Holiday Clubs in churches

After School Weekly Clubs in churches

3 Day After School Clubs in churches

1 Day After School Club using Primary School Hall

Holiday Clubs in churches

Registration

Children come in after school with their mothers from 3:45 pm for opening at 4:00 pm and they line up in front of the four registration tables.

Laid out on tables are 4 different coloured registration sheets, with adults registering the children, by recording their name, age and address, and collecting $4.00 per child per night.

Orange team
Yellow team
Blue team
Green team

Children will receive a safety pin and name tag in their team colour with a stapled pocket to receive the good behaviour point cards that will be handed out that night.
When a child adds up 100 points over a number of nights, the child will be rewarded with a dip from the treasure box.

Suggestions:

Use black felt pens with a wide nib to write the CHRISTIAN NAME in large letters 1" high and the SURNAME in smaller letters. This is so you can call the child by his Christian name at any time looking at his clearly visible name tag. Children love you calling them by name.
Pin through the top of the name tag, through the shirt and back through the tag, so the name will not turn back to front.
As the new children arrive on the first night, divide them equally among the four teams, just as they are queued up, so you end up with equal numbers in the teams, with boys and girls of all ages all mixed in together.

Opening Game

While children are arriving, conduct a game of "POISON BALL" out on the grass, so that children who have their name tags on, are occupied, while other children are arriving. It will be an advertiser for passing children. A visible group of children playing an active game will attract others. As soon as most of the children are registered, and only a few late comers are still coming in, announce that everyone is to go into the church and sit in the seats at the front.

Chorus Singing in the Church

10 minutes

All adults and children come into the church. The chorus leader calls for quietness and announces that points will be given for good singing and the points can be put in the pockets of the name tags. It is most important to have three or four enthusiastic adults up the front who can sing loudly and do the actions. Other leaders should also be going up and down handing out points praising the children for their good singing. Have loud choruses but follow with quieter ones where children can sing beautifully and worshipfully.
Both adults and children are picked up by the beautiful singing, and we often see a special anointing by the Holy Spirit, and the spiritual tone of the Kids Club is set from that moment on. Strangely enough, it is the deep choruses that praise the name of Jesus, that the children really love.
Children for Christ produce 1000 hand coloured choruses each year that sell for $5.00 each.

Note: To keep good order hand out point cards all the time during the singing.

Games Session

20 minutes

Children's games are very important in the early stages of a club night as they involve plenty of running and get rid of a lot of energy. This will enable the children to sit quietly and placidly for a long period in the church for the STORY TIME - WORSHIP period that follows.

How to Explain the Game

It is essential that you explain the game in the church after the CHORUS SINGING. The children are sitting up and are in good order. Make sure you explain the game visually. Children take in 50% of what they see, 10% of what they hear.After the last chorus ask for quietness and explain visually the game to be played. It is wise to use the A3 sized visualised Game Book (120 games) produced by Children for Christ called "GAMES, GAMES, GAMES", price $22.
Explain the games quietly and clearly using the visuals, and explain how the teams should be formed up outside.
Be enthusiastic, make the game sound exciting so that the children will look forward in anticipation.

Make sure the adults are listening as well, otherwise they won't know how the game is to be played.

Announce always that points will be given to the best team line to go out.

Moving Out to the Games Area

First ask the ORANGE TEAM to stand up and then stand in a straight line down the centre aisle of the church. Give the first child a flag to carry. Call out an uncle or auntie with an orange name tag to take the team out in an orderly line. Then have the other teams go out one by one. Make a big thing of this and clap each team all the way out. Children have always loved things done in good order.

The best team to go out is rewarded by each child getting a point.

Games are best conducted on a grassed area in the church grounds or a short walk to the local park. Wet weather is a nuisance and then games are conducted in the church hall.

The games area is already prepared with stackable chairs used to mark out goals and corners, and flags are used to mark out on the ground where you want the individual members to stand.

Under the directions of the Games Leader, the designated uncles and aunties take their teams out, ready for the games to start.

These are their teams and they cheer their children on.

Children really respond to enthusiastic and encouraging adults. With children divided into 4 teams, it is possible to run 2 games at once, if the number of children is large. If the club is small, ORANGE and YELLOW teams can be combined and GREEN and BLUE teams combined. If time permits sometimes two games can be played one after the other. After the GAMES, when the children are sufficiently worn out, you can announce, "All inside the church, the first ones sitting up will get point cards!" This gets a very quick change over to the worship area. Or you can have an orderly team by team entry into the church behind their flags.

Worship Session, Story Time

50 minutes

Start the worship session with praise choruses. Singing attracts children to come in quickly from the games in case they might be missing something. The children come in from an energetic games session, warmed up, tired physically, and glad to sit down and have a rest. We would suggest that you sit them down in two blocks of chairs, an aisle on either side and an aisle down the centre. (The typical church is ideal for this and children get used to coming into a church building. In later years churches will not be remembered just for christenings, weddings and funerals.)

Leaders hand out point cards for: good singing, good behaviour, quietness, and answering questions.

Immediately, the children are in a disciplined situation, are quiet and will be able to assimilate what is to follow. DO NOT hand out point cards while the story is being told as this causes distractions.

Insist on perfect quietness while the story is being told. The story teller should speak in a quiet voice, seriously, and with feeling. Have two adults sitting at the front on either side of the church to pick out the quietest and best listener on their side of the church during the story. Announce to the children that they will give:
4 points to the best
3 points to the second best
2 points to the third best
1 point to the fourth best
Have events move quickly through the worship session.

All of the following can be included in a children's worship session or story time.

SINGING 10 minutes
SERIAL STORY 10 minutes or a selection from MEMORY WORK 8-10 minutes
MEMORY VERSE REVIEW 4-6 minutes (children speaking out verses previously learnt)
Games session to divide the worship session.
SINGING 5 minutes
MAIN STORY 10-15 minutes

At the end of the second story, there can often be a challenge
for commitment in some area, either salvation, consecration,
repentance, or in some area of growth.
If you are using 2 stories, we usually have the games session in between.
Have the children come out for prayer at the front of the church
and have some of your leaders designated to pray with them.
The rest can move out row by row for the evening meal.

Meal Time

30 minutes

While the WORSHIP SESSION in the church is proceeding, some leaders are serving out the two
course meal in the church hall. The leaders have added up the exact number of children and
adults after registration and have placed an order by phone to the local Take Away (fish and chips shop).

The local Take Aways are very cooperative, as we provide good weekly business. A car is sent down just
10 minutes before the end of the worship session to collect the box of chips and the box of nuggets,
and the meal is served out very quickly, piping hot on the paper plates, already out on the tables in the hall.

First Course (paper plate) Favourite menu (80c per child)	2 chicken nuggets and chips or Party pie (and tomato sauce) and chips or 1 fish finger and chips or Fish cocktail and chips or Very small pizza slice and chips
Second Course (paper plate and plastic spoon) (20c per child)	For sweets - always jelly and ice cream (changing the colour of the jelly to give variety and using a variety of ice creams) Drink - cordial (in plastic cups) Plastic table cloths (all of same colour) Paper plates (throw away - no washing up) Plastic spoons and clear plastic cups)

They tidy up their table after the meal, and when finished, go back into the church for another couple
of choruses while the slow eaters are finishing off their jelly and ice cream.

Craft Time

45 minutes

When all the children are in the church, the craft is explained.
The CRAFT DIRECTOR goes through the steps of construction for
each of the models being used that night.
A sample model made up in stages of construction would be an
excellent visual aid. Usually two different models are offered each night, one aimed for boys and the other for girls.
The children then form a line for each model down the centre aisle of the church.

The CRAFT DIRECTOR then divides the children into groups of eight, and gives each of his craft adult leaders a
finished model and two craft packs with enough for eight children. These craft leaders take their eight children
back to the hall where the meal was eaten.

The tables are now clear except for two saucers of aquadhere wood glue and some
pairs of scissors.   He opens the craft pack and reads out the enclosed instructions,
and is responsible for his eight children to get their models finished.
Usually the children are so motivated, as this is the part they have been waiting for.
The adults' help is greatly needed and a real bond develops between children and
adults as the struggle to make the models ensues. There is a real sense of achievement
and a beautiful model is usually the end result.
Here are some photos of craft that can be made.

End of the Evening

When the parents start arriving a few minutes early,
invite them in and encourage them to help their child.
They are a great help in getting the models finished.
This is a wonderful time when parents start to share in your work,
and a real relationship starts to develop with them as well.
Parents really appreciate the care and concern we show,
and the beautiful craft work done by their children.
Quite a few parents will come early and give you a hand with the craft.
Giving a child 15 points for bringing a parent to help is a real incentive.

The children hand back their name tags at the registration tables and
go home with their parents, while we add up under their points and
record the number for each child on the registration cards.

3 Day After School Kids' Clubs

We would really like to run an After School Children's Christian Mission in your church.
We specialise in running 3 Day After School Clubs Monday to Wednesday or Wednesday
to Friday in your own church from 3:30 - 5:30 pm. We have worked in this type of
after school club in 350 churches in NSW. We are evangelical and the gospel is preached.

It won't cost you anything.
(You can give a donation if you like.)
We do the advertising in the schools for you.
It requires a minimum of helpers from your church.
(Older folk register the children and help the children assemble craft packs.)
We run the whole program for you.
(Second to Scripture Union, our organisation are the best known organisation for
running children's clubs and missions in NSW.)