Children's Pastor Mikayla Crawford and a team of around 40 volunteers recently ran Kids Holiday Quest at The Orchard Church. This fun packed school holiday programme welcomed about 200 children for a week of activities, games, and the gospel.
The Orchard began running holiday programmes a few years ago with support from a visiting team from Word of Life. That initial investment paid off. Word of Life not only helped launch the programme but also invested into developing young leaders. Now, the team at The Orchard runs the programme independently and continues to prioritise leadership development. Each year, the whole team stays together at Pacific Park after the daytime programme wraps up, with invited speakers coming to invest in them and grow their leadership skills.
The holiday programme is closely connected to the life of the church. Children come along to Rally Kids Quest, the midweek kids’ ministry, or iCare, an after-school programme run by the church. These connections help build long-term relationships with children and families, creating pathways for ongoing discipleship and care.
The Sunday following the programme, the whole church was encouraged as a young leader and a child who attended the programme shared stories of their experience, celebrating what God had done during the week.
By Julie McKinnon, CCCNZ Children and Family Ministries Enabler
