Kidz Klub

[Paul Daley]

We are launching our Kidz Klub at the start of March. What have people found to be the positives and negatives of this model of childrens work. What do you consider really important ?

[Alison]

I have been running a once a month kidsclub on a Friday night for about 16 months now. We have built it up by inviting the school friends of our own church children plus word of mouth. I sent out an invitation to all Junior age children who attend our local school (about 120 children) but interestingly the greatest response came from families with whom we already had contacts through our parent & Toddler group, people who we were friendly with at school, etc.
Our club runs for an hour and a half and includes craft, team games, food and a God spot. We keep them busy, each section lasting about 20 mins so that no one has time to get bored or cause trouble!
We invite the children along to our Funday Sunday event which runs about 1-2 weeks after the club and allows parents to drop their children at a children's service which includes worship, teaching, games and craft. This seems to work well and our numbers at these Sunday events are gradually rising. We are trying to complement these Sunday mornings for the children with a family lunch, picnic or barbeque which involves church and visiting families.
Good luck with the launch of your club, I hope it goes well!

[Dave Sunman]

Hi,

I've been helping in a Kidz Klub at Tower Hamlets Community Church in East London since it started last October. Our usual format starts with a game and maybe a couple of songs as the children arrive. We then go through the rules, memory verses (Last weeks and current) and do a few more songs. We then hand over to the drama team who act out that week's drama including 3-4 games (some messy) for the children to get involved with. Then, after a drink of water we have a Bible story and object lesson/application. We close with the colouring competition prizes and a prayer. Since October we have seen the club grow from 18 kids to 43. In particular we are starting to see the benefits of the home visits (dropping off the colouring competition) as relationships build with the families.

One of our struggles has been getting consistent attendance from the leaders. We have a lot of helpers but it's hard to know who is coming on any given week. Another area that we have been a bit weak on is in our story telling. We are getting some training on some of these aspects and a group have visited the church in Liverpool to get ideas from them.

I guess the other difficulty in our club is in getting a clear idea of where the children are with God. We have a mix of church children (from a variety of churches) and unchurched. Because I go to a different church I don't know where these children are at.

The great joy is seeing the excitement on the children as they come into the club.

God bless you as you start up your club.

[Peter Shields]

I'm really surprised by what passes as a "Kidz Klub". It used to be quite a distinctive model but now it seems to be a title that anyone gives to any sort of children's ministry. Really surprised that Liverpool haven't done more to protect the "brand".

I think the best idea of the model comes from reading the Grove Books "Kidz Klubs: The Alpha of Children's Evangelism", by Philip Clark & Geoff Pearson. Or of course, THE essential read is "Whose Child is This" by Bill Wilson.

From my perspective the distinctives are:
1) Home visiting ... if you don't visit the children at home, don't call it Kidz Klub
2) Sacrificial commitment ... if you and your team aren't going to commit to a long term week-in, week-out level of involvement in the children's lives, don't call yourself a Kidz Klub
3) Evangelistic ... if the vast majority of your children aren't from completely outside the churches existing orbit, don't call yourself a Kidz Klub
4) Strong Biblical Teaching ... if the program doesn't have a significant element of relevant, topical, uncompromising Biblical teaching every week, don't call yourself a Kidz Klub.

Things that I don't think are relevant ...
The venue, the style of the program (i.e. panto, what sort of games, etc), transporting them in, the day or the time, the logo.