KBC Blog (2021)

KiDs Beach Club® made changes to its curriculum this year to ensure the gospel message of Jesus is fully integrated into every part of Beach Club. The curriculum was redesigned to reflect the passion KiDs Beach Club® has to see children respond to the gospel.

With Beach Clubs facing more turnover from year to year with families moving and kids changing schools, aging out of club and schedules changing, the ministry decided it needed to be more intentional in sharing the gospel in every aspect of Beach Club. The window to reach a child is much smaller than the four years from third through sixth grades the ministry serves.

The ministry is still telling Bible stories, but now is even more focused on how these stories connect to the gospel and how children can start and develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.

KiDs Beach Club® asks children to remember A-B-C in helping them get to know God: ADMIT you’re a sinner; BELIEVE that Jesus is the son of God and He died for your sin; and, CHOOSE to follow Him.

At Northrich Elementary in Richardson, Texas, Beach Club volunteers from First Baptist Church Richardson are using the new curriculum that is focused on sharing the gospel using the A-B-C method. Last year, they had the kids memorize the steps and everyone could repeat them back effortlessly.

“We had three professions of faith and felt great about it,” said Kathy Porter, the club’s leader.

“While we use the terminology A-B-C, we try to share the gospel in a lot of different ways with a lot of different illustrations because you never know what it might be that helps a child understand,” Cindy Leach, executive director for KiDs Beach Club®, said of this increased focus.

“We start with our Bible content and then pick which character word goes with the story,” Leach continued. “Then we study how that story and character word tie to the gospel. Lastly, we pick which Bible verse will be the memory link. We want the verses to tie to the story and character word, but also stand alone so if kids only remember one thing it’s the Bible verse.” 

This year at Northrich, volunteers have embraced the enhanced curriculum. Instead of simply clinging to the A-B-C method to be the focus of sharing the gospel, they use the Bible story for that week to lead to specific gospel focus for that week. 

For example, when the Bible story was about Elijah (sample curriculum), the character word was “helpfulness.” After the story of Elijah they shared that the biggest way God helped people was by sending His son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. Once you invite Jesus to become your Forever Friend, He gives you the Holy Spirit. God has a wonderful plan for your life and will guide you to follow this plan and also help others.

Each week, the character word changes and volunteers are able to share the gospel in a different way, which gives an opportunity for more children to understand.

“We’ve already seen a marked increase in professions of faith based on what our clubs have recorded so far this year,” Leach said. “While we know numbers aren’t the only indicator of spiritual effectiveness, it helps us know we are on the right track. Each time a child hears the gospel, seeds are planted. We trust the Holy Spirit to work in each child’s heart to make those seeds grow.”

This year at Northrich, volunteers have already seen 11 children make Jesus their Forever Friend!

“We are amazed at how God is moving within our club,” Porter said. “We love the new gospel-focused curriculum. There is a great harvest of new Christ followers at Northrich Elementary. God is on the move.”