By Andy Johnson, Pastor Cross Roads Baptist Church Farmerville
The vast majority of Baptist churches throughout Louisiana – and across the country – will hold Vacation Bible School during the upcoming summer months. Some even do it twice a year.
Whether it revolves around alligators, pandas, apples, or big pirate ships, there is always a ton of work to be done to transform pristine sanctuaries and educational facilities into a broad array of sounds, colors, and themes designed to widen the eyes of children – ranging in age from 3 years old all the way to 12.
There are lessons to be learned, videos to watch, games to play, crafts to construct, cookies and punch to be consumed. There is also music to sing and gyrate to, and humor to be enjoyed.
And of course, there are decisions to be made.
As a VBS volunteer, you may find yourself asking if all the fuss is worth it – all the tireless hours spent decorating, the countless evenings given to cut paper, tape posters to walls, color pictures, all the hopes your efforts will result in a worthwhile experience for all the kids to enjoy – all without destroying the drywall.
Though the aforementioned decisions about themes and decorations may be important, they are not the most important.
The most important decisions that take place during Bible School are the ones that are made during the event itself.
Let’s say it is day number three of VBS and you are in charge of the Kindergarten and first grade class: You’re tired, your body is fatigued, your evening meal has consisted of punch and cookies for the last two nights – and this evening is looking much the same.
One rambunctious 5-year-old in your class has tap-danced on every nerve since the beginning of the week, and you are silently promising yourself that next year when the pastor is seeking volunteers you will go missing in action.
While it may have been a long week, the rambunctious 5-year-old comes and wraps his arms around your neck and tells you how much he has enjoyed VBS.
Moments like these are what make Bible School matter. The beauty of loving a child in the same way Christ would, goes far beyond everything we “endure” to make VBS a success.
VBS dates back to 1894 when a public school teacher in Hopedale, Illinois, D.T. Miles, felt restrained in her ability to teach the Bible to children during school hours.
Miles decided to open her own “Bible School” during the summer months. She enrolled forty students her first summer and the school lasted four weeks.
In 1898, Eliza Hawes, director of the children’s department at Epiphany Baptist Church in New York City, opened an “Every Day Bible School” for slum children in New York City’s East Side. In order to go where the children were, she rented a beer parlor to hold the school, and continued to do this for the next seven years.
Bible Schools began to spread across the country during the early twentieth century. The demand for curriculum became so prevalent that by 1923 Standard Publishing produced the very first Bible School curriculum.
Enough material was printed for each Bible school in the country to hold a five-week course.
VBS has come a long way since its early days. Many churches hold their VBS meetings for an entire week. Some, conduct three-day events and there are some who hold one-day Bible Schools. Whatever the case, Bible School has been around a long time and probably isn’t going away soon.
There’s one aspect of VBS that is not often mentioned. Though it is focused on children, we rarely pause to see the benefit adults obtain from their involvement.
Through all the hours of constructing, engineering, copying, coloring, cutting, pasting, and preparing, fellowship is enjoyed and community established.
Additionally, the decisions that result from VBS can impact adults just as much as they do children. It could be that some adults remember a time when VBS impacted their life in a personal way.
In June 1986, one young man sat with the rest of the children in his class during the final day of VBS. The pastor gave a simple Gospel message explaining the “ABC’s” of salvation.
As the pastor extended the invitation for the children to receive Christ as their personal Savior, the young man nervously gripped the pew in front of him. He knew he was lost. He knew he needed to trust Christ for salvation.
He finally left his seat, stumbled across his fellow classmates, and ran to the pastor, and said, “I want to be saved; I want to receive Christ into my heart today!”
The young man’s name: Andy Johnson.
So as I cut, color, copy, tape, staple, hang, and prepare for Bible School, the fatigue doesn’t seem to bother me so much. I realize there may be another kid just like me in who will attend VBS – a child who is lost and needs to meet the Lord Jesus.
That’s why VBS matters to me.