All posts tagged Vacation Bible School

Will We Do VBS this year?

By | February 25, 2011 | Holidays and Events, Vacation Bible School | 3 Comments
Flickr by FirstBaptistNashville

I have to admit, I struggled with VBS last year.  We visited a few other churches to see how their program was being run and to gather up ideas only to see the same faces over and over again.  We have kids that come to our VBS and never darken the door of the church again until next summer.  We have kids from Christian families that spend their entire summer VBS-hopping.

What does that all mean?  Does it mean the program is a failure? That it’s not making an impact? Could we use our financial and volunteer resources better somewhere else?

Is it enough to have kids hearing the Word of God for one week a year?  What if the kids at our VBS heard the same message at a different church last week?  Are we still being effective?

This year, we’re stepping out of our comfort zone a bit to try something new.  This doesn’t mean we’ll be done with VBS forever.   However, we’d like to explore the idea of engaging families a bit more and getting out into the community where we can.  We’re still kicking around ideas, but we’ve narrowed it down to Friday Family Movie night (inspired by a chapter in the Collaborate book) and weekly Story Time either at our church or in a local park.

What about you?  What kind of plans are in your summer-time future?  Are you rethinking VBS or is it still a strong and successful program in your community?

Other Links of Interest:

VBS Evaluation Form (originally posted by Wayne Stocks on Ministry-to-Children.com)

VBS Alternatives

Why We Don’t Do VBS (Grace Church Blog)

Get the word out about your VBS!

By | February 17, 2011 | Holidays and Events, Vacation Bible School | Comments Off
Flickr by Flickr Dave

Here’s some great ideas for publicizing Vacation Bible School (or whatever your summer big event is) in your neighborhood.  The ideas come from a member in our church (SpyGuy, to be exact).  Check them out:

  • Countdown Board Outside with “XX” days to go!  This could also be posted inside the church to generate excitement among the congregation.
  • Sidewalk Line-up: Have kids line up with signs with the events details on the sidewalk in front of the church for a few Saturdays before the big event.   If you have a particular theme, make sure you’ve got some characters out front too!
  • Yard Signs — similar to political ones.  Everyone in the church could take one and put it in their yard announcing the big event.   There is also a Pink Flamingo tactic that gets people talking!

What ideas have you used?

Thirteen Year Old Directs VBS: You Can Too!

By | February 16, 2011 | Holidays and Events, Vacation Bible School | 1 Comment
Flickr by Reagan's Travels

Just finished listening to an amazing podcast about 13-year old Jake who directed his church’s VBS program and plans to do it again next year!  The church has an average attendance of about 100 and he recruited over 45 volunteers to pitch and help with the 55 kids in attendance.  Here are some tips he shares in order for your VBS to be a fun R.I.D.E.

R: Recruit. You can’t do it alone.  There is a job for everyone.  Work with your volunteers to see what they are best suited for.

I: Impossible is not a very intelligent word. Give it a shot.  It might not be impossible after all!

D: Delegate. Once you’ve assigned jobs, let them go.

E: Experience. Give the kids the experience of the lesson.  They’ll remember it better!

He also shares lots of tips for what worked (and didn’t work) for them.  Listen to the podcast yourself.  This kid is great!

Egypt VBS Tips

By | February 15, 2011 | Vacation Bible School | 1 Comment
egypt_joseph--s_journey

Hard to believe it’s nearing VBS season already!  Last year, we did Group’s Journey to Egypt.

Here are some tips from our Vacation Bible School Evaluation Forms:

  • We had a Minute to Win it game time before the program officially started.  After kids were registered, they went into the sanctuary.  Instead of having them sitting around getting bored, we played 4 or 5 quick games, picking a few kids to come on stage and the rest were watching.  This was a great way to keep kids engaged and prevent the wild running around that usually happens!
  • Have a few people posted at the doors of the Marketplace.  We held our marketplace in the gym and sometimes in all the hub-bub, a few kids would try to wander outside to see the games or visit friends.
  • Make sure kids are gathered around the actors before the actual daily drama started.  Sometimes kids would miss half the message because they didn’t gather around fast enough.

What kind of tips do you have from your last Vacation Bible School program?

The History of Vacation Bible School

By | September 11, 2010 | Vacation Bible School | 5 Comments

It’s the siren call of summer.  The epic event of the season.

 

Vacation Bible School.

Where did it come from?  And where is it headed?

History of Vacation Bible School

The year was 1894.  A Sunday school teacher, Mrs. D.T. Miles felt she was too limited in her time to teach the Bible to children, so she began a daily Bible school during the summer.  This school lasted four weeks and enrolled forty students.

Eliza Hawes was next up to bat.  She was the director of the children’s department at EpiphanyBaptist Church in New York City, who started an “Everyday Bible School” for slum children rented the only place available—a saloon—to run a Bible school for six weeks during the summer in 1898. Included in her daily Bible school were music, Bible Stories, Memory verses, games, crafts, drawing, cook, and more.  Hawes continued her efforts for seven years.  By the time she retired from this kingdom work, she supervised over seven separate schools.

Dr. Robert Boville became aware of the Hawes’ summer program and recommended it to other Baptist churches. Boville established a handful of summer schools which were taught by students at the Union Theological Seminary. During one summer, one thousand students were enrolled in five different schools. In 1923, he began to promote VBS internationally and founded the World Association of Vacation Bible Schools.

If Boville is responsible for establishing VBS as a movement, Standard Publishing takes the credit for popularizing it. The publisher created a full-scale VBS program in 1923, divided it by grade level in 1948, introduced a single-theme concept in 1952, and by 1987, offered more than 120 tools for churches wanting to run a VBS. In 1998, the publisher reported that more than 5 million children attended VBS programs every year.

(Information found at Wikepedia)

Nowadays, Vacation Bible Schools litter the nation, popping up at almost every church each summer.  We call it our “big outreach event”, but is it really serving its purpose?  Many churches have tweaked the programs to make it more outreach friendly.  Some churches are scrapping it all together to provide VBS Alternative activities.  When you mainly draw kids from other churches and the children of the workers, you have to ask, “Is this really want we want our big event to be?”

When Vacation Bible School began, it was an intense program – four to six weeks of full time Bible learning.  And the school was usually smack dab in the middle of kids who didn’t regularly attend church.  Now we generally get the kids for 2 hours for four or five days.  During that time, we pack in crafts, contests, games, and hopefully some Bible learning too.  If you’re VBS is anything like mine, every night is a huge whirlwind, and I have to check my lesson book to remember the night’s theme!  Not good.

Which leads me to the question, has VBS seen it’s time?  Should we be looking for more effective ways of outreach? What do you think?  Email me your response: lindsey@growingkidsministry.com

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Vacation Bible School decorating ideas (Egypt and more!)

By | August 16, 2010 | Holidays and Events, Resources, Vacation Bible School | 2 Comments

I picked up some of these ideas at Group’s VBS U.  They are ideas for Egypt, but could work for many themes. 

  • Green umbrellas and carpet rolls make great palm trees.  If you want to go really crazy, here are some umbrellas that really look like palm fronds! Here’s another site that’s a little cheaper.
  • Carpet rolls also make great pillars
  • Often stores like Rite-Aid will clearance tents at the end of the season (those 10×10 pop up ones).  These can transform a gym into a vibrant marketplace!
  • Get some bricks and a 5 gallon bucket to build a well.
  • Think about what you would find… Crocodiles, sand, rivers, camels, pyramids, bugs, gold, baskets, frogs, art, jewelry, pottery, goblets, etc.

Here’s an Animoto video of our Egypt Decorations (much of which was borrowed from other churches, THANK YOU!)

Check out this site too: How to make a palm tree

What are your best decorating ideas?  Post a comment and let me know!

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