The easiest thing to do would have been to give up. In the face of Melbourne’s extraordinary lockdown, running a Kid’s Club in 2020 should have been just too hard. But while the Lilydale Kids Club team could not see the way ahead immediately, they decided to give it a go.
Kids Club has been on the church’s calendar for eleven consecutive years, with more kids coming each year to hear Bible stories, play games, do craft and make lifetime memories of Church. How could we still connect with kids in 2020? Determined to figure out a way to make the impossible possible, the brainstorming began – via Zoom of course!
And so the idea of ‘Kids Club in a Box’ was born. Clearly it would have to be virtual, but it had to be interactive too!
Last year we saw the best attendance at Kids Club in its history, averaging over 100 kids daily. We wondered would families still want to be involved with an online program after two terms of remote learning or if zoom fatigue was actually a thing! And importantly, how would collaborative preparation occur when we couldn’t physically collaborate? The questions and doubts were significant. The reasons for not going ahead were many!
The team set out to create something new and different, willing to work hard and to try something different, even if it did not end up working well, rather than just giving up.
We created a new format, the usual five-day program plus Sabbath becoming three days online plus Sabbath. Special permission was sought from the publishers of the ROAR VBS that we based the program on and we ordered the VBS kit, but it sat somewhere on the docks in Melbourne for more than three months, finally arriving a week before Kids Club began. Fortunately, helpful collaborators from interstate came to the rescue.
A drama group reworked the script and using Zoom and recording on phones, the drama was recorded in six individual homes, then Kaelen Woodward had the job of splicing together editing it all into the story of Joseph. To ensure that people faced the right direction as they recorded, a lego set was created and between Rosie Croft and Kaelen, the precise instructions were passed on to create an amazing drama.
The Lilydale Teens, Youth Pastoral Workers and Kids Club team were also recorded leading out in
different parts of the program.
Each day’s theme fit perfectly with lockdown. When life is unfair, God is Good. When life is scary, God is Good. When life is sad, God is Good. And on Sabbath the final theme was When life changes, God is Good.
Considering the possibility of a higher attendance than last year, the team created 120 packages. Everything had to be procured locally as the usual pipeline for overseas material was unreliable, The Signs Publishing Company kindly donated boxes but with click and collect or delivery and the 5km rule, filling them was a whole new level of challenge, making the process an act of faith in itself!
With two weeks to go 20 bookings had been made. The church was asked to pray along with the Kids Club team. Advertising had gone out via word of mouth, Edinburgh College, and paid Facebook advertising. One week out, 119 bookings were confirmed!
We were humbled and grateful.
Then the number of bookings rose to 136! Frantic behind the scenes work and a loaves and fishes scenario saw sixteen more boxes filled.
Contents included a paper bag for each day filled with items for Craft, Games, Imagination Station and Snacks. Two carefully chosen gift books were added for the parents, as well as books, postcards and bandaids for the kids. The boxes were delivered directly to homes. And as even more people wanted to join, they were given a DIY list of required resources so they could still participate from home.
Each program ran for about an hour and a half on YouTube. A private Facebook group enabled parents to post pictures of excited kids receiving and opening their boxes, then participating through the week in the activities.
Almost sixty kids were not from Adventist homes, with almost thirty of them having no previous connection to any church, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. What an awesome opportunity to be able to serve the community in this way during this difficult time.
Rosie Croft and IntraVic
