Use VBS for all it’s Worth

Are you still deciding if you should have a Vacation Bible School this year? My congregation has found it to be one of the most effective tools the local church has in the areas of evangelism, outreach, extended ministries, training, and nurturing.

VBS is One of the Greatest Evangelistic Tools

In our church, we use VBS as an evangelistic emphasis, providing our workers with the latest VBS resources and teaching them to use these resources. We ask the teacher to find time during the event to spend with each child to see if anyone has spiritual needs that can be met by praying together. Many children find Jesus as their personal Savior because of this extra emphasis. That’s what VBS is about… and of course a lot of fun too!

During the invitation portion of one VBS evangelistic service, some children were responding to the Holy Spirit and kneeling at the altar to pray. I noticed a girl standing with tears streaming down her face. I put my arm around her and asked, “Would you like to accept Jesus as your personal Savior?” She looked up at me through tears and whispered, “Oh, yes, but I don’t know how to pray.” I took her by the hand, knelt with her by the altar, and showed her how to accept Jesus. The ultimate purpose of this ministry is to bring children closer to God.

VBS is an Outreach Tool

Our greatest success in this area came through one of our ladies who lives in a highly populated ethnic neighborhood. As always, she took VBS fliers to her neighbors, invited their children to VBS, and offered to take them in her car. She brought a few neighborhood boys and girls that year. They continued to attend church and are now regulars. These children began telling their friends about Sunday school. Soon we were filling a van. Before long, the bus was full, we had 30 children enrolled in our Caravan program, and 12 to 15 were regularly attending Sunday school and morning worship.

Another time, one of our church mothers who ran a home daycare talked to each parent and invited their children to VBS. They all came! The children learned about Jesus and went home excited about the activities in which they participated. Now every year in early summer, these parents ask the dates of our VBS so they can mark it on the calendar. Their children wouldn’t miss it for anything!

VBS Reaches into “Unreachable” Homes

One year I was going door-to-door with VBS fliers inviting children to attend. I had on a name tag and above my name it clearly stated “St. Paul’s Church of the Nazarene.” I came to one home, knocked on the door, and asked if there were any children who might like to attend Vacation Bible School at St. Paul’s Church of the Nazarene. The mother replied, “Oh, yes. I have 11 children. Come on in.” I began recording names and ages. I was on child No. 10 when I could tell from the conversation that the mother had caught the “St. Paul’s” but not the “Church of the Nazarene.” She thought we were from a Catholic church! The family was Catholic. After I explained about our church and told her about our VBS program, she said, “Oh, well… they’re all enrolled. I’ll let them go.” The 11 children attended VBS that year and heard the Word. Several became Sunday school members. Eventually, one accepted Jesus and joined the church.

VBS Extends Our Church Ministries

VBS adds many names to our church’s Accountability Care List (ACL). On our VBS enrollment cards, we indicate whether the children attend Sunday school and church regularly anywhere. If not, we add them to our respective age-level ACL. Then the teachers follow up with each of these VBS children.

The VBS program is always well attended. Many of the children bring their parents and other relatives. Then through intense follow-up, some of these families become Sunday school regulars because the ice was broken for the parents through the welcoming atmosphere of VBS.

VBS Tends to Unify Our Church

The whole congregation works toward this common purpose, gears up, and prays together. Everyone is caught up in teaching, driving cars, making cookies, creating posters, preparing crafts, or serving as prayer partners. It is a real time of unity and cooperative effort.

VBS Reaches Out into Our Community

It has helped tell our neighborhood that we care. It tells parents that we care enough about their children to provide a ministry especially designed and suited for them. Children are important to their parents and they are important to us. We have reached many community children through this program, many of whom have become involved in our church.

We Use VBS as a Tool to Train Workers

We assign individuals, especially teens, as assistants to work with experienced, creative teachers. This gives them on-the-job training. In later years, these former trainees become teachers and supervisors in our VBS. Vacation Bible School helps us mentor disciple makers by feeding us a core group of people who are trained and ready for service in other ministries.

The concentrated training program that always precedes VBS trains workers in new, effective discipleship methods. Some who teach in VBS are then willing to accept regular Sunday school assignments.

VBS Nurtures Christian Boys and Girls

Stories make their way back to the teachers of children who were nurtured through VBS about how it has made a difference in their daily lives. The only church contact many of these children have is through Vacation Bible School. The concentrated time for Bible study gives us a chance to really teach them God’s Word and His principles.

Two children who recently attended our VBS were playing together. One had a problem with foul language. The other looked at him and said, “Now stop that. Our VBS teacher told us that God said we are not to take His name in vain.”

Another little boy with no church background beyond yearly VBS attendance went home and shared with his parents what he had learned about prayer. They now pray before meals with their child.

A young lady who is now actively involved in youth ministry told me, “I’ll always remember the great time I had during my sixth-grade year in a VBS day camp. Some of the things I learned in our Bible study made a significant difference in my life.”

VBS is a fun and transformative ministry both for the children, their parents, and church workers. Don’t lose this chance to reach children’s hearts and the hearts of their families and close ones. Encourage your children to join VBS this year. Invite some of your neighborhood children too!