The Church Club is the older equivalent of the Explorer Club and is aimed at young people who are in the first three years of secondary school. We work on an invitation only basis because we have to have a limit of 20 at a meeting. However, if young people attend Bible Class or the Christian Union at the local secondary school (run by church members), they receive an automatic invitation.
The meeting is held every Thursday during term time from 7.45pm to 9.00pm and there is a small fee of 30p per week, to cover the costs of craft materials and prizes (young people may also bring 25p for tuck if they wish). Sometime it is necessary to start earlier or finish later, but these are rare occasions.
Our purpose in holding the Church Club is to share the Gospel - the facts behind Christianity, becoming a Christian and living as a Christian, with the young people who attend, as well a giving them a safe social meeting time.
Each week we alternate between a Bible lesson followed by a games session and a quiz (based on the previous week's lesson) followed by a craft session.
To open each meeting we sing a chorus or two and then bring the meeting to God in prayer. Next for about 15 to 20 minutes, we have the teaching from the Bible or a quiz. The teaching is in the form of a mixture of recounting Bible passages and explaining them, personal examples and testimonies. The quizzes can be in a variety of forms such as:- a question & answer session, crosswords, word searches, written quizzes and puzzles. This takes us to approximately 8.15pm and we may move through from the lobby to the sports hall for our games or craft sessions. The games are either very energetic team-based games, or quieter board games. The crafts are simple but effective, and usually very imaginative. When this is finished at around 8.40pm, we go into a smaller room for tuck, which consists of crisps and small sweets. All members are given a free drink, and no profit is made from the sale of the sweets. After we have closed in prayer, all the young people are either picked up by parents or taken to their homes by the Church Club leaders.
The behaviour of the vast majority of the young people who attend is excellent, but sometimes it is our sad duty to refer to our disciplinary procedure. We use stars on a star chart to reward good behaviour, and a progressive warning system to deal with bad behaviour. The chart is totalled twice a year, and prizes are given according to the number of stars earned.
Occasionally we break from our usual routine and take all the young people on an outing. This can be to any number of places, including a public area to play outdoor games, a local hall with outdoor facilities, or ten-pin bowling. Transport is provided by the club leaders.
At present we have 4 Church Club leaders, who are all full church members. We often put more time into preparation than the length of the meeting itself. We are more than rewarded, however, when the young people we see week by week come to know Christ as their personal Saviour. Your prayers for our meeting would be greatly appreciated.