MECHANICSBURG, Pa., (BRN) – Vacation Bible School (VBS) has been a common summer ministry in churches for decades. But, have we stopped to consider whether VBS really is important? And if it is still an important ministry, how can we make it more effective?
At the Baptist Resource Network’s (BRN) fourth annual Advance Evangelism Conference on March 17, Christy Kraus, BRN VBS consultant and kids’ ministry director at Wrightsdale Baptist Church in Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania, led her first breakout session as a BRN consultant. During her breakout session, Christy asked and answered these exact questions about VBS.
Christy started her breakout by asking the crucial question: is VBS important? Or, perhaps more clearly, does the Lord still work through VBS? Her answer is a resounding yes.
According to research conducted through LifeWay’s VBS resourcing ministry in 2024, church’s utilizing LifeWay’s VBS curriculum resulted in:
- 65,301 professions of salvation
- Over 7 million dollars given to missions
- 835 decisions made for vocational ministry
- Opened doors to over 160,000 people as “gospel prospects” (those related to kids attending VBS)
These are extraordinary results! The fact remains: God is working through VBS ministries.
Clearly, VBS is still important. So, the question now is: how can we make it most effective? Christy spent the rest of the breakout by answering this question. She gave three broad strategies for making VBS as effective as possible: expanding reach, expanding growth and expanding impact.
There are many resources and ideas that Christy gave for how churches can expand their VBS reach. One of the biggest ways is through restructuring the format, re-thinking the schedule or completely changing the format/theme to fit the community context.
As an example, Christy shared that there are a number of farms in her community. The theme that kids are interested in, unsurprisingly, is the Wild West. By changing the theme to fit their community context, they have expanded their reach to include more kids.
For expanding growth, Christy suggested a few tips about caring for and equipping/training volunteers. Christy gave the example of how her church provides a meal for the volunteers and their families each night during the VBS week.
This is such a great way to thank the volunteers for their contribution, and makes it much more feasible for them to participate (especially for those with families). She also described how each volunteer is trained to share the gospel contextually given their unique role. So, in each rotation – games, snack, lesson, etc. – the kids are hearing the gospel again and again!
As a VBS ministry, Christy and her church decided on a big goal: for the kids to hear the gospel in each and every rotation. By God’s grace, this ambitious goal was reached.
As another way to expand growth, Christy emphasized changing things up from how they “have always been done.” She encouraged having volunteers switch up where they are serving to really cater to their gifts. Just because “Betsy has always done games” doesn’t mean that Betsy always needs to do games each year. What if Betsy is great at telling Bible stories to kids? Or what if she is really gifted in some other area?
Christy also talked about the many ways a church can expand its impact through VBS. She mentioned a recent change her church made: having the final VBS celebration on a Sunday, following a church service where the gospel is presented to the parents.
I really like this idea because it keeps the VBS program and the normal life of the church deeply connected, and it is a great bridge to inviting community members into the church community. Christy also emphasized how it’s important for a church to sit down and define our goals for a VBS program and really think over what we want this outreach opportunity to accomplish.
VBS is still a very important, effective ministry in reaching the community and bringing kids to faith in Christ. By thinking strategically about goals, theme, structure, schedule, training volunteers, giftings of volunteers and connection to normal church life, a VBS can go from an isolated, exhausting week that has seemingly little impact, to a fun-for-everyone, gospel-advancing, church-connecting, much-anticipated event that brings many in the lost community into a divine encounter with Jesus Christ.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,” – Matthew 18:1-5 ESV
BRN churches are encouraged to contact Christy Kraus if they are seeking help in starting a VBS or looking to reimagine VBS at their church. Christy can be reached at ChristyK@brnunited.org.
“Missions Minded” is a monthly column written by Jack Elliot, Missions Mobilizer for Nehemiah Teams. Each month, Jack will explore a different topic or spiritual discipline and relate it to the field of missions – a field close to his heart! For more information about how you and your church can get involved in impacting the nations, please feel free to contact Jack at jctn@protonmail.com.
