Anyone got experience of church Kids Club for non-religious kids

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Posting for traffic

Took DS 5 to a new kids club today first time as recommended by another school parent. 1.5hrs free childcare (you can leave and come back), sounded good.

When I picked up DS I asked if they did anything religious and he said they talked about God etc. As he's young I didn't know exactly what they said and he didn't explain well.

Anyway - it sounded fab, as a LP with limited time. But I don't want him indoctrinated in some religion by a random kids club. Is that what they might try to do? Anyone got any ideas how these groups work??

Many thanks

Like I also said it was mentioned IN PASSING the day before as a nice "join us" suggestion. I didn't have the opportunity to find out the ins and outs as the woman didn't give the venue (other than pointing that it was "at the church" that way) or the name of the group and only found out when we walked there the next day.

It is like taking your children to McDonald's and someone saying, of course they aren't trying to persuade children to love burgers. The staff probably believe they aren't indoctrinating anyone, no one is being forced to eat the meat, its 'just' a Happy meal with a fun toy to collect and play with. And if they enjoy it, its a nice memory, whats the big deal?

Its a church kids club, the whole point is to indoctrinate them.

The staff might think its harmless fun, its just saying grace, no one is 'forcing' them. Its just a Christmas card. Its only a few animals going onto the ark 2 by 2. Its just a cartoon about Jesus. Its a fun sing along about Jesus. Its just story time about Jesus.

And if they enjoy it, its a nice memory, whats the big deal?

And the mythical x-box / play station. Well its there somewhere at the bottom of a cupboard, so no one is technically lying, a useful flute for the Pied Piper.

At our church holiday club there is a Bible story focus. Our main aim is to reach out and build links with the local community, but it is also a Christian holiday club so there is an element of sharing the gospel. Kids do craft, songs, games, refreshments as well as have Biblical input from the front, dvd and in small groups.

At our youth clubs, our main aim again is to reach out and build links with local families. We have a 15/20 min slot with a moral or biblical them each time, out of 1.5-2hrs.

At least 50% of those who come to holiday club and a far greater proportion at youth clubs are not Christian. We do occasionally invite to Sunday services, particularly at the end of holiday club week, but it's just an invite and no-one is offended if you don't go.
We also give out info at our holiday club about youth clubs, and quite a few join, so it helps keep them running too.

Hope this helps? Personally I'd give it a go and see, obviously they vary, but that's the set-up at ours (Baptist)

Oops meant to say that at youth clubs the rest of the time is spent on games, craft, snooker/table football, Lego etc etc. Very normal!

I would never send my children to one, when I was around 9 I went to one for a good few years, one eve a week. It was marketed as a 'youth club' we did fun stuff like swimmimg and bowling and made lots of friends but it got quite dark at times, for example being pressured into declaring myself a christian.

We once went on a mini holiday over half term, my mum needed a lot of convincing to let me go but all my friends were going and in the end she relented. We stayed in a church, we had a great time until the final night, they said we were going to do something very special this involved sitting in a circle whilst the group leaders started doing strange things, I think they called it 'Speaking in tounges' after each of these leaders had their turn they would fall to the floor and appear unconscious (I must have been 12 at the time, and there were some younger) it was terrifying, I hadn't thought about it in years and never told my mum although I didn't go back again.

I know this was goimg back 25 years but the man who ran it is now like a mini celebrity in our town, going to all the school sports days, everybody knows him, I think he may be council councillor now.

My only recent knowledge of these places is from a friend who sent her kids to one during the holidays, apparantly they had great fun but on the last day all parents were expected to attend a 'fun'BBQ during which they were put under huge pressure to convert/attend church, they were absolutely shocked

These things depend on a) the group and b) the local community. I went to some church-based toddler groups when DS was a baby - some were too heavy on the crap peddling so we didn't go back but others were fine - toys, games, ordinary singsong time, snack and a drink and no talking to imaginary friends. But this may have had a lot to do with the fact that where we live is very diverse, so a lot of the mums and toddlers at pretty much any playgroup are going to be Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews or free from religion.

Though there were one or two that were a bit... brrr. Way too much of the clammy hand on your arm and the repeated invites to Bible study class.

When my son was about 7 years old he wanted to join his friend who attended church club. It was a singing ,dancing , drumming style church . When he came home I had a chat about what he had done, all fine until he told me the storytime was about not having sex with your mother or dogs !! First and last time he went.

The information about the alpha course is a big clue.

I spent a weekend with the Moonies once. Very scary.

@Jaxhog what are Moonies? I’ve heard of them but have no idea what they do.

*have you never done a spur of the moment thing to help your child foster friendships and have fun? whilst using your own intuition and judgement and recommendations of close friends at the same time to judge whether or not something was appropriate? backed up with DBS certificate?
if I was concerned that my child could be being told things that I disagree with then no, I would not send them there without checking it out first. Or at least I'd have sat in on one of the sessions if possible to get a feel for the place and the staff.

I also wouldn't send my child somewhere if I'd only found out about the place the day before...you didn't even know the name of the group until you went there!

You trusted them enough to leave your child with them but now you're insinuating that they may not tell the truth about what your child is learning?

No need to thank me OP, you're most welcome.

Imanaverage you've missed the point a bit. You've laid into me about a personal decision I made, and am still fine about, about sending my child to ONE session of a group, with good evidence that it was ok for that time...

I subsequently asked for posters' experiences of such groups to help me make an informed decision about future not for their thoughts and judgements about my decision to send him to one session.

I'm not insinuating they won't tell what they think is the truth but their own viewpoint may well be skewed like lots of religious groups are.
As such I asked for others experiences, not people attacking me for a decision I made.

No, I just find it very odd that you're only now questioning whether the group will indoctrinate your child.

I don't understand why you didn't do your homework before to make an informed decision rather than questioning it now?

You'll never know for sure whether they will do what you fear unless (as I previously suggested) you ask them or unless you sit in on a session because the posters on here will have different experiences of different groups and a lot of posts on here will probably be biased.

You are insinuating that they won't be telling the truth because you said that they would probably try and present themselves in the best way possible. So it's easy to assume that what you're suggesting is that they'll lie by omission or twist the truth. All I'm asking is why would you consider sending your child to a group where you won't even trust the staff to give you a truthful insight into what your child will be learning?

My kids go to church school and church clubs. We occasionally go to church and have actively Christian friends. DH is atheist and I’m agnostic. Our kids have already made up their own minds (they don’t believe) but they learn/have learnt tolerance, kindness, sharing and how to respect all religions through their exposure.

It’s about balance isn’t it? They’re far from indoctrinated because they already have inquisitive, independent minds.

I’ve also done the alpha course and wasn’t converted, pressured to convert or made to experience tongues, ‘the holy spirit’ etc. I was encouraged to ask any question, received measured and honest answers and remain friends with many who did it alongside me.

I don’t really understand the hatred towards evangelism tbh, it’s not forced at all. You can leave at any time.

ImanaveragepersonAMA - to answer your question - it was not presented as a religious club when I entered.

The only clue was that it was held in a church. There was a few minutes where I filled out a form, saw the DBS, met the other mums (from school), met the group leaders, had a quick chat about what they do (games, the like) then DS went in. They seemed nice.

I stayed a couple of minutes at the beginning. I felt fine about it. I googled it after and found out it a few things from the website. I did not do this at the beginning as it was not presented as a religious group by the leaders, nor by the other mums / kids (who incidentally were mostly from a completely different ethnic group and non-christian which added to my lack of questioning it to be a christian group).

In answer to your statement"You are insinuating that they won't be telling the truth because you said that they would probably try and present themselves in the best way possible." Nope.

I repeat again what I said earlier "their own viewpoint may well be skewed like lots of religious groups are." Doesn't mean they don't believe they are not telling the truth or even are aware they are skewing the truth. They probably believe it to high heaven. Hence asking OTHER PEOPLES experiences of such groups. Not judgement.

I asked for others experiences, not people attacking me for a decision I made... but some people like nothing better than to judge others eh?