Vacation Bible School
Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a week long day camp that some churches sponsor. It serves mainly as outreach tool though it seems most times the kids who attend are already in Christian homes. I’m sure there are churches out there who create and run a program of their own creation, but many churches purchase a themed program. This week is our VBS and we’re doing Group Publishing’s Serengeti Trek. And I have to tell you, I like it.
It seems scalable, so it’s not just for large church. You can follow the step by step instructions what to do and what to say, which is helpful if you’re totally lost or annoying if you’re pretty confident in what you’re doing. But if you’re confident, you can glean the main points you have to cover and just say it in your own words.
There are two kinds of teachers, one who prepares a single station (e.g. crafts, games, stories, etc.) and one who guides groups to the different stations. The groups are mixed ages, which is pretty cool. The interaction between the big kids and little kids can be fruitful. Prayer happens all the times in different ways, including call and response and praying for kids with different jobs.
Besides learning the key verse and lesson every day, they encourage the kids to act out what they learned. They recommend bribing the kids, but rather encourage kids to do it because it’s good and right and God likes it. I like the tone of it. It’s not manipulative, trying to get kids to say the prayer (you know the one). It has a genuine desire to have kids meet God.