A Random Thought about VBS vs. Bible School
At Central, VBS is in the books, but we are right in the middle of VBS season. I know a lot of congregations that have their Vacation Bible School in July, and some even have it in early August. With all these going on, I wanted to share something that has been on my mind for many years about VBS and how it compares with our “regular” Bible school programs.
Now, before I share it, let me say this: I am not “anti-VBS.” I love VBS! It is a lot of work, but, when done well, can be a tremendous tool to teach children, to encourage members, to involve members, and to reach out to the community. I think, when done well, it can be one of those “highlights” on the annual calendar. So, this post is not saying to stop doing VBS or to stop going all out for it.
But here is what I want us to think about. It is something I shared with one of our members not that long ago, and they said, “That’s interesting. I’ve never thought about it, but you’re right.”
It is this: we go all out for VBS–decorating like crazy, coming up with creative ideas for our lessons, and involving tons of members–and it is over in four or five days. But then, when it comes to our “regular” Bible school classes, we will often barely do more than recover a bulletin board (if we even do that), and that class will typically last 13 weeks and meet 26 times.
Why is that? Why will we go all out for something that is going to be over in a few days, but then will hardly lift a finger for something that will last much longer?
Additionally, we are often teaching the same things. For example, you might have a VBS that is centered around the life of David, so you decorate like crazy with all this stuff that reflects the “angle” of the way in which you are going to talk about his life. But then, when there is a whole quarter of study in our regular Bible class program on David, we might put up a poster on the wall and call it a day. All the while, we are going to be thinking about David for the next three months–not 5 days.
I realize that VBS is meant to be “special,” and that there is something to that. Like I said, I am not anti-VBS; I love VBS. But if we are going to teach our precious children about the Bible, isn’t that always special? Isn’t that worth going all out for regularly?
Just something to think about.
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AUTHOR: Adam Faughn