Holiday Bible Club

An introduction by Ray Richardson

For the past 21 years, the church has held a Summer Holiday Bible Club. It has been held in the last week of the school holidays, and is especially designed for children between 5 and 11 years of age.

Each year, the whole of Peel is ‘leafleted’, and children are invited to come along. An article is usually published in the local newspaper as well. This year though the HBC will be held during Easter and leaflets are going into the Clothworkers Primary School in Peel.

The Holiday Club commences on the Monday morning at 10am, through till 12pm. The children enjoy singing choruses and hearing stories from the Bible. They are ‘channelled’ into a ‘red’ or ‘blue’ team as they arrive, and stay in the same team all week.

This is because there is a Quiz based on the Bible story, and it is ‘Reds’ against the ‘Blues.’

At half time there is juice and biscuits, followed by another story — this time not from the Bible, but with strong moral principles involved. After this there is an activity time, where the children make things relating to the Bible Story.

On the last day, of the Holiday Club,  all the activity items made by the children are judged, and prizes awarded for the best items. The Prize Giving is held on the Friday evening, and the children bring parents and sometimes Grandparents, to see them receive their prizes.

A short Quiz is held, and the parents are often amazed to see how well their children have remembered the things they have learned during the week. Possibly some of the teachers at the Clothworkers would be amazed too!   

There are two main reasons for the Holiday Club. The first is to teach children the truth about Jesus as revealed in the Scriptures. The second is to encourage children to come to the Sunday School. Sadly these days, virtually anything has replaced Sunday School. Consequently most children grow up with little or no spiritual direction or guidance in their lives. There are so many other activities for children, and our own Sunday School has seen a steady decline over the past 15 – 20 years. 

We encourage children who do not attend a good one already, to come to ours so that there is a continuation of the teaching received at the Holiday Bible Club. Many may not come, but at least for one week we have the privilege of teaching some of Peel’s children, the simple stories in the Bible.