easter Poem book (all about Peter) a stick of rock and a signed t-shirt of everyone on camp. They also all had a certificate of excellence from things ranging from the best smile to pool volleyball champion.

‘This summer, our theme will be the jungle and the Bible teaching will be based on questions youngsters might ask and finding the answers. The questions will be “What does God look like?”, “How did God make people?”, “Who was Jesus’ dad – Joseph or God?”, “Why did Jesus have to die?”, “How did Jesus come back to life?” and “How do we know the Bible is true?” Should keep us leaders on our toes!’

Sue Shrubb, Overall Leader

FUN IN THE FOREST

We’d love you to join us in praying for the summer’s Falcon holidays as they happen.

SUMMER

Falcon Afloat23-27 July LEADERS: Ray and Liz Skudder

Asheldham23-26 July LEADERS: Alice Smith and Lucy Ramsay

Treginnis 125-30 July LEADERS: Jane Gillis, Ants Miles and Toria Moore

Perrott Hill 130 July-4 August LEADERS: Catherine Kendall, Jack Baker and Lorna Robinson

Oakwood31 July-4 August LEADER: Lydia Anderson

Treginnis 231 July–5 August LEADERS: Jane Gillis, Ants Miles and Toria Moore

Carroty Wood 25-12 August LEADERS: Kevin and Joy Johnson

Perrott Hill 26-11 August LEADERS: Lorna Robinson and Jack Baker

Treginnis 37-13 August LEADERS: Simon and Rachel Heathfield, Joe and Hannah Widdows and Louise Mann

Carroty Wood 112-19 August LEADER: Sue Shrubb

Lee Abbey13-18 August LEADER: John Fryer

Wydale 13-19 August LEADERS: Dan and Anna Wood

Dallam 14-19 August LEADER: Jon McCowen

Firewood20-26 August LEADERS: Naomi and Samuel Tunnicliffe Swanbourne Falcon20-26 August LEADERS: Steve Hood, Ann Clucas and Julie Batchelor Barnstondale27 August-2 Sept LEADER: Debbie Wilkinson

THANK YOU for your prayerful support.

Praying for

If you already support Falcons, or give the wonderful gift of your time through serving as a leader, THANK YOU.

If you received this update through the post, you will find a response form on the address cover sheet.

Falcon holidays are only possible with the financial support of churches and individuals who share our vision for blessing young people facing challenging circumstances with affordable, exciting, transformational holidays.

Falcon holidays are part of the ministry of CPAS

CPAS Falcons, Sovereign Court One (Unit 3), Sir William Lyons Road, University of Warwick Science Park, COVENTRY CV4 7EZ T: 0300 123 0780 (option 2) E: falcon@cpas.org.uk

Church Pastoral Aid Society Registered charity no 1007820 A company limited by guarantee Registered in England no 2673220 Registered office at above address

THE GIFT OF A HOLIDAY

falcons.org.uk

To give a gift to Falcons:

Please visit cpas.org.uk/falcons or contact us using the details below.

WYDALE

CARROTY WOODPERROTT HILL

FIREWOOD

OAKWOOD

SWANBOURNE

FALCON AFLOATTREGINNIS

BARNSTONDALE

DALLAM

LEE ABBEY

XLP (EASTER)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

ASHELDHAM