VBS Observations

Last week our kids attended Vacation Bible School at the church we've been attending (long story).  I snagged these pics from the church's Facebook page.

Caleb's class at snack

Can you spot Annalise?  Hint:  she's wearing pink.

Here's one I took of Natalie at the finale:

It was interesting for me to see how this VBS is run.  I did not stay for the whole program.  When I volunteered, I explained that being "this" pregnant, I preferred not to be in a position where I'd have to pick anyone up or do anything extremely strenuous.  Over the week I noticed a pregnant mom volunteering in the 4s, which must be exhausting, and she is at least as far along as I am.  I am a wimp, but I am a wimp with clean bathrooms!


What I did was called the "Missions Team" and basically our job was to coordinate the missions offering - sort the money for counting (which was actually done at a bank) and collect items donated for missions.  (There was some heavy lifting involved, but they got the teen volunteers to do that!)  They also used us as check in escorts, which really felt more useful than the money sorting.  Our job was done by 9:45 so I went home! (And cleaned bathrooms!)

Here are some particular things I noted:

1.  The morning check in at this VBS was very streamlined.  The first day: chaos, but I'm discovering that is a hallmark of a first day.   Each class had a check in person who marked them present and gave them a name tag - this was done on long tables that also served as a barrier between the entrance and the sanctuary.  For check in, the parents were not allowed to enter strongly discouraged from entering the sanctuary.  At the sanctuary doorway, my team and other volunteers took each child to their class's pews.  As the week progressed, we only did this for the littlest kids.  It worked nicely, but I think best of all, it looked secure - and on the whole, it was.

2.  Check out was also in the sanctuary - for all the children - parents were mailed a check out card with all your kids names listed.  Parents had to sign the card.  Present the card, collect the kid, exit the building.  Voila.

3.  This is the first VBS I've experienced where there was a fee.  It cost $10 per child to attend.  I know VBS costs a fortune - more than $10 per kid - the one I directed cost about $20 - $25 per kid, so we decided that this was fair.  On top of the $10 fee, the t-shirts cost $10 and nearly every child had one.  I had already told the kids we would not buy them, but my team leader wanted them to have them and she bought them each a t-shirt.  They also sold pizza and water at the end of each day.  To me this seemed like an awful lot of buying and selling.  However, when a church has an exorbitant VBS and everything is free - free food, free t-shirts, etc. it strikes me as bribery.  In the end, even with the costs, this VBS was filled to capacity.

4.  The missions time and offering were perfect.  It just reminded me so much of how disjointed our mission time was last year.  The mission focus was on a local medical center for children with chronic medical needs.  The kids totally identified with the children portrayed by the center's representative and enjoyed raising the money for the offering.

It makes me wonder - what is the goal of a VBS - to grow the church, to share the gospel, to educate children about the Bible?  And is it effective?  Do churches really grow as a result of having a big VBS? (Ours didn't last year.)  Is it even the same thing it used to be?  (Some churches here called it Vacation Bible Camp - as in day camp).  And does that matter?

In short, this was a very large VBS - so the personal factor was not that intense, but it was very well run and the kids had a fantastic time.  And our bathrooms are probably as clean as they will be for a long time!