‘Ventures and Falcons welcomed 3,533 young people on 77 holidays...’
Since 1836, CPAS (Church Pastoral Aid Society) has been a recognised evangelical mission agency within the Church of England. Our brief has always been to enable local churches to be more effective in mission and evangelism. We have recently been piloting a new form of outreach for young people, based around Church of England primary schools. School Ventures provide weekend residential opportunities for pupils to enjoy fun activities as well as the chance to read the Bible and study the life of Jesus and the claims of the Christian faith. We have plans over the next five years to roll this out nationwide – and would value your prayerful support for this ambitious programme.
Our long-established programme of Ventures and Falcons welcomed 3,533 young people on 77 holidays during July and August, with one child commenting: ‘I wanted to continue reading the Bible after devotions because I am seeing that God is what I am searching for.’
CPAS is also the Church of England’s largest patron – with a patronage interest in nearly 700 parishes, we are in effect appointing a vicar somewhere in the country every single week.
Another major area of our work is the training of ordained and lay leaders. Each year around 3,000 leaders receive direct training input from CPAS. Research suggests that the challenges of Christian leadership are ever increasing given the ‘drift’ of contemporary culture away from any Christian moorings. Please pray that CPAS will be able to step up to the challenge of enabling the Church to be effectively evangelistic and to nurture both confidence and courage into the hearts of every disciple.
John Dunnett