HOLIDAY CLUB MINISTRY

Holiday Bible clubs have an important place within the ministry of the local church as they are an opportunity to reach children, many un-churched, with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

1. THE PLANNING FOR A HOLIDAY CLUB
Planning for a holiday club needs to begin at least six weeks before the club. The following is a recommended strategy for organising a holiday club:

A. SET GOALS
Determine what you are hoping to achieve, ie. to reach out to children and to teach them about Jesus. Evangelism and Bible teaching are important goals to adopt.

B. ESTABLISH DATES AND TIMES
The club can take place at any time that children will be available to attend. Decide on a holiday time and select a week, which is a good length of time, beginning on the Monday and running it daily, from 9am to 12:30am, until the Friday.

C. DESIGN THE ORGANISATION
An effective holiday club cannot be run by one individual. A team ministry is essential if the mission is to succeed. The leader should try to anticipate how many children can be expected. Roughly one worker is needed for every 8 to 10 children.

Portfolios For a Holiday Club Ministry:
* Team Director
* Music and Worship Director
* Registration and Counselling Co-ordinator
* Refreshment Co-ordinator
* Games Director
* Devotional Activities Co-ordinator
* Competition Director
* Two Team Leaders
* Scorer

The Organisation of a Holiday Club Ministry:

D. PREPARE A PLANNING LIST
To ensure that the planning is done most efficiently, make a list of tasks to be completed before the club. Delegate the execution of the tasks to other individuals who are willing and able to assist, but remember the responsibility of oversight is never delegated, so supervise this stage carefully.

Task Planning List for Holiday Club Ministry:
* Prepare club theme
* Prepare club programme
* Prepare and implement worker training
* Select club workers
* Secure permission for facilities
* Prepare club advertising pamphlets
* Prepare club banners, competition charts, etc.
* Collect necessary equipment and prizes
* Arrange for refreshments

E. RECRUIT AND TRAIN LEADERS
Having determined how many workers are needed, the task of the leader is now to recruit the workers and provide them with training. Teenagers are not automatically geared to relate to children, so will need to be specifically trained for ministry to children. Most of the material needed for the training is located in this manual.

A Suggested Weekend Training Programme:

FRIDAY (6pm-9pm)
Introduction/Welcome/Sharing
Prayer/Worship
Allocation to Tasks/Portfolios
Seminar 1: COUNSELLING (8pm-9pm)

SATURDAY (8am-8pm)
Prayer/Worship
Seminar 2: WORSHIP (9am-10am)
Tea
Seminar 3: OUTDOOR GAMES (11am-12am)
Lunch
Sport Activity (2pm-4pm)
Seminar 4: TALKS/GROUPS (4pm-5pm)
Supper
Seminar 5: DEVOTIONAL ACTIVITIES (6am-7pm)
Seminar 6: DISCIPLINE (7am-8pm)

SUNDAY (11am-3pm)
Church Service (9am-11am)
Seminar 7: THE PROGRAMME (11am-12am)
Lunch
Seminar 8: COMPETITIONS (1pm-2pm)
Wrap up (2pm-3pm)
Evening Commissioning service

2. THE STRUCTURE OF A HOLIDAY CLUB

A Typical Holiday Club Day:
08:00am PREPARATION - Discuss Programme/Prayer
09:00am REGISTRATION/MEMORY VERSES/GAMES
09:10am WORSHIP
09:30am OUTDOOR GAMES
10:45am REFRESHMENTS
11:00am DEVOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
12:00am MESSAGE
12:15pm GROUP DISCUSSION
12:25pm CLOSING
13:00pm LUNCH/EVALUATION/PREPARATION (Leaders)

Within this general framework you can introduce variety to ensure that the attention of the children is kept.

3. THE CURRICULUM FOR HOLIDAY CLUB
There are resources available for Holiday club’s. However it is best to gather a group of creative junior youth workers together and work out a concept and theme for the holiday club. From there help in various books and resources, appropriate for the age group being dealt with, can be sought. Here are three simple concepts that I have developed and used during the past year. Hopefully they will stimulate you to design you own club concept.

THEME: THE KING’S CLUB
Day 1: Saul The King who Lost it (Sin)
Day 2: David The King who Blew it (Sorry)
Day 3: Solomon The King who Sought it (Search)
Day 4: Josiah The King who Found it (Solution)
Day 5: Jesus The King who Solved it (Saviour)

THEME: THE HEROES OF THE FAITH (Hebrews 11)
Day 1: The Champion is a Worshipper Awesome Abel
Day 2: The Champion is a Walker Energetic Enoch
Day 3: The Champion is a Witnesser Nautical Noah

Day 4: The Champion is a Winner Amazing Abraham
Day 5: The Champion is a Warrior Mighty Moses

THEME: KOZMIK KIDS
Day 1: The Creation of the Cosmos (Creation/Perfection)
Day 2: The Collapse of the Cosmos (Fall/Destruction)
Day 3: The Commands for the Cosmos (Law/Guidance)
Day 4: The Commander of the Cosmos (Jesus/Deliverance)
Day 5: The Re-Creation of the Cosmos (Heaven/Restoration)

4. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A HOLIDAY CLUB
Once the advertising has been done, the material prepared and all the equipment collected, the mission is on the road. One of the most important parts of the club is the registration. Make sure registration is handled with great care from the very first morning, as the follow up of children will depend on the names and addresses gathered during these daily times of registration. The form below can be used on each day to record the necessary particulars of each child.

Apart from the gathering of the names for follow up, the competition director needs some record of attendance and indication of whether the children have brought their Bibles, a friend and learnt their memory verse. The following chart has been developed to assist with the allocation of points for each team. After Day 1 the names of the children can be written in alphabetical order onto this form.

5. THE EVALUATION OF HOLIDAY CLUB
During and after the holiday club, the leader should do thorough evaluation by surveying the children, leaders, parents, etc. In fact anyone who is able to give constructive feedback concerning the programme should be approached and quizzed as to their assessment of the mission. This will help the implementation of another club at a later stage. The evaluation results should be written out and stored for later reference.

6. CREATIVE IDEAS FOR HOLIDAY CLUBS

A. MEMORY VERSES RELATED TO THEME
Faith Heroes: 1 John 1:7; Mark 12:30; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Hebrews 4:12.
King’s Club: Romans 6:23; 1 John 1:9; Matthew 6:33; Psalm 119:105; John 3:16.

B. RECOGNITION OF NEW CHILDREN
At the start of each day’s programme ask those who brought a friend to stand with their friend and give each a marshmallow. Let regulars cheer the new children in.

C. POSTMAN PAT
Appoint one of the youth workers to act as a postman, and collect letters which the children write to the leaders (and to each other if they wish). The leaders should write a reply which the postman returns at the end of the next day’s programme. This is an important ministry and a vital way to relate to the children.

D. CLOSING PROGRAMME
Develop a final programme to which you invite the parents of the children. This could be on the Friday night at the close of the week, or a special Sunday morning service at the local church. Involve the children in the programme, letting them sing or repeat memory verses. This will bring un-churched parents under the influence of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

E. CAN-STACKING CONTEST
During the mission warn the children that there will be a can stacking contest on one of the days and they have to provide cans - only cold drink cans are allowed. They compete as teams and see who can build the highest stack of cans.