Relevancy?

Vacation Bible School

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Is Vacation Bible School still relevant today? Isn’t it just “free babysitting”, “too expensive”, and “only attended by our own church kids”?   Isn’t it impossible because “no one volunteers”, not necessary because “the other churches in town already do the same VBS”, and not important because, “VBS isn’t really about discipleship”? Last year Lifeway did a research study examining the attitudes and spiritual lives of Americans, and they came up with results that shatter some of the current myths that discourage us from embracing Vacation Bible School as a time-tested evangelistic discipleship tool that provides real experiences and social interactions that people in modern society so desperately need.

I have over 22 years of experience leading Vacation Bible school, first helping, then teaching, directing, and for the last seven years, it has been my privilege to be VBS Training Coordinator for the San Diego Southern Baptist Association (SDSBA). For the last two years, I have served on the state training team and have attended the national training in Dallas. Obviously, I wholeheartedly believe in the value of Vacation Bible School, but even I was surprised at the statistics that came out of Lifeway’s study and were presented at this year’s training conference by Landry Holmes. Six out of ten Americans attended Vacation Bible School at least one time in their lives, and of those who attended, nine out of ten agree that VBS both positively impacted their spiritual growth and helped them better understand it. 81% said it was the highlight of their childhoods. But even more impressive is that 61% of those who never even attended VBS have a positive view of it.  VBS is an American institution with amazing “brand loyalty”, and so if you haven’t done one at your church lately, it may be time to take a second look at it. If you are planning a Vacation Bible School, these statistics should give you a renewed sense of purpose and encourage you to rely on God to help you recruit workers and focus on what really matters, the chance to share the good news of Christ.

The annual VBS Volunteer Training Clinic on Saturday, April 27th at Del Cerro Baptist Church was part of SDSBA’s commitment to helping our churches reach their communities with the gospel.  Over a hundred people representing 27 different churches.  began with a time of fellowship over a delicious continental breakfast, (the bacon was especially popular), prepared by Kathy Wakefield. Darcie Hatch organized a VBS store where people could order supplies from Lifeway or Oriental Trading for no shipping costs. For the first time in several years, we were able to offer individual breakout conferences for every age group from birth through adults and for every rotation: crafts, missions, music, snacks, and recreation.  As most years, the most popular breakout was for VBS Directors, led by Pam Gage. Pam shared how novice VBS leaders from a church who is doing VBS for the first time in many years was advised by the veterans at the conference to recruit workers starting with prayer and by personally asking people one on one. The churches exchanged contact information and the dates of their events so that they could share decorations and supplies. At the close of the clinic, all the samples in the store were given away as door prizes. The grand prize was a free rental of the Association’s Party Trailer. The trailer is a natural fit for VBS, because it includes all the equipment needed to do a kickoff event or a closing celebration for a much lower cost than renting from a commercial vendor.

If you didn’t get a chance to attend this year’s clinic, it’s not too late to get help with your Vacation Bible School. Feel free to contact me at meagconner@gmail.com. I’ll leave you with one final statistic: 69% of parents surveyed said that they would encourage their child to attend a church event at a church they don’t normally attend if they were invited. VBS is the time-tested church tool to take advantage of this. So please join me in prayer for all the churches doing Vacation Bible School this year.