Evangelistic children s work: Starting an evangelistic children s clubSue Doggett |
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It’s six o’clock on Friday evening, half an hour before the children arrive. The adult leadership team are gathering together to chat through the coming session and to pray. Individual children are named; matters for celebration or concern raised and dealt with. There is a sense of commitment and focus among the six or so people sitting in a circle on the floor. In the quietness, there is expectancy and openness to all God can do when we are willing to give. Half an hour later, the sound of children’s voices bubbles through the door. Our hearts are warmed as the children arrive, eager to join in the icebreaker game that we, the leaders, started before the first child came into the room. Coats are quickly abandoned. No one is left on the sidelines; all are included and welcomed. Friday Knights has begun! ...................... Nowadays, children who are part of the worshipping community tend to come from families in which the adults themselves attend Sunday worship. For this reason, whether you have a large number of children in your church, or just a select few, there will always be children living in the wider community who are unaware of the good news of the gospel. These children may be friends of the children who attend your church, but they will have no mechanism by which they can become involved. Starting an evangelistic club for the children who do attend church to invite their non-church friends to will provide the opportunity to offer fun and friendship in a non-threatening environment. Starting an evangelistic club from scratch can be both daunting and exciting. There is much to decide upon and to prepare. Things to think about include:
Any church-based work involving children needs to be owned by the whole church, so it is important to take your proposal to the PCC, church council or governing body of your church. This will give you the opportunity to find out whether there are any funds available for the work, to ensure that the congregation is kept informed, to identity who to approach to form the core team and to ensure that child protection guidelines and good practice are implemented at all levels. Everyone working with children should hold a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) enhanced level certificate of disclosure. For more information, contact CRB via their website: www.crb.gov.uk Once the PCC or governing body has given its approval, you will need to find the right venue. If your church has a hall available for your use, this will probably mean that you will not need to pay a hire charge. However, it is worth considering other options, such as a local school or community hall. Although funds will be needed to hire non-church premises, there are benefits to be gained from having the club in a community building with which the non-church children are familiar, and the link may also help to build relationships between your church and local school or community. Choosing the day and time for the club is never easy! There will be no one evening on which everyone is available. Monday is often too early in the week; Friday too late. But midweek is often the time uniformed organisations and activities such as dance or gym clubs take place. Therefore, you will need to base your decision on availability of your venue and leaders and the maximum potential availability of the children, based on your research into other activities taking place in your locality that the children are likely to attend. The timing of the club will depend to some extent on your locality. For example, one hour on a Friday evening is manageable if the children live nearby. Two hours on a Tuesday evening, or a Saturday afternoon may be more practical if you live in a rural area and children need to travel some distance to attend. A start time of, say, 6.30 pm will give the children (and their parents or carers) time to get home from school and have something to eat beforehand. A finish time of no later than 8.00 pm will mean that the children will not be overtired towards the end of the session. You may need to adjust this depending on the age of your children. Once you have identified a venue and time for the club, you will be ready to approach possible helpers. If you already have children’s work taking place in your church, then you may have a team of people that you can draw on to form the leadership base. The number of adults needed for the core team will depend on the number of children attending the club. The ratio should be no less than two adults to every four children for 5-7s and no less than two adults to every eight children for 7-11s. Everyone will need a CRB enhanced level certificate of disclosure (see above). It is important that the core team is committed week-by-week. Their commitment will send a strong message to the children that they are valued and will also serve to build relations between the leaders and the children. If you do not already have a core team, an article about the plans to start a club in the church notices will alert the congregation to the need, but you may also wish to approach possible leaders personally and chat through the requirements and commitment needed for the club to run smoothly. Although no leader should feel that they cannot escape from the commitment, there should be a desire to devote the time and provide continuity for the children. Alongside the core team, you will need to draw up a rota of willing helpers prepared to commit to the club one or two evenings per term. Those willing to help may include parents or carers of the children attending the club, older siblings, or young adults involved in other areas of the church. The larger the core team and the greater the list of helpers, the less the onus will fall on any one individual. That said, it is important to have at least two leaders who are willing to take overall responsibility for the club. It is also important to remember that the team is just that: a team. Building the team and ensuring that each person feels valued and needed is essential in order to keep the leaders focused and motivated. Arriving at the session half an hour before the children to chat and pray helps to build a sense of unity and commitment, both to the work and to God. Holding a team meeting at least once a term will provide everyone with the opportunity to have a say in the forthcoming programme, to voice any concerns, to allocate roles and identify gaps if people are away over the course of the term, as well as giving time for general chatter and relationship building – especially if food is involved! Once the leadership team has been formed and the helper rota drawn up, it is time to launch the club! You will need to publicise the event well in advance of the starting date. If you live in an area served by one or more large primary schools, it is advisable not to give an open invitation to all the children in the age group – you are likely to be overwhelmed! If you already have children in your church, a better way would be to start by asking the children wanting to come to the club to invite a friend who doesn’t come to church. Produce simple invitations, giving the details of the club, so that the children have something to give their friends as a reminder to come along. Some clubs give an incentive to the children who bring a friend and a small, inexpensive prize would make the children feel valued. However, financial incentives may give out the wrong message and should not be adopted without very careful consideration. There are many resources to help you build a programme for each session, but do remember that an evangelistic club is not the same thing as a Sunday school or Junior Church. Those children who have no experience of church will have little or no Bible knowledge and may feel lost or out of their depth if knowledge is assumed. It is good to decide on an overall biblical theme for each half term, but the emphasis should be placed on games, some of which can be linked to the overall biblical theme, rather than on teaching. That way, Bible stories can be introduced informally to non-church children without making them feel that they have been duped into coming to Sunday school. As well as Christian resources, there are many general books that contain ideas for children’s games and activities. Your local library should stock a wide range. When planning your session, you will need to work out a basic framework. A suitable structure for a session lasting one hour would be:
The leaders should start the icebreaker game before the children arrive, so that each child joins in as soon as he or she enters the room. This will provide action and a sense of excitement for the children and help those who are less confident to feel included right from the start. Once all the children have arrived, the session can then be started with a welcome and reminder of club rules to make sure that they respect one another and ask a leader to sort out any disagreement or problem, rather than trying to resolve it for themselves. This will ensure that individual children don’t get out of hand in the excitement of the moment, especially if you have a mixture of ages. For the same reason, a signal should be chosen, such as a leader raising a hand, or blowing a whistle, to bring the children to attention if necessary. The final rule should be ‘Have fun!’. It is preferable that the leaders join in with the games. This will help to bond the children with the adults and give a sense of oneness. However, at least one adult should remain on the outside of the game to spot any problems and to see fair play. Each game should last for no more than ten minutes. With older children, winners may be given small prizes or sweets. However, don’t forget to check your parental consent form for food allergies if sweets are on offer. The teaching part of the session should comprise a simple Bible story linking into the overall theme. This part of the session gives the children a chance to sit down after the energy of the games, but you will need to use creative storytelling (for some creative approaches, see under 'Storytelling' in the Ideas section of our website) to ensure that the teaching doesn’t cause a ‘dip’ in the programme. If you plan to hold your session for longer than one hour, a craft activity could also be provided to link into the theme. The conclusion should comprise a reminder for the children to invite their friends to the club, a reminder of the time and date of next session (for example, same time next week) and a short prayer. You will need to have a register as a record of attendance and provide parental consent form for parents or carers to sign, allowing their children to attend the club and giving contact and personal details, such as allergies, medication and special needs. It is advisable also to have a signing in and out form for the parents or carers to fill in showing who will be bringing and collecting their child each week, so that you know who to expect to arrive for each child at the end of the session. For purposes of child protection, all information about the children should be placed in safekeeping by the overall leader and not released to other personnel. Finally, you will find a wealth of ideas for games and themes for your club programme in the wide range of Barnabas books and in the Ideas section of this website. |
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