News / Education
Don't waste your VBS time or money
Think strategically when planning Vacation Bible School
Wooley asked the crowd how many of them personally knew of families who were reached and brought to faith in Christ during a follow-up visit. Hands were raised all over the room.
"We have the numbers from 2007’s VBS that tell us more than 88,000 people attending VBS made professions of faith," Wooley said. "What we don’t have numbers for, but know to be true, is that in many cases moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents and friends of children came to know Jesus because of the child’s participation in Bible School and the home visits that followed."
LifeWay hosted four VBS Preview Events during January; one each at LifeWay Glorieta and LifeWay Ridgecrest conference centers and two at the LifeWay home office in Nashville, Tenn. About 3,300 people attended these events.
Follow up by planning ahead
Effective follow-up doesn’t happen without a plan, said LifeWay network partnership specialist Ken Marler, who led a session on VBS follow-up.
The first plan for follow-up is planning ahead, Marler said.
"Involve the whole church in getting ready for VBS," he said. "Most churches will use just about every inch of space for VBS, and, yes, some of the classrooms will get messed up and something will get broken. But, if you let the old folks know that a group of first-graders will be using their room for Bible School, and you give them the teachers’ names and the names of each of the students and you ask these folks to pray for every one of those teachers and children by name, you’ll be surprised how much buy-in they’ll have."
He also suggested that January and February are good months to start talking up VBS.
"I know one church that brings out people in last year’s VBS T-shirts and they sing one of the songs. Then, they switch into this year’s T-shirts and do one of the new songs,"
Marler said. "That’s exciting! At least once a month, do something to promote the upcoming VBS during the Sunday morning worship service.
"If you promote VBS you’ll have a good crowd."
But the planning and promotion will all be in vain if you don’t finish the race with good follow-up. Looking at the numbers requires VBS leaders to take the responsibility to keep up with the children following the week’s event.
Marler offered the following suggestions:
1. Set goals. Plan to follow up. First, decide quickly to make follow-up visits and then determine how many leaders should be involved. Second, set up teams. Finally, at each visit, have information about the church and Sunday school ready to give to each family.
2. Include adult class leaders and children’s department leaders. Before VBS even begins, enlist leaders to visit each child’s home after VBS. Not only should there be a plan for the children, but also bring along adults from an appropriate class to visit with the parents.
3. Registration must be correct. Start pre-registration early. The more children you pre-register, the more likely you’ll be to get all the information correct. You won’t have that big rush on the first morning. Fill out an information card for every child who comes to VBS, even the children who are regular church attendees. LifeWay offers VBS Tools Online as a simple way to keep all the information organized. Visit LifeWay.com/VBSTools.
4. Consider a VBS follow-up director. The follow-up director should be someone who is not heavily involved in the VBS week activities so he or she will be fresh when the week is over. He or she needs to select and enlist team members. Their job is to coordinate VBS family visits.
5. Report VBS follow-up efforts to the congregation. From the pulpit, enthusiastically remind the congregation that VBS was a big success. Tell them how many children participated and how many families benefited from the follow-up. Remember, too, that some "follow-up" goes on all year long.
6. Establish a VBS prayer ministry. This is a ministry that can be active all year long, not just for the month leading up to VBS. Make a VBS prayer calendar and distribute it to the entire church.
7. VBS never ends emphasis. Throughout the year, remind people of the upcoming theme. For example, in January play a VBS music video. When the director is selected, introduce him or her to the congregation and let that person remind church members of the VBS date.
8. Testimonies and interviews. Throughout the year, let people who have been touched by VBS give brief testimonies of how they were changed. When those who received Christ because of the influence of VBS are baptized, tell the congregation.
9. VBS Day in Sunday school. Put fliers in the information boxes that remind classes of the theme. Have theme-appropriate decorations in the hallways. Begin VBS enrollment in the Sunday school classes where parents can register their children.
"The bottom line is this: VBS is inconvenient, it’s hard work and it costs money," Marler said. "I don’t think there is any person in this room who would say otherwise. It is hard, but I believe it is absolutely the most rewarding week in the church year."
For 2009, LifeWay offers two lines of Vacation Bible School curriculum. The main line is Boomerang Express: It All Comes Back to Jesus, set in the Outback of Australia. The second line is Club VBS: Truth Trek, set at an archaeological dig site. For more information on both lines, go to www.lifeway.com/vbs and check out LifeWay VBS on Facebook.
