Vacation Bible School (VBS)

As a teacher's kid, I was familiar with the fact that there were various publishers and themes, and would attend as many VBS's at various churches as I could, trying not to go to a "rerun." Went so far as calling churches and asking what they were using before I went.

I'm hooked! I've been running VBS at my church for 11 years now, and have a great time every year.

 

What is the difference between the superintendant and the director?

 

I was saved during VBS 46 years ago.

 

The Lord and my Pastor had been working on my heart for awhile prior to VBS, but the "sermon" that got me to thinking at home, and which eventually lead to my accepting Christ as Lord and Savior was the one given during a talk by the Pastor to our VBS group.

"False conversions" happen at VBS, but kids who probably would never attend regular church will attend VBS, and I've seen that many of the "VBS false conversions" stay with churches until they truly meet the Lord later in life. So I have nothing but praise for VBS.

 

One time I was talking with a kid on the beach about salvation. He told me that he was waiting for Vacation Bible school so he could ask Jesus in his heart. He had heard the message the year before and didnt do anything about it, but he was ready. Isnt that sweet?

(And no, he didnt wait til vbs to do to. )

 

I love VBS! As a child, my friend and I would go to all of the churches in our neighborhood (including our own) and attend. It kept us busy day and night! lol

I will probably be a "floater" since my work schedule doesn't allow me to be there at 6. But I'll do what's needed.

 

VBS is a fabulous opportunity to present Christ to children. Decisions made by children at our church are always followed up by our Children's Minister with the parents and the child.

My two oldest children were saved(and baptised) as a result of VBS. This year my youngest is beginning to understand what Christ did for us. She's not fully ready yet, but I have high hopes for next year!

 

We had ours last week.
Had 162 kids show up and 12 got saved. Biggest VBS we have ever had.

 

Doing ours right now, started Sunday evening and are going through to Thursday evening - we had 127 children last night, and lots of adult volunteers. We also have two "Adult Options" sessions; another man and myself are leading a different discussion session based on five A.W. Tozer articles each night. Then some of the ladies have another adult group that they are leading. VBS is a worthwhile thing for a church to do - I have seen lots of new faces this week. Bruce

 

We used to hold one at a Community Center in the poverty striken area of a large city. It was always at the end of the month, and our refreshments were sandwiches. Kids could have as many as they wanted so they could take them home to their families whose grocery money usually ran out before payday came.

Parents could come and learn job skills while the kids did the usually VBS things.

Some of my fondest memories are from those VBS classes.

 

I remember, as a child, VBS was all day and 2 weeks long. We learned the books of the Bible and lots of verses. One at day, a least! The crafts were incredible. I remember making a rooster 'painting' out of different beans and peas. Very intricate. I don't remember my mother ever working VBS.

The children have such fun! We had 384 on Monday but I'm not sure if that includes the workers or not. I would think it did.

 

We are having around 100, workers included. That is huge for our little rural area and church (normal is around 50 in SS). I love VBS!!!!

 

I loved VBS growing up. I always wanted to answer every question so I could get a certificate at commencement.
I know before God called me to missions I was in the pastorate for a while. I think doing away with commencement is a terrible thing. It is a great time for the pastor to preach the Gospel to folk who might not ever come into church otherwise. One year our little church was packed with about 200. I preached a simple Gospel message and had 2 mothers accept the Lord.

I'm just saying VBS can be a great tool to win souls young and old if it is geared right. I personally think that the pastor ought to be visible during VBS if nothingelse. I would prefer to close it out each night myself if I was the pastor. Kind of bring everything to a point.

 

We did our VBS last week (July 25 - 29).

Peak night attendance (Tuesday) was 1,952. Average nightly attendance was right around 1,900; along with approximately 450 workers.

We find that in general about 1/3 are our kids, 1/3 come from other churches, and 1/3 are "unchurched".

6:30 - 8:30 P.M. Monday - Friday. Roughly 30 minutes in the Worship Center (singing, skits, etc.); 30 minutes in the outdoor carnival (9 hole mini-golf, food tent w/ popcorn, cotton candy, sno-cones, mini-donuts, etc., hayrides, inflatable giant slide & jumpers, various games, etc.); and 60 minutes of classroom time (Bible lessons, verse memorization, etc.). We rotate various age groups of the children among the various activities, so that (for example) the 1st - 3rd graders might be in the Worship Center, while the 4th - 6th graders are out at the carnival.

One of the highlights of the week for me personally is hearing 500 or so kids at a time all joyously singing kid's worship songs together!

 

show-off!
(well done, though)

 

LOL! Not my intent at all...

No seriously, we do run one of the biggest VBS's around here- although I know of a couple bigger than ours.

We've found it to be a wonderful outreach in our surburban area, and it does give us a high profile in many regards. Folks who may not otherwise know too much about our church will know us as the church "with the huge Vacation Bible School". And I think that's a good thing.

We spent around $20,000 to put on VBS this year, and I think it was worth every penny- in terms of decisions made by many children, and also in various ways we minister to their parents during the week too.