It’s time for vacation Bible school, or VBS, as we commonly call it. Many of us participate in this summer camp type experience, either as volunteers or as participants. While I wholeheartedly believe in community outreach and teaching the Gospel, I do not always send my children to VBS. Why not? Here are some pros and cons of VBS as I see it.
Pros of Vacation Bible School
- Many creative church members get a chance to use their gifts. Got any artists, actors, crafters, or bakers in your congregation? This is one of the few opportunities for them to contribute to the life of the church.
- It offers a short-term volunteer opportunity. This allows church members to learn more about themselves, form relationships, and help out in a meaningful way without making a long-term commitment.
- It is a fun way to reach out to children in the community with the love of Jesus. This is the whole point of VBS, but it depends greatly on how well the event is advertised. Some children are invited who may not otherwise step into church. I have more to say about this in the Cons below.
- It offers an opportunity to share the Gospel with children. It surprises me how many church kids do not know the Gospel and maybe that’s why so many church-going families send their kids. Perhaps the thinking is, if the children won’t listen to their parents, maybe another adult will reach them. For some, it works. After all, according to a Barna study published in 2004, 64% of born-again Christians made their commitment to Christ before their 18th birthday. Many of these folks heard about Jesus at vacation Bible school.
Cons of Vacation Bible School
While there are many great reasons to send a child to vacation Bible school, there are also some great reasons NOT to send your kids. Especially if you have special needs kids, you might reconsider unless you plan to accompany your child.
The format is often not special needs friendly.
Vacation Bible school is loud. It can be confusing, too, with the constant moving from room to room. Food allergies are not always handled well. The child with ADHD, dyslexia, Asperger’s, or other invisible disability, sometimes exhibits misunderstood behaviors. Parents, because they don’t want their child stigmatized, don’t tell the volunteers about their child’s challenges, either. I encountered a mother who didn’t tell us her son had Asperger’s and when he started acting out, the leader thought it was a discipline issue. Because I have a child with Asperger’s, I stepped in. Even so, that child didn’t come back the next year.
Remedy
If you have a child with special needs, consider being your child’s “aid” or asking for a dedicated volunteer to accompany your child. Send your child with his own snacks and be sure to inform the staff (sometimes repeatedly) of your child’s challenges. Offer suggestions and a heads-up for challenging situations, such as noisy hallways and gyms or classroom time with the “sit and listen” expectation. The worst thing you can do is try to deny or hide that your child struggles. If you do, he will likely hate VBS, defeating the whole point of sending him in the first place.
Volunteers do not attend training sessions.
This goes along with the first “con.” As a volunteer myself, I know that this happens far too often. People volunteer to help at vacation Bible school and then don’t attend any of the training sessions. This means that they don’t know how to handle discipline, medical or learning challenges, and security issues. I have also seen youth volunteers who were only there to collect the required volunteer hours for school. These youths spent a lot of time on their phones and gathering in stairwells, not helping the leader.
Remedy
Unfortunately, as a parent there is little you can do about volunteer preparation. But, you can ask questions. How do they handle discipline issues? What is the emergency or security protocol? How much does the program depend on youth volunteers and are they all supervised by an adult volunteer who holds them accountable?
It is supposed to be a community outreach, but 90% of the children are from the congregation.
Far too many church members see it as a free week of camp that is fun and safe. Yes, if you offer a prize, some of the “church” kids might bring a non-Christian friend. Often, no one follows up with the invited friends, either.
Remedy
As believers, we can do a better job of encouraging our neighborhood kids to come. Passing out flyers, offering to carpool, and inviting them to our homes are just a few ways we can reach out to them. Expecting our own children to invite a friend or two can also be part of the solution. Then, our relationship with them opens the door to follow-up. Instead of just sending our own children so we can get a break or so they can hear someone else preach, let’s think bigger. This is our opportunity to spread the Gospel to unbelieving children who just might choose Christ. And, they might not be part of the youth leaving church. And, vacation Bible school might impact them more than church youth group just a few years later.
Since we homeschool going to VBS is a good way for my kids to have the chance to be in a class, changes rooms and teachers etc.
The VBS is put on by our best friends at their church.
Once the kids hit 7th grade they become Jr Crew leaders and in 9th Crew leaders.
My daughter was a crew leader for the first time today and it is such an great opportuniity for her to build leadership skills.
My 7th grader was not interested in being a Jr Crew leader. he is quiet, doesn’t sing the songs or do the hand motions so it was a good call on his part.
Thank you for sharing, Cynthia. I home school my kids also, so I wasn’t sending them to hear the Gospel. They went because they wanted to. Those same children have volunteered and that was their choice, too.
My church has good people that we respect coordinating the VBS event as well. It takes about 50 people to run it, though.
We like to send our kids as a way to get to know some new friends. We move around a lot, it’s a great way to get to know other kids fast.
I do have one that we normally keep home because she has food allergies and viral induced asthma. So any sort of mild sickness is a 2-3 week recovery for her.
Hi Julie, I totally agree with this article. I agree with you that even church kids can benefit from hearing the gospil. No matter how many times parents and sunday school teachers try to teach it, sometimes hearing a lesson in a new-looking setting decorated just for them, with new fun teachers and leaders, and hearing it in multiple ways (bible station, games station, mission station, music, ETC) can be helpful. VBS is often multisensory which encourages active participation. Also, not only is hearing the gospil important for children in the community, but many of them are facing hard things outside of VBS and VBS may be the place where they can feel God’s love. Even if they never attend church, we were successful at showing them God! As a volunteer, I stepped in for one week at VBS, and some of the lessons I taught the children stuck with me when I had the worst year a few months later. I also made friends with another volunteer (she’s a mom and I’m a college student) and decided to volunteer long-term as a sunday school teacher.
Unfortunately, I also agree with the cons you listed. Not all volunteers attend training; one solution we have here is that our director has handouts with the info presented at training and other materials handed out that can be emailed. As a parent, if your church has the problem of volunteers not attending training, I would suggest that the handouts be emailed to those who could not attend. We also have two training session dates, and everyone is emailed again after the first one to remind them about the second. I have also seen unhelpful youth volunteers, and I think the solution is to choose where you put them wisely. Many of our middle schoolers (particular newer ones) are assigned to assist Station Leaders in the classroom, but high schoolers and a few middle schoolers who also volunteer on sunday mornings and have relationships with a particular age group are assigned as crew Leaders. Also, crews travel in a group with other crews and there is usually at least one crew with an adult leader. This means that there is less opportunity for unsupervised time. Another remedy for parents in regards to volunteer training is to remind your teenagers (or your friend’s teens) about volunteer training. If you know your neighbor signed up to be a Crew Leader, remind them to check their email for the information. We also host a craft night for our whole church while the volunteers are in training, so you can suggest your church does this and then offer to bring friends who signed up to volunteer but their parents can’t get them to training.
As far as following up with nonbelievers, I’d also suggest that parents talk with other parents during dropp-off or pick-up or during a celebration service on sunday if your church does that. How hard is it to talk to the person behind you in the pick-up line? How hard is it to wait around until your child’s new VBS friend arrives for the day and then pull the caregiver aside and suggest a play date? If you only have teens, how hard is it to go to the VBS celebration, pick a family, and talk to them before the service starts and then invite them to go to lunch with you?
I also have a disability, and when I was younger, needed someone to help me at times. The cchurch did not have a special needs ministry, but they assigned two Crew Leaders to my group and made sure one was the right fit to help me as needed. I appreciate those Crew Leaders. At the church I am at now, they have buddies for children. I require less support as an adult and know how to ask for it. I also know that many parents with children with more severe disabilities fear being ostracised or kicked out of churhces (whether because of news articles or previous experiences). I think it’s important to remember that these parents are scared. One remedy I would say for churches is to make not sharing a need harder for a parent than sharing would be. For example, we have two questions on our registration form illiciting answers. The first is “would your child benefit form a special needs buddy” and the choices are “yes, no, or “I’m not sure, please contact me.” This question illustrates that dealing with special needs is a part of working with children and we are ready! This question also means that the parent whose child may need support to have a good experience is forced to either lie about their child needing that extra support or begin the conversation. It may be scary for the parent to disclose, but it will only help their child. We don’t have enough volunteers for this, but it might also be worth having floating buddies who can step in and assist children who do not have a disclosed diagnosis (maybe because their parents didd not disclose, tthey do not have a diagnosis, or their behaviors are due to trauma?” I would also suggest training Crew Leaders and Station Leaders in giving one step directions, redirecting, getting on a child’s eye level if you need to discipline, and other universal design principles. As a Station Leader, I did not ask children to read out loud unless they wanted to because I did not know each child’s comfort level. The second question on our registration form is “does your have any medical/alergy concerns we should be aware of?” with yes and no options and a place to explain. We also make all our snacks peanut-free. I know your remedies here are only for parents, but I wanted to extend the conversation further. I would also say to parents of special needs kids who want to volunteer, if the church will assign another volunteer to your child as a buddy, see if you can be your child’s Crew Leader, a Station Leader, or serve in another role where you get a break from your child but are still nearby. My friiend has children in elementary school so she lead a station for the preschoolers and let her children hang with their teen buddies and youth/adult Crew Leaders. Another mom with a special needs child helped make the snacks. Both moms saw their children during opening/closing and the snack leader saw her child at snack. If your church is not equipped with noise cancelling headphones I would bring some and ask the Crew Leader to keep them in the crew bag for the week. I’m sorry this is long; I’m passionate. Also, if someone does not have a supportive church, many VBS songs are online and I’m sure with some creativity you can find the bible lessons and do your own at-home VBS until you can find a supportive church.