Backyard Bible Club
For the past year, Keith and I have been getting to know some of the kids in our neighborhood. They’ve helped in the garden, they’ve taken “piano lessons,” they’ve chatted with us on our evening walks, and they’ve played with Lydia. We wanted an opportunity to teach them about God’s love. Many of them go to summer camps during the day, so they weren’t able to attend VBS at our church. We decided to host a Backyard Bible Club for them each evening last week.
We received materials and encouragement from our children’s department at church. Since Lydia’s bedtime is pretty early in the evening, we knew we would need some additional help. Two teenagers whose parents are in our small group at church agreed to lead the story time, songs, and crafts.
The teenagers taught the kids a song in which they spelled out “JESUS” on letter at a time with their bodies.
One of the Bible verses for the week was written on this beach ball. As each child caught the ball, he or she said the next phrase in the verse.
This game was similar. Each heart had a phrase from a Bible verse written on it. The kids had to put themselves in order.
Oops, how did this picture get in here? Lydia actually snoozed away during most of the time the kids were here. We had a monitor with us outside so we could hear her if she cried. She only cried once the entire week.
An important skill we taught these kids was how to use a Bible on their own. We spent the last portion of each evening looking up Bible verses, reading them, and discussing them.
Our neighbor looks at her Bible.
A teen helper works with a neighborhood boy on his Bible reading.
Our nephew Mason attended the club.
Our nephew Christian attended the club and also led the games at the beginning of each evening. The favorite game was Tuesday’s sponge relays.
On Thursday, the kids learned about the ABC’s of salvation. ABC is an acronym for Admit, Believe, Confess. This is a simple way to understand how a person becomes a Christian.
Admit - A person must admit that he or she is a sinner and express a desire to change. (Romans 3:23)
Believe - A person must believe that Jesus died for his or her sins and that He rose from the dead. (Romans 10:9)
Confess - A person must be willing to say, “Jesus is Lord!” (Romans 10:9)
There is certainly more to know about being a Christian, but this is all a person needs to know to make the initial decision to accept Christ. We were thrilled when one girl responded to this message and prayed to become a Christian that evening!
It was a very busy week, and many household tasks got put on hold, but we believe we have made a worthwhile difference in the lives of these kids.
Mom says:
Helping kids learn about Jesus is a rewarding way to spend your time. We’re thankful that this is important to you. And we were glad to hear how the kids responded.
Keith says:
It was a tiring week, but it was definitely worth the time. 1000 years from now nobody will know or care what was on TV that week, but God changed lives for eternity during our Bible Club. We also learned some things about how we can do it better next year. I’m looking forward to it.