Written by Joe Nelson, WyldLife staff in Charlottesville, VA
Many Wyldlife ministries do not have club every week. Like many Wyldlife leaders, my team is often faced with this question: “What should we do on our non-club week?”
How can we make the most out of the weeks when we don’t have club? Putting on club takes both time and energy. In a week when we don’t have club, we may have more time and more energy. One of the best ways to spend that extra time and energy in a non-club week is contact work.
With that in mind, one of the most important things to do for your non-club week is to plan ahead. This is so important with middle school ministry. Planning ahead actually begins with picking your club dates. Try to not schedule your clubs on days with conflicting contact work opportunities, such as home football games (many middle school kids go to the varsity games), school functions (i.e. dances, band concerts, plays, etc.) and other largely attended community events.
After your club dates are planned, look at the calendar, and perhaps your choice for what to do on your non-club week is already made for you. For example, if there is a school dance on the Friday of your non-club week, chaperone it! If there is a home varsity football game, go to it! (Maybe even have a Wyldlife tailgate beforehand) If there isn’t an obvious choice of an event where kids will be, that’s where your own creativity and organization will have its place to shine.
These non-club weeks are incredible opportunities to create memories and do something fun, exciting and unique with kids. Planning ahead for these events means figuring out what you want to do in advance and telling parents about it. If you’d like to just do something with you and a car full of kids, then your job is easy and you only need to communicate with a few parents and kids. If you want it to be an invite-all type of event, it would be wise to send out an email to parents about it the week before (if you don’t have a parent email list, get one!)
Here are some ideas for non-club week contact work events:
- Bowling
- Outdoor movie night (projector, big screen, snacks, etc.)
- Hiking
- Trampoline park
- Bonfire
- Fruit picking at an orchard (selfies galore)
- Video game tournament
- Roller skating
- Ice skating
- Pool party (go to an indoor pool or waterpark during the cold months)
- Dinner or dessert at a popular spot in town
- Find a gym you can use (church or school, perhaps)
- Tailgate for a football game
- Crafting/dessert party
- Make a video to show at club with kids in it (added bonus: they will want their friends to be at club to see it debut)
Bottom line – go be with kids.
“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you, not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” -1 Thessalonians 2:8
