Vacation Bible School

Christian Ministry: Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a movement in existence since 1952 and has been reviving and transforming children, youth and adults into God honouring men and women. VBS has a rich heritage of pastors, leaders in several Christian institutions and other walks of live who trace their beginnings to VBS. Many of the Christian leaders today have been touched by God during their VBS days.

Churches of all denominations, missionary organizations conduct VBS as an annual feature of their Christian education program. VBS has expanded tremendously in the recent years and more and more children are touched each year.

The acronym for Vacation Bible School is V.B.S.

• V - A school conducted during the VACATION
• B - A school which follows a BIBLE centred course of study.
•  S - A SCHOOL which maintains a regular daily schedule.

           This was the children ministry wing of the South Asia Biblical Seminary. They specialize in ministering to children from various social backgrounds. They cater to address the spiritual needs of the child. This ministry started off with a humble beginning and now it reaches out to north and north east India and slowly moving out even to other nations.

History

It was in the summer of 1898 that Dr. Hawes and his wife moved to New York to practice medicine. The children in their neighbourhood had their vacation. The children in their neighbourhood were as usual mischievous and did not bother about anything, they were like all children playing around and being naughty. The neighbourhood was angry with the menace they created and they kept scolding the children. While the neighbours ill-treated the children Mrs. Hawes was different from them and was very kind to the children, she invited the kids home and gave them snacks and taught them new songs. The children were happy and wanted more of this kind of fun, and the children surprised Mrs. Hawes by asking her if they could do this the next day too, and the answer was ‘yes’.

Mrs. Hawes prepared new songs and lessons from the bible to teach the children. The First VBS was born. Rev. Howard Jones, the Pastor if the local Epiphany Baptist Church was impressed and in 1899 he asked her to conduct the VBS in the Church. The news of the initiative spread and appeared even on papers and thus the VBS ministries came into existence.

VBS in India

In 1937, the World Gospel Mission started the South India Bible Institute (now SIBS Ministries), which in turn gave birth to the Vacation Bible School movement in India. In 1952, in a small village called Kovilpatti in south Tamil Nadu, a VBS session was held with 75 children and 8 teachers. A talented team of P. Samuel, Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Williams, Mrs. Mary Hamilton and Miss Edith Morgan, nurtured the V.B.S. movement and saw it grow.

The V.B.S. Ministry since then has travelled across the nation, present in most of the states in India and in neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Gulf, among others. With God’s blessing and under the leadership of several directors and the direction from the South India Bible Seminary, this ministry has grown from strength to strength.

The VBS Timeline[1]

• 1952 – First VBS was started at Kovilpatti, Tamil Nadu, by Mr. P Samuel, sister Packiathai and Ms. Edit Morgan a team from SIBS, with 75 children.
• 1953 – Witness march by children introduced
• 1954 – VBS Director’s Handbook, Teachers Handbook, pictures for children and attendance awards were introduced.
• 1956 – A course on VBS was started for SIBS students. VBS started in 3 southern states.
• 1957 –Impact of the VBS among the children and youth was noticed by the church leaders.
• 1958 – VBS travelled to Mumbai, Calcutta, Madhya Pradesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
• 1959 – Introduction of common theme for the devotional sessions, Theme related badges, certificates and awards were introduced.
• 1960 – VBS prayer fellowship resulted in the birth of Friends Missionary Prayer Band -  FMPB
• 1961 – The 3 year course VBS curriculum was written by Mrs. Esther (Faulkner) Williams and Rev. Theodore Williams.
• 1963 – Students workbook was worked out and published by Mrs. M Hamilton and Mr. J D Arulmani
• 1966 – The VBS HQ shifted from Bangarapet to Bangalore.
• 1969 – First Indian VBS Director - Mr. J D Arulmani.
• 1979 – ‘Jesus Loves You’ a material for other faith children was published.
• 1986 – All India VBS Leaders Workshop was instituted for the first time.
• 1996 – Beginner, Primary books were published in the Nepalese language

Aims of VBS[2]

• To bring children to Christ.
• To educate them the Word.
• To train them in Christian Living
• To encourage them to be active in the life of the Church.
• To encourage them to Witness.
• To challenge them for Mission.

How VBS Benefits the church[3]

·        Builds the Sunday School

·        Holds the youth for the church

·        Revives cold hearts

·        It awakens interest for the Unreached

Training programs

Training/Workshop is vital for the VBS ministries to train the Directors and Teachers of the churches and other institutions for effectiveness in establishing God’s kingdom. Well prepared training modules are handled by proficient resource people. Themes like Importance of Christian Education ministries among the youth and children, Leading a child towards Christ, History and Philosophy of VBS - uniqueness of VBS, Child  Evangelism - a difference between Rural and Urban, Methods of Teaching - Biblical teachings in today’s context (inclusive of communication), Kids  Praise and worship, Know your child - child psychology, Equipping the Directors and teachers- linkage of Devotional guide, teaching material , Development of stories and building the skills to impart, roles and responsibilities, Skill of Facilitation are being focussed on.

All India Leaders’ Workshop

Vacation Bible School, Bangalore each year organizes an All India Leaders’ Training Program with a focus to train the Directors from various churches. The following topics are covered each and every year according to the participant’s subjects.

·        Know Your Child

·        Leading A Child To Christ

·        VBS-The Outline

·        Methodology of Teaching

·        Evangelism & Communication

·        Model VBS

All India Leaders’ workshop is held in different cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Nagaland and Cochin etc. Primarily the workshop is to equip the selected/ nominated Directors from different denominational churches with the significant thrust on that year theme and relate the same with the curriculum of that particular year. The Directors are equipped with all the skills to train further more and more leaders and teachers.  This is conducted every year by the Headquarters at Bangalore, usually during the last week of January or mid of February. Christian educators from all denominations attend this workshop so that they in turn can conduct similar workshops in their respective areas.

Directors training

The Head Quarters encourages and extends its help to conduct VBS training workshop for the Directors in every region or diocese level. Based on the request VBS sends a team and facilitate such programs.  Usually each Church sends its director for this training.

Teachers training

This particular program focuses its content for those who volunteer to teach. They are trained to handle the year’s curriculum, considering the children’s specific age and characteristics, significance and use of different creative materials and tools for learning, and create an opportunity for conducting healthy competitions.  Teachers are being trained to observe special days and lead the children to CHRIST.  Main thrust of this program is to prepare the teacher’s in advance to prepare themselves spiritually.

Syllabus and the way of execution of VBS at various centres

VBS Grades[4]	Age of Students
Beginner	5 years
Primary	6, 7, 8 years
Junior	9, 10, 11 years
Intermediate	12, 13, 14 years
Senior	15, 16, 17 years
Young Adult	18 years

At each age level the needs, interests and abilities of a child change. Therefore the course is planned for 6 main age levels. The children from the various age groups will remain in their particular VBS grade for 3 consecutive years. To meet the need the VBS curriculum that comprises of a 3 year course of study – First year, Second Year & Third Year.

For each year’s course of study the teacher’s handbook and student’s handbook are prepared by the reputed writers from the Children Education Ministry and by the VBS team. The lessons are compiled in such a way that the child who attends VBS from beginners till seniors will cover the entire bible in that span of ten years. It must also be noted that there is a special syllabus for the children of other faiths, which is designed to cater to their needs and help them understand better, the gospel.

            Every year there is a theme, and the songs, skits and devotions etc are being planned accordingly, while the lessons for the class work runs parallel with the biblical themes as mentioned above. This is usually planned for ten days for South India as they conduct VBS in the summer and also a seven days syllabus for north India as they conduct VBS during Diwali holidays.

There are various days celebrated in the ten days or a week’s span, like day of beauty and cleanliness, day of labour, day of inspection, day of love-feast and many more as per the requirement of the church or VBS centre. This program mostly is a half a day program, whereas in some rural areas it is conducted from morning till evening covering two days portions and finishing it in 5 days with the day of love-feast on the next day and the final day program on the following day.

The final day program is conducted to show case what the children have learnt during the course of study in the VBS centre. All class get to show what they learnt from the beginners to the young adults.

Conclusion

We cannot at the same time rule out the existence of various other “VBS’s” that have sprouted after their friction with the VBS ministries. They have come up with the similar pattern of lessons but with a few changes. I must say that they are indeed good, but are suitable only for their specific group of children they focus on. On the other hand this program is designed in such a way that it would cater to both the children of the urban and rural areas.

This program is very essential for the churches in the urban and the rural setup. It does make me happier to speak about the place where I worked for three as the director for the various VBS centres in and around South India. I stand as a testimony to tell you that I have seen the lives of children being transformed and accepting Christ in the days they spend at VBS and in the learning from the lessons from the bible. The many of the VBS centres also conduct follow-ups so that the child continues to be nurtured by committed teachers.

Bibliography

VBS Director’s Handbook, VBS ministries 2007

www.vbsministries.org

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[1] V.B.S. Director’s handbook, VBS ministries 2007 Pg.6

[2] www.vbsministeries.org

[3] V.B.S. Director’s handbook, VBS ministries 2007 pg. 9