Calypso church invites Lego fans to ‘join the club’

By Kathy Grant Westbrook [email protected]

Kids of all ages are invited to be a part of Calypso Presbyterian Church’s Lego Club. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 9, 10:30 a.m. to noon. (Calypso Presbyterian Church|Courtesy photo)

Pastor Nick Nielsen shares a Bible story with children participating in the Lego Club at Calypso Presbyterian Church. The kids are then challenged to use Legos to build something related to the story. (Calypso Presbyterian Church|Courtesy photo)

Calypso Presbyterian Church, located at 116 SW Center St., is home to a Lego Club children’s ministry. The church supplies plenty of Legos, more than enough to spark each child’s imagination. (Calypso Presbyterian Church|Courtesy photo)

Starting in September, the Lego Club will meet at Calypso Presbyterian Church the second Thursday of each month, from 4 to 5p.m. (Calypso Presbyterian Church|Courtesy photo)

At Calypso Presbyterian Church, they’ve built a children’s ministry out of Legos.

The final summer meeting of the Lego Club will be Wednesday, Aug. 9, from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the church’s fellowship hall, at 116 SW Center St. in Calypso. Come September, they’ll switch to a new fall schedule — 4 to 5 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month. And Pastor Nick Nielsen is issuing an invitation to all Lego fans: “We’d love to have anybody that wants to play with Lego come join us.”

You remember Legos, right? They’re those tiny, colorful, plastic, interlocking bricks that you can use to build all sorts of contraptions and creations. When you’re a kid (and even an adult), there’s a certain satisfaction that comes when you snap two Legos together. They’ll stay in place forever if you want them to, and if you don’t, they’ll pull apart in an instant.

Tapping into the toys’ captivating appeal, families in the church — including Pastor Nick and his wife, Sarah, and their three young daughters — decided to start getting together for some playtime, and the Lego Club was born. Prior to Covid, they met informally on occasional Saturdays, but since relaunching this summer, the group has tried Wednesday morning meetings (which have proven to be popular) and they’ll try the second-Thursday afternoon meetings throughout the fall. The Thursday meeting time might be popular, reasons Pastor Nick, because the church has a children’s choir that practices from 5 to 6 p.m. that same day, so he’s hopeful that it will be convenient for parents who are bringing their kids to choir practice to come an hour early for Lego time. (The Lego Club and the children’s choir are two separate activities, so participation in one does not require participation in the other.) He does note that in December, he and others involved with the group, will take a look at how well the meeting time is working, and will be open to changing it if need be.

A typical get-together starts with the children being tasked with a particular Lego challenge, like “Build your name,” or “Let’s see who can build the tallest tower.” Once they’ve had some time to get the creative juices flowing, Pastor Nick tells a Bible story, and the kids then create something that relates back to that story.

Children needn’t worry about bringing their own Legos to the meetings. “We have big tubs of jumbled-up, mixed-up Legos that we put on the tables,” Pastor Nick says. Once the kids are done playing, the Legos go back into the tubs for next time.

All ages are welcome, and the church even has a supply of Lego Duplo toys, designed especially for younger children. Parents of older children are welcome to stick around for the entire program, although they’re not required to do so; those with very young children are asked to stay the entire time.

For more information, email Pastor Nick Nielsen at [email protected].