Our church had our annual Vacation Bible School this past week. It brought some interesting practical applications of theoretic things to mind for me. But first - this year's VBS went very well and there were some great successes.
The classes seemed to run smoothly. Folks who had volunteered to take on various portions of the Vacation Bible School did their jobs and did them well. The church was decorated nicely. Tons of kids came out and seemed to really have a great time. And my wife came home exhausted but excited each night.
The practical application that really jumped out at me was by way of comparison to last year's VBS. To put it in context, I believe that we all need to get out of the way and let God lead his Church as he has told us he will. Church growth strategies may have some good ideas on how to do church in a way that is more pleasant or more comfortable, but trying to find ways to make non-believers comfortable in church is not part of what the Church has been told to do.
We are told to go out into the world and preach the gospel. We are told that the gates of hell will not prevail (indicating that we are to storm the gates of hell). But we tend to sit inside our comfortable church buildings rather than going out and reaching people on their turf. I think this is the wrong way to do it. If we are out in our communities, telling people about Jesus, God will bring some of them through the doors of our church (maybe in response to an invitation given after we have presented the gospel). God will bring the right people through the doors and will impact and grow the church as he sees fit.
In years past our church has canvassed the local neighborhoods with flyers advertising the upcoming VBS week. We have tried to make those flyers as attractive as possible and as winning as possible in order to bring more kids out.
This year the flyer distribution kind of fell through the cracks and we didn't manage to advertise VBS much at all. But God is responsible for bringing people through the doors and, wow! did he ever provide in a big way. We had more than double the expected number of children. My wife had to go out twice during the week to get more craft supplies because they were running out.
The missions project this year was a contest to collect supplies for victims of devestation (hurricanes, floods, earthquakes). The initial goal was to collect at least 200 items. Our pastor agreed to be pelted with water balloons by all the children if we collected 200 items. As the 200-item mark approached, our pastoral assistant agreed that if more than 250 items were raised his head would be shaved. Suffice it to say that the pastor (and his assistant) were very wet Friday afternoon and ths assistant was bald.
The total number of items collected for disaster relief was 777. An interesting number in itself and evidence of God's tremendous grace.
Richard, I normally volunteer for VBS, but this year I decided to take the week off. However, due to insufficient volunteering I was called, and I said yes, and volunteered anyway, and I am glad I did. The kids are so precious, and when the quiet times come (even in VBS there are times they are paying attention and want to talk about deep spiritual things) it is so precious to see them share what is going on in their minds, and to hear the gospel presentation so that those who want to may respond to the summons.
ReplyDeleteOurs was in the evening, from 6 to 9 PM every night we had to be there, and it was tiring, but very worth it.
My wife was saved through a Backyard Bible Club - very similar to VBS but not at a church and run usually just by one or two ladies. So my wife has a special place in her heart for the VBS kids and really enjoys it - although she's wiped out by the end of it all.
ReplyDeleteIt's so good to focus on sharing the good news with others instead of thinking all the time about what's wrong in the world.