VBS Go!
VBS Go! S
By Rev. Brad Anderson
mall, healthy churches might not have all the resources they want, but they have what they need. often-overlooked resource are other churches. This is an example of some churches banding togeth- er for the sake of the Gospel to put on a different type of VBS from what many of us were used to.
Connecting the Dots
A year ago I was invited to teach an adult VBS class at Bethel ARP in Winnsboro, SC, and it sparked an idea for ministry back here in Cayce. Bethel held an evening VBS that engaged the whole family, and that was something I hoped that our congregation here at Cayce Pres. would consider. They had a shared meal, VBS for their children, and a class for the adults. Throughout the week my mind kept thinking “How can we do this at our small church without everyone having to do everything?” A few months later, I, along with Russ Harless, pastor of Sherwood Forest ARP Church, and Justin
Brickey from IBL ARP Mission, received an email from the Director of Children’s Ministry at First Presby- terian Church in Columbia, SC, Hannah Lampman. Hannah wanted to try out a new “VBS Go” program to help smaller ARP churches in the area. Her team would use the material from their own VBS and adapt it to our needs. All three of us thought it would be a good idea.
Planning to Execution
Over the Spring months, Hannah kept up communication and we settled on July 18-20 with Thursday and Friday being from 4-7 pm, and Saturday being 10 am-12:30 with a celebratory cookout on Saturday afternoon. Yes, 4-7 pm seems like an odd time, but the design was for the kids to have VBS start at 4 pm, then for us to have a meal at 5:30 pm (so dads and those with day jobs) could join in for a meal together. Then once the meal was complete VBS would resume for the children and the adult class would meet from about 6-7 pm.
The VBS theme was an adaptation of the “Stellar VBS” program by Group Publishing for elementary
Light of the world” and that point is connected between Bible lessons, crafts, and recreation. Hannah has always done a great job at adapting a general curriculum into Biblically rich lessons that are memorable for kids. Beth Grider added a special for a missionary story using Child Evangelism Fellowship’s mate- rial. Our kids loved all the cliffhangers that CEF is well known for and we were thankful they got to hear the kids attending and they loved every minute! The three ministers would share the teaching for the adult class. Our topic was “The Story of the Bible.” That topic was divided into three sections: The Story of the New Testament, The Story of the Old Testament, and The Story of Redemption. We wanted our people to be able to answer the simple but chal- lenging question “What is the Bible all about?” if someone were to ask and knew nothing about Scripture. What a joy it is to have four churches breaking bread together and getting to know each other. This
was probably my favorite aspect to the whole effort. Since this was a partnership between churches, we shared meal responsibilities. Thursday night Cayce Presbyterian supplied dinner while Friday night IBL brought some great authentic Mexican dishes for everyone to enjoy. Saturday’s cookout was a great way to have one last shared meal and for our kids to enjoy a slip-n-slide to close out our time together.
Lessons Learned
With this being a different type of VBS for us we needed to simply plan, enjoy, and take notes. Things we want to consider for next year: What did everyone think of the 4-7 pm timing? How can we get word to our congregation and communities better? Can we handle expanding to more evenings? What like this? We knew the whole time that this was a worthy experiment. I kept mentioning to those involved, “This is a baseline for the future” and a learning process for us all. As ARP churches who love to be con- nectional, we should combine our efforts more often. It’s a joy to know other ARPs out there do this very thing fairly often, and this effort shows that the covenant community of God’s people can truly work together for his glory. The Word and Gospel were communicated to adults and children, fellowship of believers and breaking bread together was a sweet time, and at the center was the desire to glorify God and spiritually grow his church.
Reverend Brad Anderson is the pastor of Cayce Presbyterian Church in Cayce, SC. September/October 2024 15 hat they need. An
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