Children's Holiday Club in Muslim Area

A cross-section of OM Lifehope (UK) was represented at a holiday club put on by a community project in Birmingham, England. Along with a local team working in the project, the Lifehope Kids’N’Things team, the Outreach team and the Coventry Community team came together to help with 60 children that attended the club during the week.

The club took place 25-28 October in a Muslim area of Birmingham. The themes of "Be explorers", "Be yourself" and "Be thankful" were highlighted each day. Anna, one of the co-ordinators, said, "Through songs, dramas and stories we emphasised how [the children] were created by a loving God, that He will always be with them and that we can be thankful because of that." The children also engaged in crafts and learnt a memory verse each day.

For Alyssa, a worker helping out with the club, seeing Muslim children excited to learn Bible verses was especially meaningful. "It’s awesome to see children speaking words of truth," reported Alyssa. "Things like 'I am fearfully and wonderfully made' or 'Do not be afraid, I will be with you.'" She stressed that these are practical realities that children can take home with them and see in action in their day-to-day lives.

This is not the first time a holiday club like this has been held during a school break, but it is the first time that the entire programme has been crafted from scratch. The advantage of this lies in being able to create a programme that ideally suits the needs in the community. In an area where positive role models and positive messages are much-needed, the holiday club meets a need of engaging children with the truth of who God is and how He cares for them.

The holiday club, however, could not have happened without co-ordinated effort. Thanks to the participation of several different OM Lifehope teams, over 60 children were able to take part in the holiday club. OM Lifehope looks forward to more holiday clubs like this in the future.