Over the past few years we’ve played and sung a lot of John Hardwick’s music in the Holiday Club we run in August, and this year it was a great pleasure for us to have John lead it in person. This weekend, he returned to Coventry and to Holyhead Road URC to share more of his enthusiasm for childrens work. John led several activities over the course of the weekend, which were as much fun to be part of as the holiday club he’d run for us.
The weekend started with a Creative Communications workshop on Saturday morning. John demonstrated a variety of ways of explaining bible passages to children. These included the use of story telling, music and video to explain and make memorable key points of a bible passage, emphasising the importance of giving a clear message. One technique of particular interest was the use of a puppet to have a conversation with. He also invited everyone interested to take part in the Big Bible Verse Challenge. The aim is to learn a bible verse every week for a year through music videos made available to participants via email.
In the afternoon he led a Praise party at church. The aim was to have fun and learn a bit more about the bible together. At the party, it was easy to see how much the children enjoyed the approaches he’d been describing and teaching at the morning workshop. There were songs, games, story telling, and juggling – but watch out – you might need to do some practice before performing the juggling in front of a live audience (if only for their safety).
The following day John led the parade service. This continued the weekend theme of creative communication, with the congregation also learning some of the actions to John’s songs, which focus on bible passages.
