Does Vacation Bible School really make a difference in a kid''s life?

[jmcrae]

I went to VBS when I was a kid, and I was always fascinated that everybody seemed to know the Bible off by heart. I wanted that, too, so I started reading the Bible every chance I had - and here I am, Catholic.

Yes, it had a positive impact on me. Plus, the magic shows and puppet skits were so much fun!

I’m doing a VBS this year as well, but there is very little “set design” involved - we’re going to be making our own snacks (no need for cooks) and the kids are going to be decorating their own puppets and story charts, and putting on the puppet plays for each other.

 

[puzzleannie]

I heartily sympathize with your feelings, every one of them. The answer of course is to do what I did and delegate. God has blessed us with a team of volunteers including a lady like yourself who has run the thing every year (yes I had her sanity tested, she is working with children after all). She “graduated” when her kids did and the youth group took it over and did a splendid job.

Some of her secrets:

find out what VBS program the Methodist church up the road used last year, borrow their “scenery” and build our program around that theme.

Teenagers are our friends. This whole thing could not work without them, they do all the grunt work–filling water balloons, making the animal puppets, running the games etc. and most of all hearding kids to the bathroom.

Be shameless about asking for donations of supplies, consumables, food and anything else you can think of, have the pastor write a letter for begging purposes and give you authority to sign a receipt, and hit up Walmart, they have to be the most generous business in the world, next your local supermarket chain.

And last, she would want me to share that having the kids walk through finger paint barefoot then on a strip of butcher paper to make a “path to follow Jesus poster” is not a great idea unless you are outside and there is a tub of soapy water and a hose, manned by another teenager, at the other end of the “path.”

Whether or not VBS aids faith formation I haven’t a clue, what it does do is provide a training ground for potential CCD volunteers in a time and commitment limited environment. My reason for starting in the first place was to provide a service project for teens and to give them some leadership and decision making under good adult supervision. For instance this year the YG members researched and chose the 5 saints one for each day of VBS, made the life size posters of each saint, found the story for each saint, wrote skit or puppet show to dramatize an incident from the life of each saint and so forth. It is actually the faith formation of the teens, and their grown in discipleship, in which I am more interested, and have to say that purpose has been fulfilled beyond my wildest dreams.

Do they then go off and lose their faith in college? Some do, RE, faith formation, YG, confirmation etc. are no guarantee against that. And some come back to surprise me in delightful ways.

I heartily endorse what Cat says. I loved VBS when my kids were little and it is the most fun you can have evangelizing. Our families have come back year after year and it has provided a gateway I would be hard pressed to find in any other way for bringing kids, teens and families back to Mass, back to RE in general, and back into parish life. That leads to marriage convalidations, completion of initiation sacraments, immersion in scripture and some surprising and unpredictable results. Our star VBS helper grad who is in the Peace Corps in Africa fell in love with Africa in part because of a VBS program she helped lead one year.

 

[kristie_m]

My kids have done VBS for the past few years. I was OVERJOYED last year to find that a nearby Catholic church was offering it, because I was just at the point where I was growing concerned about the potential for confusing or blatently anti-Catholic stuff that my kids might be exposed to. (I hadn’t actually SEEN any, but heard stories). So last year my kids did the Catholic version and they and I BOTH enjoyed it immensely. Does it help them in their spiritual walk? Well, sure…they’re singing songs about God, learning about the saints and becoming aware of the social needs of others. They, of their own accord, began to lift up in prayer, people they had met or learned about thru VBS. (In the words of my 5 year old “God bless all the people who are poor, all the people who are sick and all the people who are dead.”) They share with me things that they’ve learned about different bible stories, and my oldest was able to relate that when she heard the same story during Mass…a time that is not necessarily kid-friendly. Will they hold on to this when the graduate from high school? I can’t say, but I do know that they are better off now for the experience.

So yes, it’s a LOT of work. And God Bless you for doing it!!!

 

[phoenixrrt62]

Hey, I thought it was free babysitting. Silly me.
(I kid, I kid!!)

I’d think everything has an impact on a child’s development, for good or ill.

My kid went to a few days of a VBS, simply b/c his babysitter’s boy was going there, and she signed my son up as well. I had no problem with it, he learned a few things about the Bible, and enjoyed himself a lot. If memory serves, I think he was about 8? Something like that.
He STILL gets bible tracts from this church and a BD card every year. (yeah, they followed us from KY to PA address wise.) I think it’s rather sweet, but probably a waste of paper, sad to say, as my kid’s claimed he’s an atheist.

They go all out with the VBS in the south, here in Philly, not so much. Perhaps it’s a bible belt thing? DK. One church in KY used to make this HUGE 3d billboard every summer advertising their VBS. I always wondered why they went all out like that for a few weeks of religious instruction, but, hey. To each his own.

 

[Ladyofthehouse]

Cat, that was a beautiful response. Thank you for sharing that with us.

 

[Cat]

Cat, that was a beautiful response. Thank you for sharing that with us.

Thanks. Lots of people on this thread have such good ideas and suggestions.

My mother (RIP) loved children (she had 10 brothers and sisters, and they weren’t Catholic!). She had a philosophy that she shared with me, and I used with my own children.

“It takes very little to amuse a child.”

One of the best experiences I ever had with older children (5th and 6th grade girls) didn’t happen in VBS, but in the next-best thing–church club (not AWANAs). There was snow, which in Raleigh, North Carolina, meant the the cancelling of pretty much everything. We cancelled our Wednesday children’s club programs and dutifully informed the television and radio stations so that they could announce it every ten minutes, along with the hundreds of other cancellations.

They didn’t cancel adult prayer meeting, so we went to that (me and the other teacher).

But…several of our club girls showed up anyway. They hadn’t heard the cancellation. (In retrospect, I’m wondering if their parents decided to take a chance and drop off their kids at church so that they could have a little “free babysitting” on a romantic snowy night).

We had nothing with us for a club meeting, not even a Bible study. But we told the girls to come one in and we would think of something fun to do. One of the girls said, “Let’s color.” (Remember, these were 5th and 6th grade girls, long past coloring age.) So we said, “Sure.” We got plain white paper and crayons from the Sunday school closet and sat at the table for the next hour and colored.

And talked.

I still remember that talk. It was deep stuff. I think that coloring gave the girls the opportunity to bring up heavy subjects without having to make eye contact or show their facial expressions. I and the other leader did our best to guide the conversation so that the girls would be helped to seek Christ throughout their lives.

It was awesome.

And after about an hour, one of the men (who had a bunch of boys show up for his club!) stopped by and said, “Hey, one of the guys is picking up some pizzas. Want some?”

Sure we wanted some! We told him we would write him a check, and he said, “Don’t worry about it. The guy is treating all of us!”

So we colored and ate pizza. And it was probably one of the best experiences with children that I have ever had.

My mother was right.

I think it’s great when adults in charge of VBS go all out to give the kids a fantastic, amazing, far-out, exciting experience that they will remember forever and ever! A crocodile! Wow! And I thought I was cool for bringing a salamander to VBS one year. Hey, if it were possible, I would bring an elephant with a beautiful lady on top!

I think we should always strive to do the very best we can for the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom.

And if the best we can do is coloring and pizza, then God WILL bless it! I don’t think the best necessarily means an elephant. Like my mother said, “It takes very little to amuse a child.” I think that a puppy would probably amaze most of the children! Or even a stuffed animal, or a drawing of an animal.

Whatever you do, do it with love, and God will bless it, and the children will see the love and appreciate whatever is done.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

On a side note …
I was rather dismayed when our parish started such a protestant activity.

How is it “Protestant” to learn the scriptures???

Rather than a “Vacation Bible School” why not try a “Vacation Catechism School”? Studying the bible would certainly be a large part of this, but why not also teach Tradition so our children will become well-formed Catholics?

Religious Education programs generally teach Catechism to the kids. This is something a little different for the summer.

 

[PaulinVA]

On a side note …
I was rather dismayed when our parish started such a protestant activity.
Rather than a “Vacation Bible School” why not try a “Vacation Catechism School”?

Why on earth?

It’s a great tool to be able to say, “Yes, we have VBS, too. Of course we do. We defined the Bible! Didn’t you know that? We are the original Bible-believing Church”

 

[rwillenborg]

I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone here who posted a reply.
Your responses were very encouraging and that was exactly what I needed!
And, yes, next year should be MUCH MUCH easier. We have decided to sort of divide the tasks into easy to manage bites, spell out instructions and, most importantly, be very clear with people how long each task might take.
After reading what everyone said I think I’m starting to get that VBS is about building relationships, mentoring and modeling more than it is about actually LEARNING facts and information, though that happens to. It’s about giving kids positive experiences in the church, and y’know what? that’s just fine by me.
It’s not how I personally operate - things that are supposed to leave me with the warm fuzzies never quite have, BUT, I can see how this would be immensely valuable for the children, and the older teens who help.
So THANK YOU!
I think this will be a great VBS year!

 

[rwillenborg]

Hey, I thought it was free babysitting. Silly me.
(I kid, I kid!!)

I’d think everything has an impact on a child’s development, for good or ill.

My kid went to a few days of a VBS, simply b/c his babysitter’s boy was going there, and she signed my son up as well. I had no problem with it, he learned a few things about the Bible, and enjoyed himself a lot. If memory serves, I think he was about 8? Something like that.
He STILL gets bible tracts from this church and a BD card every year. (yeah, they followed us from KY to PA address wise.) I think it’s rather sweet, but probably a waste of paper, sad to say, as my kid’s claimed he’s an atheist.

They go all out with the VBS in the south, here in Philly, not so much. Perhaps it’s a bible belt thing? DK. One church in KY used to make this HUGE 3d billboard every summer advertising their VBS. I always wondered why they went all out like that for a few weeks of religious instruction, but, hey. To each his own.

See you say you kid about the free babysitting, but…
I don’t actually think it’s that bad of an idea to use VBS as free babysitting.
Actually, if it wouldn’t be a logistical nightmare, my kids would go to every VBS in the county!
I mean, our VBs is $20 per kid for the week. They are there from 9 - 12:30 for five days. They do a craft, get a snack, watch a little movie, there’s a skit, there’s singing and dancing, there’s games. And at the end each kid gets a CD, a water bottle and a t-shirt. For $20 BUCKS!!! What a steal!! And, including the teen volunteers, the kid to adult ratio is 2 kids for every adult! That’s ALOT of supervision! For $20! AND, based on our VBS and the other VBS leaders I’ve talked to, if you can’t pay, it’s really not a big deal. If you just sent in a registration form and not a dime, no one cares. Your kid goes just the same.
I can’t believe parents DONT send their kids to all the VBS programs, honestly. I would. You simply can’t get babysitting this cheap!
I have heard that this is a very big deal in the south and in more rural areas. I’m in the Detroit area, and they’re everywhere, actually, but there’s ALOT of baptist churches, and I think it’s very big there. Outside of the city, it’s less of a big deal. Heck, the baptist churches will pick up your kid from home and take them there!
See, I wonder the same thing, too…all this work for a few hours of religious instruction, it seems like a waste. Which is why I started this thread in the first place, but if what everyone is saying is right - that it builds positive connections with kids and teens and adults, that it teaches teens to be leaders and role models, that it provides a good alternative to sitting around in the summer, then I think indeed this will be worth it. Or at least I hope so, or I’ll be really ticked!! LOL!
But then again, maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh on this VBS idea. I mean, I was the cynical kid. Who grew into the cynical adult. This whole ‘let’s all sign songs and dance’…yeah, I would have been the one rolling my eyes through the whole thing. But hey, I recognize that’s me, and probably most kids weren’t as jaded. At least I hope so!!
And my husband reminded me that the seed so to speak for why I went into genetics research, in the first place, the reason I’ll be in school until I’m dead, is because I really, really liked science camp in 6th grade, and who would have that ALL of that work should have gone into some punk 6th grader? So, I think it would be fair if I were a little more open to this VBS thing, too.
Well, here’s hoping!!! No turning back now!

 

[puzzleannie]

only want to add, that like so many things parents and other concerned adults do for their kids and others–scouts, coaching, VBS, catechist, booster club, moderator of the chess club, anything you can name–you may never know the outcome, you may never know the impact on one child you touched, one fellow volunteer you inspired, one child you motivated, relief that week gave to a harried parent who dropped her kids off that literally saved her life.

 

[Moscati]

My mom and aunt definitely used VBS as “guilt-free babysitting” when my cousins and I were younger. We made the rounds all summer–the Methodist church, the Baptist church, the non-denom church, and finally our C&MA church.

Most of those programs were in the evenings, though. I’d think it would be really hard to get volunteers for during the day.

 

[rwillenborg]

Cat -
your post was simply AMAZING.
I might have to steal some of your concepts to write in myt hank-you letter to volunteers.
Thank-you letter without Cat’s insight would be this ‘Um, thanks…and stuff’
Thank-you letter WITH Cat’s insight: Will bring adults to tears.

Seriously, your post was a real eye-opener!

 

[Crash001]

Does a 2 week soccer camp really make you a better player if you’re already good?

—I think you know the answer is, yes. There is always something new to learn and it gives the opportunity to re-emphasize (sharpen the saw) of the old.

 

[Cat]

Cat -
your post was simply AMAZING.
I might have to steal some of your concepts to write in myt hank-you letter to volunteers.
Thank-you letter without Cat’s insight would be this ‘Um, thanks…and stuff’
Thank-you letter WITH Cat’s insight: Will bring adults to tears.

Seriously, your post was a real eye-opener!

Thanks. VBS and club were my two major ministries in the Protestant church, along with piano, of course. And I love working with children. I love it even more now that my children are grown up.

Funny coincidence about this thread. Just yesterday, my older daughter (27) referred back to her VBS days. She is currently in New York doing research for her MFA thesis in stage management, and this is getting her involved with a lot of theater people and experiences. She texted my husband that she was watching a group do “human videos” like she did back in VBS.

I was amazed that she remembered–it must have been 15 years ago, at least. I created a VBS based on the Olympics, and each child (1st-5th grade) was allowed to select an “emphasis” where they would spend most of their week. The choices were

1. P.E.
2. Arts and Crafts
3. Music and Drama
4. Bible Quizzing

Every VBS attendee heard the Bible story and participated in discussion and workbook time. But outside of this, each student could select what they personally enjoyed the most.

In every emphasis, we involved various “experts” who helped teach the kids all kinds of interesting things about their emphasis, and related it to Christianity. E.g., local sports coaches were involved with the P.E. emphasis. My husband and I worked with the Music and Drama emphasis. etc.

My older daughter of course selected Music and Drama, and one of the things they did was a “human video” to the song “Thank You” by Ray Boltz. It was really touching. A “human video” is basically a pantomined piece done to music. It’s a nice, easy way to get kids involved in theater and give everyone a chance to do something, and there are no lines to memorize!

And my daughter remembered it all those years.

And now she does stage management for a living, and is working on a thesis about Conflicts in Faith and Art, which she hopes will help Christians to become more involved with theater.

In fact, I would say that my daughter grew up watching me “stage manage” many church “productions,” including VBS. Yes, being in charge of VBS is truly like running a huge theatrical production. And at every VBS, there is usually some kind of closing program, and my daughter watched me year after year put these programs together. The older she got, the more she helped with this, and by the time she was in high school, she and her sister were teaching at VBS. Now both girls are involved in activities where they work with children; my older daughter is a teacher with Christian Youth Theater, and my younger daughter coaches synchronized skating teams.

I’m sure everyone is getting tired of hearing me say it–VBS is a place where children meet people who become their heroes and role models, and they LEARN what “being a Christian” looks like in real life.

I think this is even more important in the Catholic Church, because the Mass is liturgical, and so the children do not see “real life” during the Mass, they see a glimpse into heaven and our heavenly life. The priest is wearing a long robe, and people are focusing entirely on the Lord Jesus and not doing their regular work (other than parents who are caring for their babies and children through out Mass).

At church-run activities like VBS, a child gets to see the priest outside of Mass, and gets to talk to him (hopefully) in a regular conversation, and see up close and personal what a priest does and says OUTSIDE of Mass.

Same for all the other people who are helping at VBS. E.g., a child will see not only an Arts and Crafts counselor, but also will see what a CHRISTIAN crafts counselor looks and acts like. They get to see how someone can use Arts and Crafts in their daily life to glorify the Lord and advance His Kingdom.

Or a P.E. counselor–how can someone be interested in fitness and exercise and active play, and at the same time, be a Christian?

Kids needs to see this–they need to realize that regular people are Christians, too, not just clergy and religious. They need to see what “real-life Christianity” looks like. Of course, they hopefully see this in their families, but sadly, that’s not always the case. Many families who attend church do not take their religion with them outside of the church doors.

 

[legeorge]

If these kids go off to college, read ONE Nietzsche essay, and decide they’re atheists, I swear, I will find them, and I will beat them with my Holy Catholic Bible. Even the protestant ones I will beat with the Catholic Bible because it’s bigger, so it will hurt more.’

HAHAHAHA That cracked me up! Probably because today was the first day of our own VBS, and I am still shell-shocked Sister recruited me to help put the program together. We didn’t buy anything pre-packaged because Sister said it was all either Protestant, or re-cycled Protestant wrapped up to look Catholic LOL! We only have about 30 kids at ours, I couldn’t imagine 250! God bless you!

And, I know what you are feeling. Sometimes I wonder what I am doing. Especially when you run into a jaded 7 year old!?!? They won’t sing, act in the play, participate at all. I wonder what in the world am I doing here? Is this all worthless? Then I remember that I am doing it for the greater glory of God, and even if one positive memory of someone happily living their faith and getting excited about God is all they ever get, that may be all they need. One day, they may look back on that one event, and it will make the difference. Well, I can dream, can’t I?

 

[CB_Catholic]

Does VBS really make a difference in a kid’s life? Everything makes a difference in a kid’s life. It’s all the life experiences that help form us, and something that’s positive is a lot better than something that’s negative. It’s another building block in a kid’s life, and, for some children, may be the only exposure they have at all to the Bible or anything religious in their life, and who knows at what point in their life they may come to Jesus because they remembered something from their childhood. It’s a good thing, a very good thing, to learn about Jesus and the Bible.

And it’s not a "Protestant " thing. Every Catholic should be familiar with the Bible. The Bible came from the Church. We should at least teach our children to read it.

 

[KarenElissa]

Does VBS have the same affect as living in an active Catholic family every day does? Probably not, but unfortunately, there are an awful lot of kids who don’t have active Catholic parents. I think of things like VBS as planting little seeds. Nothing may grow out of it right away, but eventually I trust that something they heard or saw will come back to their minds and start to grow.

Two of the girls in my RCIA kids class were at VBS last year. They have very vivid memories of the stories and everything else. It was a wonderful experience for them. This year they were back with their mom and younger sister (we had a family VBS) and had a great time. The oldest even got to help teach a bit.

 

[Lycorth]

I think it depends.

VBS is a Protestant term because all they have is the Bible, usually misinterpreted here and there. We should call our program CCD. But, if it’s like most CCD programs, the CCD stands for Color, Cut, and Draw. That’s pretty useless and doesn’t teach anyone anything useful. That’s why 75% of folks in this country who claim to be Catholic don’t even attend Sunday Mass regularly! They don’t even know the basics.

On the other hand, if you’re feeding them “meat” of the faith, and that’s not the only thing they get all year, then by all means, yes, it’s useful.

I always wonder why we feed these kids pablum, because we are so sure they can’t understand yet. But we buy them Wii games and other types of things that are terribly complicated and they do just fine with it. We’ve watered down the faith in most CCD classes in this country (and, sad to say, from most pulpits) as to be meaningless drivel. But then, that’s just my opinion. (And the opinion of many others who are far more learned in the faith than me.)

God bless!

I tend to feel the same way about such programs (and I agree with all of your post).

I never went to or even had anything like VBS when I was a kid. I got plenty of Catholic schooling at my very conservative parochial school, though I would have benefited from some more during the summer. I went on to, by the grace of God, remain loyal to Christ until I was about 27 or 28, when I fell away from Christianity totally, due to my then-girlfriend’s own falling away into paganism.

She grew up with it, and so did her sister; her sister is pretty much now a Christian In Name Only and thoroughly liberalized and secularized in most all other ways. My wife returned to Christianity and followed me into the Church when I pulled my head out of my spiritual behind; she has good memories of VBS but I am left wondering if it really does what it should.

Now, I’m not trying to blow my own horn nor run down my wife’s bad choices nor my sister-in-law’s. All I am trying to say is that VBS only seems to matter if it really teaches serious Christianity and if the individual in question is otherwise brought up in a serious Christian environment - almost like CCD only matters if those conditions are met or Catholic school only matters if those conditions are met.

I think the issue is making sure serious Christianity is taught and not watered-down or dumbed-down for children. Kids can handle more than most adults give them credit for.

 

[CB_Catholic]

Both of my grandaughters, ages 5 and 8, have been going to VBS since they were old enough, at their church. They bring CD’s home with the songs they learned on it. Some of the neighborhood kids go to the same VBS, and it’s kind of refreshing to hear their little songfests that they have at home with the neighborhood kids. And if a friend hasn’t been to VBS, they join right in and learn the songs. (Evangelization at the small-fry level?) I get a kick out of their “concerts”.