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Reach! Out through Kid's Clubs Kid's Club is an action packed, one or more day a week ministry that creatively introduces elementary aged children to Jesus Christ. Designed as an outreach program, it effectively reaches unchurched Baby Boomer and Generation X families. The year-round format includes Bible study, a meal or snack, recreation activities and/or crafts and a music time where the children learn songs to share with the total congregation during Sunday or Saturday night worship services. Children in kindergarten through sixth grade respond enthusiastically to these programs and often invite their friends to join them. Three goals of a Kid's Club are:
Jesus considered children very important. He was an advocate for children. The biblical passages Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16 and Luke 18:15-17, record how Jesus blessed, received and accepted little children. They also record how shocked the disciples were by Jesus' action. Reaching out to children was a radical act in Jesus' time. We are called today to reach out to children and their families in Jesus' name. One of the key strategies in reaching unchurched Baby Boomer (those persons born between 1946 and 1964) and Generation X (born between 1965 and 1985) families is offering this outreach ministry any day but Sunday! Robert Raikes began the first religious education program in 1780 on Sundays, because that was the one day of the week when children were not working. The challenge for growing churches today is to find the best time to reach unchurched children. It will be different in each community. In one small town, Friday night is best: parents drop off their children while they do their weekly grocery shopping. In an area of high unemployment Monday night is best. That is the only night the local boys and girls club does not serve dinner. The children come for a hot meal as well as Bible study. During the past twenty years, contemporary family life has changed. Children may live in families in which both parents work outside the home. For these families, Sunday is the only day to spend together. Children are also affected by divorce. Many children spend weekends with the non-custodial parent. These children are usually unable to participate consistently in Sunday church school activities. Kid's Club in an afternoon or early evening setting can provide alternative times when these children can meet and learn about Jesus. Twelve advantages to a Kid's Club weekday ministry: 1. KIDS Clubs provide time to make the Gospel fun "Can we do this again next week?" ask children after Vacation Bible School. A one or two-day-a- week Kid's Club held September through may is like a year-round Vacation Bible School. A typical Sunday school session does not have enough time to sing fund songs, share food or make seasonal crafts each week. In kid's Clubs, children are involved with active learning. With a 90-minute or 2 hour schedule, more fun activities can be included while teaching faith stories to children. 2. KIDS CLUBS help build positive relationships Many children come home to an empty house after school because parents or guardians work full- time jobs outside the home. These children unlock their doors with a key and then lock themselves inside. They get a snack, turn on the television, and sit down alone for one hour or more until an adult arrives home. Children do not have the time they need to build relationships with other children, and they do not have enough opportunities to spend time with adults. In a mobile society, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles no longer live as close to their families as they once did. Often families join a congregation and the next year are transferred elsewhere. These families do not have the support of a large extended family. Children need a time to build relationships with other children and adults. Kid's Clubs provide the time and space to build these relationships. 3. KIDS CLUBS have no dress code In most churches, Sunday's dress expectations are of a high level. Children come to Kid's Club in their favorite jeans or sweat suits. When staff members and volunteers dress casually, a more relaxed atmosphere for learning prevails. 4. KIDS CLUBS help your pastors and church staff to have positive relationships with children On a typical Sunday morning, the pastor may not be available to visit children's classes. She or he may teach a class or preach at another church or another service. During the week, the pastor and other church staff are available to visit and minister with the children. Sharing a snack or playing a game are simple ways a pastor can relate to the children. If your church has more than one person on its staff, the staff can make the Kid's Club a priority and visit the program each week. This setting offers an excellent opportunity to meet new families. 5. KIDS CLUBS help grow your youth music program All of the children who come to the Kid's Club are part of the music program. If you already have children's choir, the program expands the number of children participating. The emphasis should be placed on upbeat songs that allow the children's joy and faith to show. The choir should sing during worship once a month or at least every six weeks. If you have two or more services, be sure to have the choirs vary their schedule so that everyone in the church will have the opportunity to hear them. Children's music is a bridge that brings unchurched families to worship. Children's musicals will attract other children into the program and to the church. Use these musicals to teach faith and as a tool to have unchurched families attend your worship services. 6. KIDS CLUBS reach unchurched children (and their families!) The pastor or Kid's Club coordinator should contact all new families attending Kid's Club as well as non-member participants. A first day registration form, requesting church affiliation, is an excellent way to obtain this information. Invite them to attend the next service of worship when the children sing. A phone invitation to attend the group's talent nights or potluck celebrations makes these new families feel included and welcomed in your church. Many unchurched Baby Boomer and Generation X parents are looking for churches that have quality parents are looking for churches that have quality children's programs. They may have attended church as children and have vague recollections of Sunday School. Kid's Club is their re-entry point in the life of the church. They might first attend worship when their children sing. Recently, new members in several denominations have indicated they joined congregations because of their contact with Kid's Clubs. Children in the program will bring their friends to the Kid's Club and these friends may invite others to come with them. Get information (name, address, telephone number) on these families and contact them after the program. pass this information on to the pastor or evangelism task force of your congregation. Even if your congregation does not now have a large number of children, it will experience renewed ministry with many new children because of your work in promoting and planning your Kid's Club. 7. KIDS CLUBS have entry level tasks for parents and other adults One way to incorporate people into the life of a congregation is through small group participation. The group offers a place for people to learn the informal stories of a congregation and to find their place within it. Workers that help with Kid's club find themselves in such a new small group. Working with a weekday program is less threatening to old and new members than teaching a Sunday School Class. Volunteers help with snacks, play music, supervise games, help with crafts, listen to children, and discover new ways of studying the Bible. The relaxed setting develops staff friendships as a result of this ministry with children. Often non-members who work with the group will join the congregation. Let new parents know that they are welcome to help whenever they have time. 8. KIDS CLUBS grow the youth program. Many churches have found it difficult to start or to sustain a youth ministry program. One advantage of a midweek program is that as children grow older, they will feel at home in the congregation and in the youth group. Children who are 8 years old today will be 13 in five years and ready for a youth program. If children have participated in a program that stresses faith, fun and fellowship, they will eagerly participate as youth. Nurturing the group from a younger age offers the potential for effective Christian education throughout their lifetime. Several congregations have also discovered that graduates of Kid's Clubs want to come back and help. The potential for creating new midweek youth activities exists with a group of youth who are in the pattern of attending one or two afternoons or evenings a week. Bible Study, share groups, youth choir, and youth helpers for Kid's Club can all be added to midweek activities with these graduates. This is especially important for youth who are in divorced home situations. Many of them are leaving one parent's home and returning to their other parent's home on Sunday evenings just at the time most youth groups are meeting. 9. KIDS CLUBS give more opportunities for men to participate A divorced non-custodial father commented after helping at Kid's Club one week: "This gives me my midweek high." In many congregations, men are conspicuously absent as role models in Christian education. Christian education is for all people - men, women, and children. Children need to see men of all ages participating in the congregation's ministries. Men's ministry in Kid's Clubs may be listening to a child talk about school, supervising recreation time, directing a choir, serving snacks, or guiding craft or study times. Creative approaches to participation may attract men to the Kid's Club setting. Shift workers can attend two out of three weeks. Some people may have flexible work hours and can switch their lunch hour form noon to 4 p.m. Children will perceive older men as foster grandfathers. Once men accept an invitation to reach out to children who may never have known a loving father or grandfather, their faith response and growth is fantastic. A balanced community of faith should help children connect with faithful men and women. A Kid's club ministry fosters adult-child relationship and provides opportunities for men to participate in Christian education. 10. KIDS CLUBS provide congregation-family table time. Children need to talk about what is happening in their lives. Central to the Kid's Club is a meal or snack time. With the frenetic pace of life today, many families say that they are unable to share two meals a week together. Children do not have the opportunity to talk with adults about what is happening in their lives. At Kid's Clubs, an adult always eats with the children. The adult leader asks the children about school, homework, hobbies, and faith. The adult leaders can help children to remember what they learned the week before. Leaders need to spend this time talking with the children, not with other adults in the kitchen. Eating together is an important part of the setting. The meal or snack time should never be rushed. Leaders need to involved all of the children in conversations at the table. 11. KIDS CLUBS allow single parent participation. Time and money take a terrible toll on most single parents. Single parents look for activities in which they can participate. After a Kid's Club program, one new single mother exclaimed, "This church has become my family!" The Kid's Club provided her and her child the opportunity to experience love and acceptance during a difficult time in their lives. Programs held in the late aftern0oon or early evening allow single parents to participate after work. Recently, a number of non-custodial fathers who have visitation one evening a week, have begun to bring their children and serve as leaders in their local Kid's Club. These programs reach out to single parent families and encourage them to have an active part in the faith community. 12. KIDS CLUBS involve more boys Many children and adult choirs have difficulty recruiting male singers. Often boys start dropping out of church school sessions around the 3rd and 4th grades. When a program includes recreation, snack, crafts, music, and Bible study, more boys are attracted to this active learning Christian education. Kid's Club choirs singing on Sunday morning often include 30-50 percent boys. Steps to Starting Your Kid's Club Ministry Planning is a way to move from a hope or dream about starting a Kid's Club to actually beginning one in your congregation and community. Pray to God about starting this new ministry. Continue praying daily through the entire planning process. God calls us to be partners in ministry with children. Once your club has started, have each staff member pray for one child weekly. This will make a tremendous difference in the quality of your program. Tell the story. Are parents supported and nurtured as they carry out their responsibility to care for and nurture all facets of their children's lives? Let everyone in your congregation know about the needs of children. Share the vision of this outreach ministry to unchurched families with groups in your congregation. Parent's Day out programs, Sunday School classes, retired groups, women's fellowships, men's group, scouts, bible Study classes etc., all can be told the dream and asked for help in making it a reality. When many in your congregation learn about the vision, the excitement and enthusiasm for this ministry will grow! Do not underestimate the importance of this step! Select a task force. Invite adults of all ages who love children (men and women), education committee members, youth representatives, evangelism committee chair or members, pastor and/or other paid staff, and children's ministry coordinator. In addition, include someone from the church council (property committee), worship committee (children will be singing in worship), finance committee (include this ministry in the budget), and church service organizations (they can help). Go to the congregation council for approval to plan this new ministry. The task force will meet several times and plan the following logistics: Meeting day(s), time, and place for the Kid's Club ministry; transportation (a key issue in children's ministry); fees (should we charge?) NOTE: An outreach ministry is most effective when no fees are charged. Families are more inclined to invite others to the program when a financial contribution is not requested; curriculum (see recommended resources at the end of this piece.); recruiting volunteers (who will invite? And how will we ask for volunteers? an ideal ratio is one adult for every five to seven children.): publicity start your publicity no later than four weeks before the opening date for your Kid's Club (see the resource list at the end of this article about where to get creative publicity and promotion ideas). Train volunteers at an orientation meeting. Share schedules, first day registration plan and discipline policy. Covenant to pray for each other and with the children. Tell the volunteers where supplies can be found and who they can go to for help. Celebrate your first day with the children! Plan an easy schedule, special snack and extra volunteers to make that first day go smoothly. Have a quick meeting with your Kids club leaders/volunteers afterward to work out possible problems before your next gathering. POSSIBLE PROGRAM FORMATS Afternoon Schedule 3:45 - 4:00 p.m. Recreation & "early bird" Evening Schedule Models Across the Country Kid's Clubs exist in congregations across the United States and Puerto Rico. They are a part of congregational life and ministry in inner-city, ethnic, rural, small town, and suburban congregations. All follow the basic four part format (activities, bible study, music and snack), but there are many variations in how these are implemented. The ministries which have been most effective in reaching unchurched families have stressed music, with children singing in worship on a regular basis combined with a 20-30 minute musical once or twice a year. Music has provided the bridge to bringing parents and friends into the congregation for the first time. Some of these families have not been to church for 20 years. Critical to their returning a second and third time is the way they are greeted before and after the worship service. An intentional guest-follow-up program is necessary to encourage the continuing worship participation of those who have been unchurched! Suggested Curriculum Resources Good News Bearers (Augsburg Youth and Family Institute) provides a complete kit for a year-round after school ministry for third through fifth graders. The curriculum includes guidelines, program, drama, large activities, musicals, leadership training, newsletters, and more for this ministry. Order Good News Bearers (Code 34-100-3193) from Augsburg/Fortress Publishers, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209 or call: 1-800-3284648 Close Encounters Ministries provides a Kid's Clubs curriculum which is Christ-centers and learning center oriented. The six-year plan includes 12-week sessions on the Old Testament, New Testament and relationships. To order the Close Encounters Kid's Clubs: 911 N. Center St., Corry, PA 16407; Phone (814) 655-9071. Pathways to Discovery (Abingdon Press) is a complete 40-week kit including curriculum, music, craft ideas and mission projects. Pathways to Discovery can be purchased from: Cokesbury, PO Box 801, Nashville, TN 37202-0801; Phone 1-800-672-1789. Writer: Miriam
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