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Running a holiday club is a great ministry and you’re probably up to your eyeballs in practical preparation, volunteer recruitment and the like. However, it’s important to consider what happens next. Children and their families will have met with God and learned more about what he has done for them. How are you going to continue helping their relationship with God (and your relationship with them) to grow?

If you’re aiming to attract children from outside your church community to your club, then you’ll need to think carefully about whether you think they will happily come along to any of your existing groups. How friendly are your Sunday services and Sunday groups for those who have no experience of church? If the answer is ‘not very’, then you might want to think about what needs to be changed. Or, is it more appropriate to create a new group at a different time?

You might want to foster your new relationships by starting work with the local primary school, if you don’t already do so. You could offer to run assemblies, lunchtime or afterschool clubs. If you have a local schools work trust, get in touch with them to see how you can get involved. Or read Top tips on developing partnerships between church and school, published by Scripture Union.

Running a midweek club is also a good way to continue holiday-club relationships. You can set up a club which runs on the same theme as your holiday club, or explores similar parts of the Bible. You could hold it straight after school or in the early evening – choose a time which will suit the children and families you’re trying to attract.

Whatever you decide to do, don’t let the great work you have done at your holiday club go to waste!

Now, what advice would you share with others who are running holiday clubs? What is the most important thing that you have learned? Tell everyone about it in the comments!