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By Loren Becroft and Julie Firmstone
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Contents About kids@holiday club 6 About this Program: Egyptian Adventure 7 What’s on the DVD and CD-ROM?
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What Else is Available to Support the Program?
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What Parts of the Bible are Covered?
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Daily Timetable
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Possible Ways to Extend the Program
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Getting Started Recruiting a leadership team Dressing the set Registration numbers and group breakdowns When to run your Holiday Club Helpful hints for registrations Helpful hints on advertising and promotion Reaching out to parents and carers Handling discipline Follow-up: Ideas on how to re-connect after Holiday Club is over
16 19 21 22 23 24 25 27 28
Day 1: Joseph the dreamer
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Day 2: Joseph in jail
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Day 3: Joseph explains Pharaoh’s dreams
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Day 4: Joseph saves his family
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Day 5: Jesus sets us free from sin
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Electives Middle-Eastern Cooking Egyptian Craft Archaeology Skills Course
151 160 169
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About kids@holiday club School holidays, which in Australia occur four times a year – and usually for a minimum of two weeks at a time – are a perfect opportunity to reach out to kids and their families for Christ. In recent times, Holiday Clubs have been a popular activity for churches to hold, attracting children in their local area who are looking for a fun program to pass the time. Often, working parents are also looking for care for their kids, which is both enjoyable and safe. Holiday Clubs are a good way to attract families to your year-round ministry activities. For un-churched families, coming onto church property and meeting church members via a Holiday Club is a non-threatening introduction to Christianity – a kind of try-before-you-buy program. Once kids have a taste of what it’s like to come to a church activity, they’ll be keen to have the same fun all year at one of your mid-week clubs or Sunday program. Families will feel comfortable coming to another event, including Easter and Christmas services, as an entry point to becoming a full member in God’s time.
What makes kids@holiday club different from other programs? Unfortunately, writing a Holiday Club program and implementing it is a demanding and time-consuming job for Children’s Ministry leaders, who usually have other commitments during the year. It involves writing solid Bible-based teaching around a theme that’s appealing to children in Infants and Primary School, and then coming up with fun activities to fill-out the program. It’s an arduous task that takes months of planning and preparation, before you even consider setting a date or recruiting a team to help you. At CEP, we’ve used our decades of experience in writing, teaching and producing Children’s Ministry resources, to come up with a series of Holiday Club Programs that are a Director’s dream! All the work is done for you, from the development of fun themes to reliable Bible teaching, memorable dramas, ageappropriate small group activities, craft and more. Our programs are tried and tested! Our writers and contributors have been personally involved in putting the programs into action and so, you can be assured that the program works effectively and is culturallyrelevant. The first sections of this Director’s Manual are filled with practical advice on how to approach scheduling, recruiting your team, how to handle registrations and arrange the children into age-appropriate groups. We even help you advertise and promote your Holiday Club. In this manual, you’ll find helpful hints on how to get your community involved as well as support materials that can be tailored with your club details. CEP also offers glossy, attractive promotional posters as a separate product that you can purchase to suit your own budget and advertising plans. Simply add your church details and get the kids in your local area excited about coming to your Holiday Club! Each program also has a take-home component that is available to purchase separately. A colourful and fun reminder of the week learning about Jesus, these take-home items are available in handy packs of 10 or 20 so that you can give one to every child attending your Holiday Club. If this is the first kids@holiday club pack you have purchased, look out for our other titles. More will be added to the range each year so that you can run a different Holiday Club theme each year and keep the children coming back to your church. We pray that this resource will be a blessing to your church as you seek to make our Lord Jesus known. Julie Firmstone Co-author and Series Editor
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About this Program: Egyptian Adventure Why an archaeological theme? The archaeological theme of Egyptian Adventure provides an opportunity to create a fun environment that can engage children’s imaginations. It also provides a springboard to teach the children about the biblical themes of sin, perseverance, redemption and mercy. Egyptian Adventure is a tour of the Middle East – a journey back to the times of Joseph in Canaan and Ancient Egypt, and of Jesus in first-century Palestine. The main characters who will be unearthing the evidence from Egyptian times to Jesus are Professor Sidney Greenbush, an Indiana-Jones style archaeologist and his bright, technology-savvy assistant, Miss Penelope Periwinkle. Through treasures uncovered during their dig, the archaeologists call on experts via a telecommunications link-up and learn about the story of Joseph of the Old Testament. As their guided tour of the Middle East continues, the children will also discover that the examples of sin, perseverance, redemption and mercy seen in Joseph’s story are also an important part of Jesus’ teachings. By the time the children head home, they will understand what these biblical themes mean to them personally as they accept Jesus as Lord and try to live according to his ways. The children’s tract, I've been on an Egyptian Adventure, also helps explain that we all sin and fall short of God’s expectations, but through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can find redemption and mercy. The ultimate treasure is found when we accept Jesus as our Saviour and persevere as we try to live God’s way – and that treasure is spending eternity in heaven! It is our prayer that, with the help of the work of the Holy Spirit, the children attending your Holiday Club will indeed unearth the treasure in Jesus and trust in the promise of salvation that God freely gives us through him.
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What’s on the DVD and CD-ROM? The DVD and CD-ROM provided with the Director’s Pack are filled with resources to use in conjunction with the program, to make it visually exciting and engaging for the children in your Holiday Club. Even if you are not technology-savvy, you will find the DVD and CD-ROM easy to use.
DVD contains: Two short animations: • Announcement – for promoting your Holiday Club during church services, and through your church’s audiovisual system, should you have one available. Play this animation to the children in your various ministry activities to excite them about the upcoming club and encourage them to invite their friends. • Welcome – to have playing each day as the children arrive at Holiday Club. Set this one to run in a loop so that it plays continually as more kids come into your whole-of-group session area. Four video interviews to be used as a part of each day’s dramas: • Day 1 – Dr Elias Montague, an English Professor of Archaeology. • Day 2 – Dr Evelyn Hazelwood, an expert in ancient cookery techniques. • Day 3 – Dr Siegfried Schnizer, a German psychologist. • Day 4 – Sunshine May Carson, a collector of ancient coins.
CD-ROM holds the remaining resources for each day of the program: • Artwork for backdrops and other decorations that can be used to transform your church into an Egyptian archaeological dig site. • Artwork for a promotional flyer on the back of which you can print your individual church details for advertising and/or registration forms. An example of a registration form and confirmation letter/email is also included. • Clip art to use on your church website to advertise and promote details of your Holiday Club. • Points Tokens for boys and girls to reward the children for Christ-like behaviour during the week. • Lesson materials and activities for Small Group time with your Years 4 to 6 groups. • Lesson materials and activities for Small Group time with your Kindergarten to Year 3 groups. • Support materials to use with each day’s Drama. • Resources to support each day’s Professor’s Prank, such as the Employee of the Month Poster. • Resources to support the Memory Verse Activities. • Resources to support each day’s Elective activities, such as a Hieroglyphic alphabet and templates and patterns for craft and cooking activities. • Invitations to the Celebration Feast, able to be tailored to your church’s own details.
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What Else is Available to Support the Program?
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We recognise that every Holiday Club will have differing numbers of children attending and that each church will have a limited budget. Therefore to cater to these differing needs, CEP has produced two separate packs for purchase, in addition to this Director’s Pack, to support your Egyptian Adventure Holiday Club. These are:
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• Poster Pack. This contains six A2-sized posters of Joseph’s story in Egypt to be used in conjunction with the Tour Itinerary session each day. These can be displayed on a wall in your church after each day’s session, to remind the children of what they have learnt. Also included in the pack are six A2-sized Promotional Posters, which can be tailored to include the details of your Holiday Club, and can be used in your local area to advertise your unique program. • Luggage Tag Tract Pack. You will need one tract per child attending your Holiday Club. These colourful luggage tag tracts are available in packs of 10 so that you need only purchase the quantity you require. These tracts are an economical gift that’s a take-home reminder of the Bible lessons from their Egyptian Adventure.
For more information on these packs, contact our CEP sales staff on (02) 8268 3344, email sales@youthworks.net or visit our website at www.cepstore.com.au
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What Parts of the Bible are Covered? Egyptian Adventure takes the children through the Old Testament story of Joseph in Genesis 39–41. Over the five sessions, the children will see how God’s plans work for the good of his people – even though it may not seem like it at the time.
Day 1 – Joseph the dreamer Passages: Genesis 37:1–36; Mark 2:1–12 Day 1 of Egyptian Adventure introduces the children to Joseph and his family. In Joseph’s family there is a severe case of sibling rivalry which results in Joseph’s elder brothers selling him into slavery. In the Small Groups, the children are introduced to the concept of sin and hear what Jesus has to say about sin through the story of the crippled man.
Day 2 – Joseph in jail Passages: Genesis 39:1–40:23; Matthew 7:13–14, 24–27 Day 2 of Egyptian Adventure sees Joseph falsely accused, wrongly imprisoned and forgotten about by one of the people who could release him from prison. Through all of this Joseph continues to live God’s way and trust in him. In the Small Groups, the children are introduced to the theme of perseverance, particularly related to living God’s way. Through Jesus’ parables the children learn that living God’s way isn’t always easy but that it leads to life. The children also learn that Jesus tells us how to live God’s way.
Day 3 – Joseph explains Pharaoh’s dreams Passages: Genesis 41:1–52; Mark 5:25–34 On Day 3 of Egyptian Adventure, the children hear about Joseph’s release from prison. In Small Groups the children are introduced to the idea of redemption. The idea of redemption is explained through Joseph’s release from prison and through Jesus’ healing of a woman inflicted with a sickness no one else could heal. Through this the children learn that Jesus is the only one who can release us from our captivity to sin.
Day 4 – Joseph saves his family Passages: Genesis 41:53–47:12; Luke 15:11–24 On Day 4 of Egyptian Adventure the children hear the story of Joseph’s reunion with his family. Instead of punishing his brothers for what they did to him, Joseph extends mercy to them by forgiving them. This theme of mercy is explored in the Small Groups through the story of the Prodigal Son and is extended to God showing us mercy by forgiving our sin.
Day 5 – Jesus redeems us from sin Passages: Mark 10:45; Acts 2:14–39 Day 5 of Egyptian Adventure ties together the stories from the previous four days. In particular, it explains how the themes of sin, perseverance, redemption and mercy are tied up in the gospel and how Jesus is the one who pays the ransom to redeem us from captivity to sin. The children also hear about how they can be forgiven their sin and that God has given us help to persevere in living his way: the Bible, the Holy Spirit and other Christians.
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So, how are these Bible passages taught and explained to the children? The Bible is taught through various lessons and activities each day, and in a way that is age-appropriate for Infants and Primary School-aged children:
1. Tour Briefing and Memory Verse Activity The Tour Guide welcomes the children and talks through the tour itinerary for the day. As a part of this session, the Tour Guide talks about the fun things which happened the previous day and reminds the children of what the characters have discovered so far in the Drama, laying the foundation for the current day’s lessons. With the help of Duncan Dumstig (the greedy but funny Dig financier), the Tour Guide then uses interactive games or activities to help the children learn and remember the key memory verse.
2. Drama The drama is the main up-front teaching session of the Holiday Club. Each day, Professor Greenbush and Miss Penelope Periwinkle work their archaeological dig in Egypt, hoping to unearth ancient treasures from the past. Feeling the pressure from their greedy financier (Duncan Dumstig) to find pieces of great value, the archaeologists use Miss Penelope’s iPhone or laptop to link up with various experts around the world. But their discoveries uncover evidence that tells of the story of Joseph, a famous Hebrew from ancient Canaan and Egypt. Each section of the Joseph story will bring out a specific area of doctrine that will be expanded on and explored further in the Small Groups.
3. Tour Itinerary This brief session links the Drama with the rest of the tour for the day. Miss Penelope chats with the Tour Guide about what was discovered in the Drama just played and hands him/her the Tour Itinerary Poster for that day. When displayed on a wall in a line added to each day, the Tour Itinerary Posters (available as a separate product from CEP) help to remind the children of the story so far. In addition, these are designed like travel posters seen in a travel agency, and so add atmosphere and decoration supporting the Egyptian theme.
4. Move ‘n’ Review Activity This fun activity, headed up by Duncan Dumstig, is done as a whole group and is designed to help the children learn the key message of the day, as well as expend a little energy after sitting down during the Drama and before heading off to their Small Groups.
5. Age-specific Small Groups The Small Groups are a way of clarifying, expanding on and discussing what is taught during the Drama. It presents the opportunity to answer the children’s questions and to challenge them further about what they understand about the biblical themes of sin, perseverance, redemption and mercy. In Egyptian Adventure, the Small Group lessons and activities link the story of Joseph with Jesus, God’s son. The children will explore what Jesus says on that particular topic before they spend time thinking about how it applies to them. In the Small Groups, the children will also do ‘make ‘n’ take’ projects that will remind them of what they have learned throughout the Holiday Club. The Kindergarten to Year 3 children will make a Pyramid Mobile while the Year 4 to 6 children complete a Travel Journal.
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e h t h p e s o J r e dGreneeasm ; is 37:1-36 12 Mark 2:1-
Program aim The aim of the program is to teach the biblical themes of sin, perseverance, redemption and mercy through the story of Joseph; to explore what Jesus teaches about each of these themes; and to discover that Jesus is the one who ties these themes together in the gospel.
Outcomes We want the children to understand: • Sin is doing what we want to do instead of what God wants us to do, thereby losing our relationship with God. • Only God and, therefore Jesus, can forgive sin, thereby restoring our relationship with God. • Jesus shows that having your sins forgiven is more important than anything else – even physical healing.
Key verses Genesis 37:5 One day, Joseph told his brothers what he had dreamt, and they hated him even more. Mark 2:9–11 "Is it easier for me to tell this crippled man that his sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and pick up his mat and go on home? I will show you that the Son of Man has the right to forgive sins here on earth.” So Jesus said to the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and go on home.”
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Day 1
You will need: • • • • • • • • • • • •
CDs and a CD player or your church’s sound system. Data projector, projector screen and computer. Digital camera*. Egyptian Adventure CD-ROM. Props for the Drama. See page 32. Day 1 Tour Itinerary Poster. Materials for Move ’n’ Review Activity. See page 37. Materials for Small Groups – Kindergarten to Year 3. See page 38. Materials for Small Groups – Years 4 to 6. See page 42. Materials for each Elective activity for Day 1. See pages 151–173. Materials for Miss Penelope’s Challenge. See page 49. Materials for The Professor’s Prank. See page 50.
* In preparation for Day 2’s Tour Briefing, the Photographer should take photos of the children doing various activities using the digital camera. For Day 2’s Tour Briefing, you MUST have a photo of:
It would be good to include some funny ones of the leaders – for example, Duncan Dumstig taken during the Professor’s Prank. Be sensitive when using funny shots of the children because it might embarrass them or hurt their feelings. (If you are still keen to use a shot, just check with the child concerned first.) Also be aware of children whose parents or guardians have NOT given their permission for photography of their children/wards – this may be due to custody or legal issues.
• Miss Penelope and the Professor during the drama, and • The Tour Guide holding Day 1’s Tour Itinerary Poster.
As the children arrive While the children are signing in with their parents/guardians, play the Egyptian soundtrack from the Egyptian Adventure CD-ROM to create a fun atmosphere.
Program starts As the children come into the main area to start the program, play the Welcome animation from the Egyptian Adventure DVD.
Singing Suggested songs: • Wherever I go (How cool is that! – Johnny Burns) • Oh it’s great great brill brill (Whoopah Wahey! – Doug Horley) • The Mummy Song (I want my mummy! – Colin Buchanan)
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