The first week of the school holidays saw over 200 children coming together for the annual Council of Churches Holiday Club. The venue was the Baptist Church which was renamed the Stadium of light for the week. Led by Tim Blake (St Andrews’s Childrens Worker) and a team of people from all the churches, the children learnt in a lively and exciting atmosphere that Jesus is the light of the world. There was a lot of noise, including shouting, singing and some very messy games! The opportunity to learn memory verses and challenge the leaders with questions, some being extremely difficult to answer such as what is the tenth word in the bible made it very enjoyable.

As the week went on the children would ask and answer questions about what they had been taught. All of this teaching was leading to an opportunity to tell the children how Jesus could change their own lives. They learnt about the sacrifice that Jesus paid for each one of them on the cross and how this can effect their lives. Each child was able to take home a little booklet explaining to them about Jesus and how they could become a Christian. An opportunity was given for the children to put their hands up in to the air if they felt that they would like to make a commitment to God and Bibles were made available to any children that would find them helpful. This was a bold move by the Holiday Club committee, but I will never forget that a very clear message about Jesus was given to over 200 children in our village.

This year sees for the first time a follow up day being arranged for the Holiday Club children on August 30th which is a chance for the churches to build a bridge between holiday club and the activities that go on for children within the village churches. Please remember this event in prayer.

Please pray for the children and we praise God that some made commitments to follow Jesus and pray that they will be able to link up with one of the churches so that this commitment can be nurtured. Praise God for a fantastic week for the children and the helpers too!
Captain Louise Wood