Can we stop this VBS thing? Someone make up their mind. Is VBS supposed to be teaching the young, evangelizing the lost, giving parents mornings off during the summer, or what?
I think our true colors often come out with what we teach our kids. We have liturgy on Sunday morning, but in VBS we do hyper contemporary. Because we totally want the next generation to identify more with Rob Bell than grandpa.
I’d like to suggest CW-VBS. The goal of this VBS is severalfold:
- To introduce families to the idea that corporate worship isn’t just what you do on Sunday morning.
- To introduce kids and families to a life of prayer.
- To start to teach the kids why we use the liturgy.
- To give the pastors an easier time in catechism class because we’ve already covered, you know, the catechism.
- To introduce the church year.
Themes! Because we love themes. The daily themes would be:
- Day 1 — Advent
- Day 2 — Christmas
- Day 3 — Epiphany
- Day 4 — Lent
- Day 5 — Easter (with a hint of Pentecost, since that is what we are in now.)
The schedule would look something like this:
- 7:30a-8a — Matins
- 8a-11a — Normal VBS stuff. Crafts, snack, hymns, study. Bible study for adults?
- 11a-12p — Divine service for the theme day. Go all out. Seriously. Maybe just skip the Eucharist, since these are kids we are talking about. Because they totally can’t have faith in God’s Word and examine themselves until they reach the age of accountability…
- 12p-1p — Lunch
- 1p-5p — Sports camp?
- 5p-6:30p — Dinner with families
- 6:30p-7:30p — Vespers
- 7:30p-8:30p — Family activities?, bible study?
- 8:30p-9p — Compline
Wow, you say. That’s a lot. Yes, yes it is. But think about what just happened. You just got families, for a week, to gather around God’s Word and worship daily. Isn’t that worth it? As churches, we talk about losing community and fellowship opportunities. Perhaps it is partially because we stopped gathering around daily worship.
Anyway. Another thought that will never be implemented because people don’t actually want to do risky things.