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The Best Way to Conduct a Great VBS
Vacation Bible School has been around for many years. Some churches call them Family Bible Schools, Summer Bible Studies, or something similar, but they are common events in summer time. Our congregation has found a VBS useful for studying the Bible and edifying both children and adults with a week of specially arranged classes. We have worked hard to learn from our experiences and to improve our service to God through this program. May we share with you some thoughts about the best way to have a VBS?
We've avoided turning VBS into snack time with a little Bible study thrown in for good measure.
Some churches call for volunteers to bake cookies, make popcorn, and mix the Kool-Aid for their kids. We don't do that here. The church has a greater purpose in mind than snacking and drinking. We serve up the "bread of life" (John 6:32-35) and drink "living water" (John 4:13-14). We're only here for ninety minutes each day, so eating and drinking should be done at home before coming to VBS (1 Cor. 11:34).
We use the Bible in our Bible School.
We don't study about the Bible, we study the Bible. There is a difference. Our VBS curriculum was conceived and developed by our group of teachers. Nothing in this VBS came from a can. It's homemade from scratch. Our teachers already do this on a weekly basis as they teach the text of Scripture in all of our usual Bible classes. So for VBS, we took the Bible, outlined its important principles on our subject and developed teaching materials to make these truths applicable to us.
We use the Bible in our Bible School.
We don't study about the Bible, we study the Bible. There is a difference. Our VBS curriculum was conceived and developed by our group of teachers. Nothing in this VBS came from a can. It's homemade from scratch. Our teachers already do this on a weekly basis as as they teach the text of Scripture in all of our usual Bible classes. So for VBS, we took the Bible, outlined its important principles on our subject and developed teaching materials to make these truths applicable to us.
We show children how to praise and worship God in singing.
God's Word directs us to use "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs" in our song worship (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). We do not use nonsensical, silly, hyperactive songs with our children, for that would leave a wrong impression in their minds about the worship and praise of God. We sing a mixture of songs from our hymnbook and "children's songs" used to teach important scriptural principles. We sing "children's songs" without being "childish". We avoid jumping up and down, shouting, clapping and anything not decent and orderly (1 Cor. 14:40). With this emphasis, we know for certain that God is pleased.
We pray for each student in our care and under our instruction.
Our teachers have lists of names of children expected to be at our VBS. There will also be walk-in visitors whom we do not yet know. But each child is mentioned in prayer to God by those who are teaching and guiding their young hearts to love Him and His Word. We have the aim of bringing people, both young and old, into a better understanding of God's will for their lives. We want those who come to know that we care for their souls. That is our priority in planning and implementing a Vacation Bible School. Will you join us in prayer for the hearts of these students who will be influenced by the Word of God?
We approach VBS as an offering of service to God.
For us, the letters V-B-S also stand for "Very Best Service". We try to always offer our best to God every week. But we realize that we will be exposing many children to the truths of Scripture for perhaps the first time in their young lives. That means we must do our very best this week, for sure. The apostle Paul saw his preaching the Gospel to Gentiles as an "offering" to God which he hoped would be "acceptable" to Him (Rom. 15:16) and so do we.
