{"id":31400,"date":"2022-09-10T15:28:51","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/4-ways-your-church-can-still-reach-families-and-kids-through-vbs-this-summer\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:28:51","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:28:51","slug":"4-ways-your-church-can-still-reach-families-and-kids-through-vbs-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/4-ways-your-church-can-still-reach-families-and-kids-through-vbs-this-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways Your Church Can Still Reach Families and Kids Through VBS This Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p><em>By Joy Allmond<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The coronavirus pandemic has forced events to cancel, education to be modified, and businesses to temporarily close or adjust operations.<\/p>\n<p>But for Lifeway and the kids ministries it serves, Vacation Bible School (VBS) is still on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVBS is the highlight of the summer for most churches, and the highlight of the year for most kids ministries,\u201d said Chuck Peters, director of operations for Lifeway Kids.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it is the most evangelistic outreach that most churches do all year. It\u2019s centered on Jesus and the message of salvation. That message must be heard and must not be deterred or deferred. There is urgency around the gospel. That urgency is only amplified during a time of crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class='code-block code-block-1' style='margin: 8px 0;clear: both'> <\/div>\n<p>To effectively\u2014and safely\u2014utilize this important strategy to reach communities this year, Lifeway is rolling out&nbsp;four VBS options&nbsp;for churches. Church leaders can choose the format that works best for their context and that meets guidelines set by local health authorities.<\/p>\n<p>The four options, in keeping with the planned&nbsp;\u201cConcrete &amp; Cranes\u201d&nbsp;theme are:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Traditional VBS <\/strong>\u2014 This is the \u201dVBS as usual\u201d approach. For some contexts, VBS can happen as it always has if it\u2019s safe to meet as usual. Churches may have to change the initially planned date, but VBS can still happen as planned.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Neighborhood VBS<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 Churches can deploy volunteers to conduct socially distanced VBS programs in driveways, on front porches, in backyards or in cul-de-sacs. This approach uses church-member \u201chosts\u201d in multiple neighborhoods throughout your community to conduct a small-scale VBS at their homes. This could be a great solution for groups that are able to meet in smaller numbers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Alternate VBS<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 Churches can use alternative timetables such as conducting VBS over several consecutive weeks (e.g. Wednesday nights, Sunday nights, Saturdays), as a back-to-school kick-off, or over Labor Day weekend or fall break. This approach allows churches to still do a delayed VBS in a low-maintenance, low-prep manner.<\/li>\n<li><strong>VBS at Home<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014VBS materials can be directly delivered to homes. Churches can post or livestream media-driven worship rallies to engage kids as viewers and use delivery methods to equip parents to facilitate Bible study, recreation, and crafts at home.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div style=\"clear:both;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:1em\">\n<div class=\"centered-text-area\">\n<div class=\"centered-text\" style=\"float: left\">\n<div class=\"u51173703360d0ae12ddee4978f02d1bc-content\">See also&nbsp; Why Pastors Must Acknowledge Their Own Needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ctaButton\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe need to think of VBS as a content-based experience, not necessarily as a gathering. It\u2019s fundamentally about connecting&nbsp;kids to the gospel through music, Bible teaching and activities,\u201d said Peters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately, those things do not require&nbsp;a large gathering. Once we realize that VBS might look different&nbsp;than we are accustomed to, we can come up with&nbsp;all sorts of creative&nbsp;ways to accomplish the heart&nbsp;of its ministry like we have never done before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a part of launching the four options, Lifeway Kids also developed a new free e-book, \u201c4 Ways to Do VBS This Summer.\u201d This resource is intended to help church leaders, volunteers and parents understand their options, instruct them in how to approach new strategies and inspire them to leverage VBS in new ways.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe response to these options has been overwhelmingly positive,\u201d said Peters. \u201cIt is possible that what might at first&nbsp;seem like an obstacle could turn into an unprecedented opportunity for the ministry of VBS to reach farther than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>JOY ALLMOND (@JoyAllmond)&nbsp;<em>is managing editor of&nbsp;<\/em>Facts &amp; Trends<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-box su-box-style-default\" id=\"\" style=\"border-color:#000000;border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"su-box-title\" style=\"background-color:#333333;color:#FFFFFF;border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px\">Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-box-content su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"border-bottom-left-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"one-third first\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"two-thirds\">\n<h2>4 VBS Strategies for This Summer<\/h2>\n<p>Free download<\/p>\n<p>  FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class='yarpp yarpp-related yarpp-related-website yarpp-template-thumbnails'>\n<h3>Related posts:<\/h3>\n<div class=\"yarpp-thumbnails-horizontal\">  A Solution to Your VBS Volunteer Problem  The Most Critical Event on Your Church\u2019s Calendar This Year  What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times?  What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation? <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Joy Allmond The coronavirus pandemic has forced events to cancel, education to be modified, and businesses to temporarily close or adjust operations. But for Lifeway and the kids ministries it serves, Vacation Bible School (VBS) is still on. \u201cVBS is the highlight of the summer for most churches, and the highlight of the year &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/4-ways-your-church-can-still-reach-families-and-kids-through-vbs-this-summer\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;4 Ways Your Church Can Still Reach Families and Kids Through VBS This Summer&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}