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VBS trends- good or bad?

I was just over at Lindsey's Enjoy the Journey and truly enjoyed her post about the trends for VBS.
Go now and read it- I'll wait for you.
Read it ? Okay.
I too remember daytime VBS- complete with the butter cookies (and red kool-aid mustaches too.) And I do agree with her that some of the VBS programs are getting out of hand. When I was little many of the churches in our local town combined for VBS. I remember at least 5 churches doing it all together. Each year a different church would host VBS. That was back when churches had a "church bus" and it would come around picking us right at our house! We'd concentrate on learning verses and memorizing the books of the bible to earn points towards prizes. Not cheap-o prizes or such but things like little devotionals and bible bookmarks and bibles. Oh, the joy I felt the first year I was able to earn enough points through my memorization to get my very own bible. I still have it and it has the most wonderful sticker in the front marking that it was earned thru my hard work at RBM's VBS [Rural Bible Mission]. I  treasure that bible.
I was quite thrilled the first year I took my oldest to bible school. Oh, the memories it brought me. Now our church holds it's own VBS- no more churches working  together- everyone does their own. We still do RBM but we hold it in the evenings now. We don't charge, we don't have jump-o-leens or other such things and the kids still earn points for bringing their bible, their friends, saying verses and such. But RBM doesn't handle the prizes anymore- no more eagerness to work to earn a bible . . . . however, our prize table is still wonderful- it's filled with school supplies. We have quite a few "needy" children who attend our little country church's VBS and they are able to earn paper, notepads, pens, pencils, crayons, glue etc. as well as little candy bars and glow sticks and other novelties- but the main focus is school supplies. What a wonderful idea.
We also serve dinner each nite before VBS. Our church family members sign up to donate specific food items for different nights of the week and it is also a success.
It saddens me to think that there are VBS programs out there that charge a fee per child or are RSVP only (weeks in advance). I agree with Lindsey that this seems to cater to the "wrong" crowd- the insiders rather than the outsiders.
I never attended multiple VBS programs and now it's not uncommon for kids to go from church to church attending programs one week to the next. This can be wonderful yes, but how wonderful is it for your family if you are sending your kids to VBS every week night for 4 weeks or more in a row? With that said, I must say that my kiddos attend 2 VBS programs- our church and our sister church in town where our homeschool group is hosted during the school year. Most of our hs group friends attend our sister church's VBS and it is run by a very dear friend of mine.
This year the programs are back-to-back weeks so I may not be taking the children every single night- especially if we are seeing behavorial issues at home from all the excitement.
I would also like to mention something else that our church does for VBS. Our denomination has separate yearly mission projects for adults, youth and children. We use our VBS to help raise money for the children's project. Each nite the children bring offering (and are encouraged to bring it in change) and instead of putting it in an offering plate they place it in their team's bucket (the kids are divided into red and blue teams for the week). The buckets are then loaded on what I would describe as a home-made mini teeter-totter and the heaviest bucket wins! The kids love it. My children actually have special banks that they add their change to throughout the year (and any change they find laying in the street or found in a stray pocket) in anticipation of this. We have a couple of great ladies who do a skit each nite that corresponds with the project. For example: one year we were raising money to purchase goats for milk. The ladies worked it out that one goat gave X amount cups milk and figured the cost per cup of milk. So each nite they added white styrofoam cups to a stack they were building to help the children visualize what their pennies were going towards and how it would help others. The kids just love it!
My girls were confused the first time they attended another church VBS (invited by friends) and they didn't need offering or their bibles. Maiden asked me how it could be Vacation BIBLE school without bibles. She found it odd. I explained that not every child attending would have a bible to bring and that scripture would be read aloud.  That did satisfy her but she did round up all the little Gideon bibles she could find and take them with her the next nite to share.
I am glad that our VBS hasn't strayed too far from what I remember growing up. I am glad that VBS programs still exist to bring the gospel to children who may not otherwise know. I just hope that we take care that it doesn't just become a gimmicky over-the-top-lets-see-what-we-can-do-to-double-last-years-numbers extravaganza.
So tell me- What do you think?

Untitled Comment

2:35 PM, 2007-Jul-13 .. Posted by gokings13

What do I think?

Hmmmmmm
When I was 11 (30 years ago) we went to VBS.
Parishoners of the church brought unchurched neighborhood kids. The place was packed with kids that had NEVER graced the doors of that Church.
It was called "Community Christian Church".
We were given a Bible.
We went to the Sanctuary and 'worshiped' in song, and in prayer and heard the Gospel, every day.
We made a craft. It was a picture frame with different colored tinfoil and the picture was of Jesus, praying against a rock. While making the craft, we were told the stories of Jesus Praying.
The goal of VBS was: To hear the Gospel, and to understand WHO we were praying to, and WHY we were praying to Him.
We had to behave. We had to sit still. We had to obey. We didn't run around. We didn't act up. We were taught reverence for God's House.
Not in a "legalistic" way, but in a way that church was "separate" different than school, or daycare, or Johnny's house.
I had that picture I made from the time I was 11 until I was 20. It sat on my dresser..That picture changed my mind one night when I was seriously considering suicide.....

VBS today?
Glorified daycare. 90% parishoners kids. The themes are 'worldly at best'. My kids went a couple of times.......they came home jacked up on sweets and couldn't tell me one thing they had heard or learned about Jesus.
No thanks. VBS today has lost sight of what VBS should be.
An outreach to the lost. Hope, The Gospel, Jesus.

Laura

Laura-

3:19 PM, 2007-Jul-13 .. Posted by YPAmy5

Thank you so much for sharing! What blessed memories.
Thanks for pointing out the behavior "thing" too- we were taught that being in God's House was something very special and to act a certain way. Sadly we seem to be missing this in today's church- kids are not taught the same reverence and respect. We'll "break their spirit" or some other such rot-- as in "they may never come back if we correct them". Not correcting bad behavior is not helpful. Not teaching proper deference and behavior is even more so. How else will they learn? Who else will teach them?
The church pews are not jungle gyms and the altars aren't balance beams and they need to know. I refer to this especially since my own children, namely Mr. Conductor, who is being raised in the church has this problem. He won't learn it's wrong unless we tell him so, explain it and stop/reprimand him for it.
Thank you so much for sharing your story.

Untitled Comment

11:30 AM, 2007-Jul-14 .. Posted by Brownsmichelle

WOW!!! I had never heard of RSVPing for a church function.
We just finished attending our first VBS of the year. Another church of like minded faith. They had a theme but not one you buy at the local christian book store. It seems as if each church is doing the same thing this year.
We have a childrens evangalist coming to our church. The Great Train Race is his theme. It keeps the children eager to earn points for their team and also makes for a lot of friendly competition. He is new to us but works with an evangalist that we have always had great joy working with. Yes we will be doing door knocking and inviting all of the neighbor hood children over for VBS.
And yes red kool-aid will be served!!!