Two holiday clubs and various after-school events later, the church had made contact with over 100 local children. But there was a problem. Whilst the kids were enthusiastic about the games and craft activities being offered, when it came to the "God Slot" it was a different matter. Their attention spans were short and apathy and indifference were the usual response. It was fantastic to have contact with so many unchurched kids but we couldn't see how a hunger for Jesus was going to birthed within them. How were we to see kids won for Jesus still following Him through their teenage and adult years? It was the question for which few we had met had found an answer.

We began to pray and ask God to show us the way forward. That's how we came into contact with the work of Bill Wilson and Metro Ministries in New York. Metro had been working in the ghettos of New York City since 1980 and by the time we contacted them, were meeting with 13,000 children a week. Lives were being transformed and a thriving teenage work and adult congregation had grown from their kids ministry.

Their two pronged approach, combining an action-packed, relevant, gospel-filled programme, with a strong emphasis on building personal relationships with the children was yeilding lasting fruit. We visited New York and gleaned all we could and in 1993 we launched Kidz Klub, using the same principles that we follow today.

We started with 60 kids and now have over 600 attending our Saturday Kidz Klub. The 75 minute programme combines all the fast-moving zany antics of Saturday morning kids TV, with a clear uncompromising gospel message. Our prayer is that each week the children attending would meet with God and leave better equipped to live for Him.
The club is only effective, however, because it is combined with the home visits. Each week, every child who attends is visited by a Kidz Klub team member. They befriend families, build relationship and by meeting the kids on their own territory, they demonstrate God's love in action. As Bill Wilson says, "Kids won't care how much you know, unitl they know how much you care."

This two pronged approach works. While many innercity churches have given up on the hope of reaching the new generation of children around them, we have consistently demonstrated the light of God's love to literally thousands of children over the last ten years. Whole families have been added to the churhc and we have over 70 teenagers, who were introduced to the gospel through Kidz Klub and have grown up with it, worshipping with us on Sunday mornings, their lives changed by the truth they heard as kids. You can read their stories here. Let God inspire you to dream dreams for the lost children in your town or city.

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