YFC Calderdale News

This is a letter on behalf of a team of young people based around Churches in the Halifax area who have received an opportunity to promote a major tour featuring thebandwithnoname, LZ7 and Blush at The Victoria Theatre, Halifax on 20 May 2007.

The team comes under the banner of XV, working in partnership with representatives of The Pool, CICS (Christian Initiative in Calderdale Schools), and local churches. XV were instrumental in putting together a bowling night, in November, at the Electric Bowl, Halifax, that attracted over 200 young people, mainly from local schools.

The event will be a lead in and a promotion for Hope 2008, which is the initiative being championed nationwide through Soul Survivor, The Message and Youth for Christ.

'Hope 2008 is about providing resource and encouragement to motivate and
enable every church, every denomination and every person to reach the place where they live in the name of Jesus.

It will harness the commitment and compassion of those who do schools work, run seekers courses, those who pray for their communities or who work on social action projects. It will also provide outlets for those who know that God calls them to love their neighbour but just don't know where to start. It will rely on locally
organised initiatives but will benefit from nationally coordinated resources.'

The Hope Tour will be a major opportunity for partners to come on board from across Calderdale and neighbouring areas.

Preparation is at a very early stage. We are sending out this letter at the earliest opportunity to enable as many people as possible to have the opportunity now to participate at a core level.
Planning meetings have been scheduled on Mondays (19:30 - 22:00) for the next 10 weeks at the Kings Centre, Park Road, Halifax.

Key areas of involvement will be prayer, hosting, catering, stewarding, selling merchandise, stage hands for the bands, teams to pray on the day, people to meet and greet, administration, publicity. We want to particularly encourage youth leaders to work with us and involve their young people.

If you feel you can help in any way or just want to see what's going on, please do not hesitate to turn up on Monday evenings.

We are especially concerned about follow-up for this event. We want to
emphasise that this is about partnership. We expect in excess of 1200 people to attend, the vast majority being young people. At one level the event will be about high quality Christian entertainment. It will also be a showcase for Hope 2008. But we think the most important aspect will be the opportunity for many to make a
personal response of faith. This is a serious issue. On the night, we need to put in place a response team. We would like this to comprise representatives of many churches, including ministers and youth leaders. Heather Smith, who is a pastor at Halifax Central Church, has agreed to coordinate this. We wish to emphasise that we want to see young people received and discipled in their own
communities and local churches. This is a resource event. There will also be
opportunities through local schools work. In Calderdale, Tony Buck is working under CICS, with the support of volunteers. Tony is involved in a number of
initiatives including Christian Unions and lunch clubs.

The Pool is a resourcing body and will take on the financial responsibility. The projected costing is around £6300 before ticket sales. The Pool, and CICS, are Registered Charities. The event is endorsed by the local church.

Claire is representing the young people and is a member of the core team. Ralph Jennings is a Trustee of The Pool.

For further information please contact:
Claire Huddleston (07782114613), Heather Smith (07786963319),
or Ralph (ralph.jennings@blueyonder.co.uk)