Samuel Morrison: Summer Bible clubs remain popular throughout Ulster
One of the highlights of summer for many children growing up will be Bible clubs.
I remember attending many in my primary school years. Many times these are held in housing estates on a patch of greenery in the sun, but two of my most vivid memories associated with Bible clubs are of occasions when more inclement weather meant leaders had to improvise.
The first is of my Auntie Jennifer standing at the door of my granny’s home in Ballinamallard in Fermanagh and announcing through a loudhailer that the Bible club would be held in her house because of the driving rain. I remember being sceptical about the possibility of this producing any children, but sure enough boys and girls seemed to emerge from several directions, running through the lashing rain.
The second is from my time as a leader of one such club a few years ago where we didn’t have the shelter of somewhere like granny’s house and instead a small group of children huddled under a gazebo as the rain lashed around the shivering assembly. I sought to tell a Bible story but found the exercise dispiriting as my own daughter led a group of children in quietly constructing what she later described as ‘a swimming pool’ in the centre of the gazebo – something she could accomplish because of the water which was making its way in and slowly soaking both children and adults!
This summer has, thankfully, been kinder weather-wise, so I suspect few outdoor Bible clubs have encountered such challenges. I, however, have chalked the experiences of that rainy day in Dromore up as a lesson learned, and now the Bible clubs I help organise are based indoors!
Bible clubs remain popular throughout Ulster. In fact, I know of three being run by three different Protestant churches just this week within a few miles of my home.
Typically they run from Monday to Friday. Those which take place outside will be over within the hour, while those within the confines of a church or hall have more flexibility and can include more activities and can run for up to two hours.
The one I am currently involved with commenced in Dromore Free Presbyterian on Monday and will continue until Friday, with children meeting each day from 2 to 4 pm. This time slot means that we avoid overlap with the Bible club being run by a nearby Presbyterian church which starts at 6 pm each evening this week.
There will always be parents who are keen to send their children because they want them to learn something of the message of the Bible, but a Bible club during the long summer months also has the advantage of giving mummy a few free hours to get things done around the house. Consequently, Bible clubs often reach well beyond the confines of what one might describe as ‘church families’.
The meetings open with lively children’s choruses, many of which feature vigorous actions – which doubtless cause some amusement for the adults present – particularly in the case of the one in Dromore Free Presbyterian this week as they witness the efforts of someone as uncoordinated as myself attempting to show the children what to do from the front!
Choruses which have been around for generations with lyrics like:
I may never march in the infantry
Ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery
I may never shoot for the enemy
But I’m in the Lord’s army
result in antics which have to be seen in order to be understood, but allow those of us entrusted with leading such meetings an invaluable opportunity to relive our youth.
There is also prayer where children are taught the A, B, Cs (arms folded, heads bowed and eyes closed) before they talk to God.
But the central part of any Bible club is, as the name suggests, the Bible lesson, which on Monday was delivered by Leanne Haffey in ours.
This week in Dromore we are considering the parables of the kingdom in Matthew 13. This chapter contains familiar parables such as the sower and the seed, which allows children – and indeed adults – to reflect on how they treat the Word of God. Do we accept the Gospel message of Christ who came into the world to live the perfect life we could not and bear the price for our sins on Calvary – pictured by the good ground in which the seed grew – or are we pictured by one of the other types of ground, all of which result in no growth and picture the lost soul?
There is then a quiz on the lesson with fierce competition between the boys’ and the girls’ teams (Bible clubs haven’t bowed to the gender theory crowd) and a memory verse. This Monday we started with one many already knew – John 3:16: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’
After that, it was time for a craft, so the children were given some watercress seeds, cotton wool and polystyrene cups to see if they could get anything to grow before the end of the week.
They then got some juice and biscuits before heading outside to play, with younger ones given free rein to colour and draw on the church car park with chalk and older ones having the opportunity to challenge leaders to have a go at football – something which in my case at least has seldom, if ever, been played since the Bible club a year previously.
Before going home, everyone assembled back in the church for a closing prayer and an award for the best boy and girl before they went home. Some people would try to tell you that such activity is old-fashioned and there is no desire for it, but Dromore FPC is still able to run a bus, and with 55 in on Monday and 63 children on Tuesday, the Word of God and old-fashioned teaching methods and fun would still appear to have pulling power in 2025.