Fond memories! We had MYF meetings every Sunday night, with games and musis, and also sleep-away church camp in the summer. (But several of our youth pastors were gay, even back in the 50s. That's the Northeast Conferences for you.)
I hear you on the importance of good activities for kids. Try the Baptists -- most of them are still sticking to the Bible. And if anyone in your family, such as a grandparent or a stay-at-home parent, can take the kids to Community Bible Study, their teaching and activities are really great even here in a blue state.
For me, one of the most valuable parts of the Methodism I grew up with, which was then the Methodist Episcopal Church (not the UMC, the merger which ruined it), was singing, both in the choir and in the congregation. Later in life when trouble struck, the words of the hymns would come back to me. Only as an adult did I realize that most of the hymns are based rather literally on the psalms and scripture (not the praise song crap on the big screen monitors, but the real four-part harmony hymns in the Methodist Hymnall).
musis = music
Agreed!
I have been in a UMC choir since 2nd grade (some 45 years ago)
The music is the foundation of my faith awakening, and I’d miss that terribly.
I don’t know what I’m going to do.... A larger Baptist Church might be my only real option.