Friday Club 2009 Term Report
By the time you read this, Friday Club will have finished its programme for the 2008/09 year and will, God willing, recommence in September after the summer holidays. It has been a tiring but good year as we have seen numbers steadily rising from 15+ to up to 40 children some weeks.
We usually have around 35 children coming to the Cloughleigh Community Centre each Friday from 6.30 – 7.30 (although they seem to arrive at the door wanting to come in as soon as they see the leaders arriving, which could be before 6pm!). They range in age from 3-14 and nearly all the kids come from the estate.
Each week we try to have time for a short craft and games which they always love! Over recent weeks we have divided the ages so the older ones get to do more energetic games without fear of injury to little ones!
We start each Friday with singing which they do very enthusiastically and they love competing “boys against girls” as to who can sing the best/loudest! We have covered teaching on the 10 commandments over recent weeks and hope to use some new ideas next year to make the teaching more applicable to where these children are at, (so we need God’s wisdom). We want to start covering topics that they have to deal with on a daily basis and also to take every opportunity to share the simplicity of the Gospel message. In many ways this work is very different to Sunday school work.
We are very thankful to God for a great team of leaders and helpers and especially over recent weeks we have been challenged (as a group) by God. Firstly about the importance of persistent, honest prayer for the work we are doing and the children we are seeking to reach with God’s love and secondly His message of Hope and Salvation.
There is such a need for God’s love to be shown to these kids and without the Holy Spirit opening their minds and ears and hearts, how will they understand? Please pray with us for this work and I would encourage you to visit the Church Blog to get updates on what is happening throughout the year .
In June a few of the club leaders had a chance to meet with Joe Donnelly from inner city Dublin who has been running a kids club for the last 15 years there. It was a great opportunity for us to get ideas and he challenged us to look at what Goddothe future, not just at where we are now. It was very encouraging to hear what God has been doing in their area and it reminded us that Our God is a God of miracles and He is at work! We look forward to praying and planning for 09/10.
