Chris & Debbie write ...
In March 2002, with a team of about 40 fantastic volunteers, we launched Kidz Klub at our church in Brighton and Hove (CCK). We hired several double-decker buses to bring in children from many different communities across the city. The club took place on Saturday mornings at our church building in Clarendon Villas, Hove.
For many children Kidz Klub suddenly became one of the highlights of their week and the most positive influence on their young and vulnerable lives. Hundreds of them started out on the Christian life. Almost all of them were from outside the church, many living on council estates and in disadvantaged areas. Some were from families in very challenging situations. Some had family members in prison for murder, cocaine trafficking, and other offences.
Then in July 2007 two of the leaders of our church broke the news to us that Kidz Klub was being closed down after 6 years and Chris’s role on the church staff was ending after 21 years! This was in the light of the elders’ decision to put a higher priority and a greater emphasis on our Sunday church meetings as ‘the primary engine for church growth‘.
By the grace of God we have always been able to remain positive and in good heart (to the surprise of many), strongly believing that this – in the words of Bill Wilson from New York – was going to be just a comma, not a full stop, in terms of our work with the many children and families we had met through Kidz Klub.
So, after 6 great years, 220 Kidz Klub Saturday mornings, 1,900 double-decker bus rides, 60,000 visits to homes of children and their families, the building of many great relationships with families, and literally hundreds of children welcoming Jesus into their lives, Kidz Klub closed on 19th July, 2008.
We had many very moving cards and letters from children and parents. One girl wrote ... “When you sent me that letter I was sad and I cried. I had tears down my eyes and on the paper. Thank you for all the good times and thank you for everything. I will miss your smiles every time I came on the Kidz Klub bus. I miss that so much I am beginning to cry.”
Another girl wrote, “Thank you for Kidz Klub. If it weren’t for you, my family would not have God.” And a mum from Moulsecoomb thanked us for giving her daughter God!
We felt a deep sense of responsibility for the children and families we had met through Kidz Klub. They were important and special to us, as they are to God, and we simply didn’t feel it would be right for us to just wave goodbye and walk away from them. In fact, that was unthinkable.
Our prayer ever since we heard news of Kidz Klub closing and Chris’s job ending, was that God would open up a way so the work with the children and families we had met through Kidz Klub could continue. We felt, after consultation with some key friends, that the right way forward was to set up our own charity under the name Kidz Klub Brighton & Hove.
We wanted to keep that name partly because it is known by many in our city, and partly because “Kidz Klub” is a title widely recognised by churches as a particular style of children’s ministry.
We can now look back over the past 2½ years and marvel at the way God has led us. We had no idea exactly how things would work out, but Kidz Klub is growing and expanding across the city. It is so exciting to be back in touch with lots of children who came to the original Kidz Klub – many of whom are now young helpers at the new Kidz Klubs we’re running – and also to be reaching out to loads more besides.
We’re now running 3 Kidz Klubs and a youth group every week! Another youth group is about to start! These clubs are much more community-based than the previous central one, and we love working in partnership with local churches and helping them connect with their community.
Attendances at the new clubs now total over 200 children per week which is significantly more than were coming to the old club!
As you might be able to sense, we are excited, trusting God, and enjoying this faith adventure. Although we’re still happy members of CCK and in excellent relationship with the elders, we are greatly enjoying being on this mission with other churches.
That mission is to the young generation of this city, presenting to them the best news they could ever hear and offering them some of the best activities they could ever enjoy.
