I recently attended a VBS put on by another church in our area. Our church doesn’t do VBS but I like taking my boys if I can. As I was sitting in the back observing the thought came to me
“Why don’t churches treat each weekend like it was VBS?”
What if we:
1. Advertised – Every good VBS spends time and energy to get the word out about what your programing is and who is welcome. There are flyers, word of mouth, Web addresses. What would happen if we did this for the weekend?
2. Mobilized Volunteers – I noticed some volunteers at this VBS that seemed fresh. Most kids pastors put a huge push for VBS volunteers. What if people served on the weekend who are outside of who we would normally ask because we made a push.
3. Have a Team for followup
4. Have interactive Large Group
5. Have interactive small Group
6. Move the kids from station to station.
7. Have all the workers wear Tee Shirts that Identify them as staff.
How can we get churches to see the value of doing these things every weekend and not just one week during the summer?
Preach It!
I felt the same way when we ran VBS for the first time last year. I wish we could do that. But how do we get those voulnteers who answered the “big push” for one week to come every Sunday – with the same enthusiasm?
It would also help if we could kick the adults out of the gym (which is also our auditorium) so we could use it for kids’ min like we did for VBS!
and… passing this on to my weekend and midweek program staff.
Great observations!
JC, I am glad you noticed the soapbox firmly beneath my feet.
Maureen,
I think may either be a culture thing or a vision values thing. Either way the good news is they are both changeable. The bad news is both take time.
Coming up with a God given, Clear, compelling vision that is bigger than you is where you need to start.
Volunteers and Budget will always follow a clear, compelling vision.
Lastly never underestimate the power of prayer. God is a pretty big kids guy so you have that going for you. Pray, pray and pray then do what only you can do and let God do the rest.
Anthony, Thanks for your encouragement.
Sam, This is the foundation of the ministry I work for here in Pittsburgh. In fact I felt so strongly about it that I left local church income to work here. I still volunteer in local church CM. The LOGOS Ministry was created to give kids a VBS/camp experience every week instead of once a year. All of this to say I totally agree with you.
Tom
This is exactly the thought my boss had 6 years ago when I came on staff. My first day on the job was VBS. Then I was faced with the task of trying to determine what our mid-week program would be. So we sat down and asked ourselves, why not VBS every week? We designed our programming so that every weekend was the awesome fun we want our guests to experience and our mid-week was the focused rotating-centers and Bible training our kids and parents liked. As a matter of fact, we only did one more VBX after that and then saw we didn’t need to anymore.
You have taken it many steps further though with your thoughts about follow-up, volunteer excitement, and marketing. Really great thoughts Sam. Glad to have you out there on the big team.
Kendra and Tom,
Thanks for your comments. I think one of the main reasons I blog is it serves as a constant reminder I am not nuts. You guys rock.
sam