ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.—While Kids4Truth Clubs is helping leaders interact with students long-distance during the coronavirus outbreak, some churches have been ahead of the curve. Here is how two churches have maintained personal contact with their students and kept on with Kids4Truth Clubs while everyone must stay home.
Faith Baptist Church’s Kids4Truth Clubs director, Tim Little, leads an online challenge for clubbers in Cambridge, Iowa.
When Faith Baptist Church in Cambridge, Iowa, had to cancel church, they held a prayer meeting via Zoom*, with Kids4Truth Clubs afterward. Director Tim Little says, “The kids LOVED it. I was shocked.”
Using Zoom’s video-conferencing software, 20 children from five families participated. Tim read Scripture and encouraged the children to “not be fearful of their circumstances, but to fear the Lord just like Peter and John.”
“The children were so excited to see one another,” Tim says. “I think the technology was a bit of a novelty and added to the excitement.” Other leaders, too, remarked about how excited the children were to see one another, but Tim thinks the novelty of it all “will die off pretty quickly.” So he and his team are discussing ways to make it better.
They are still in the “idea development” stage, he says. “Most homes can only create one meeting at a time, so we are considering creating two groups: Discoverers/Developers and Detectives/Defenders. We want our future meetings geared around the TruthBooks, not just a Bible lesson.” One of the leaders has suggested facilitating special music* through Zoom, continuing to give the kids opportunities to talk to one another, and giving them fun assignments, such as writing or drawing a note to send to a senior saint or calling a friend to share a Bible verse they’ve memorized.
Meanwhile, Colonial Hills Baptist Church of Indianapolis, Ind., also held its first online club. Kids4Truth Clubs Director Andy Montgomery sent a Facebook invitation for students to attend, which included a Zoom Direct Link and instructions for signing in, as well as a link for running Zoom from home.
Reporting on how the first meeting went, Andy says, “It’s still messy right now, but we’re working hard to make the best of the situation.” He, too, plans to continue holding Kids4Truth Clubs online during the pandemic.
For him, one of the big strengths of doing Kids4Truth online is that “the parents got to be with their kids during Kids4Truth. So, at the end of the night, when I encourage unsaved kids to accept Christ, I tell them to ask Mom and Dad about it right away. That’s a great aspect of this.”
Andy took a normal schedule and tweaked it for online use, showing a PowerPoint presentation for Message Time and a fun video for Game Time. With two options, he’s still deciding how to handle Memorize It: (1) have parents upload videos of their kids memorizing to a shared Google drive, or (2) have small group Zoom meetings, where kids and leaders meet for their memorizing time.
Other churches are considering the Marco Polo app*. The children say their verses, and their teachers reply. “So far the kids have loved it,” reports a church that’s already using the app.
RBP’s Kids4Truth Clubs Program Specialist Marrena Ralph says, “We love that churches are teaching their Kids4Truth Clubs online—feel free to do that. You are welcome to use any of the resources from the EquipU site, including but not limited to coloring and craft sheets.”
This is part of a series on Kids4Truth Clubs at home.
*RBP does not endorse or recommend any particular online tool, such as Zoom or Marco Polo. Please consult any online tool’s terms of service as well as privacy policies. Always follow copyright laws when streaming content. For information regarding music, you may choose to CCLI as they offer a streaming license.
