VBS as Evangelism

This post appears on the Center for Renewal blog...

Vacation Bible School...Day Camp...Summer Church School...

No matter the name, it's likely your church does some form of extended Christian education for children for a week or two in the summer months. For many churches VBS serves two purposes -- (1) A summer highlight while the church takes a break from Sunday School, and (2) a community outreach program (a.k.a. "cheap daycare"). A church can use the VBS machine for evangelism purposes, if they go about it the right way.

Here are my 5 suggestions for using VBS as an evangelism tool:

Declare the two purposes equally important. If your VBS is really just an extension of Sunday School - or, even worse, an end of the year celebration - the visitors will feel awkward and excluded. In the same way, if your VBS abandons your congregational identity for the sake of the visitor, the children who attend will have a disjointed experience from all their other church involvement. VBS is a both-and situation.

Get the word out. This requires creativity that goes beyond a newsletter announcements or a colorful sign in the church yard. It also means doing quality communication with a specific group. If you invite the whole town, you've cast your net too wide. Pick a demographic that makes sense and is attainable, and figure out how to connect with that population. Have senior high youth distribute information / registration forms on a Sunday afternoon. Allow on-line registration through your church's website. Offer a financial discount to non-members. Post registration information in local shops and businesses. Even bulk mailings to a specific zip code can work (if you have the money).

Have an Open House / Kick Off. Invite children, parents, older siblings, and neighbors to the church the night before VBS. Introduce the pastors and VBS volunteers. Sing some of the songs you're planning to teach during the week. Talk about the theme of the week and highlight a few things going on in the life of the congregation. Serve a free meal and allow casual fellowship opportunities for visitors to interact with church members. (This is also a great way to talk about the logistics of your VBS week, in case people don't read the communiques you've been sending.)

Communicate during the week. Post pictures of VBS on your website (only if parents have given permission). Send email updates, Twitter posts, or text messages to parents that share highlights of the day. This will help them engage their children when talking about VBS themes, songs, and activities. It also opens the door for visitors to ask additional questions about your church.

Follow up in the weeks to come. Do another "y'all come" event a few weeks after VBS. Use a video projector to show a movie on the church wall...have an outdoor worship service...hold a Family Game Night...decorate a float in the 4th of July parade. Invite everyone who participated in VBS to attend. If you're not up for another big event, consider sending a photo CD of all the pictures you took during the week. Inform visiting households of your Sunday School ministry or other children / youth / family events. Give them information; not expectations.

Doug Pagitt - A Christianity Worth Believing

Doug Pagitt and Erik Johnson are spreading the Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive and Well faith in the Viking Theater at Grand View University in Des Moines, IA on Friday, June 26 at 7:00 p.m. This "Live Occurrence" is part one-man show (though there are two of them), part revival, part book reading, part hootenanny, and part communal gathering. The 2-hour event include readings from the book, "A Christianity Worth Believing", music - original and covers, video, spoken-word poetry, impassioned invitations to be part of the common good. Live Occurrences are specially formulated for the Left-out, Left-behind and Let-down, and will be suitable for one and all regardless of background.

There no cost for this event. You will have an opportunity purchase the book. If you live in the Des Moines area, I encourage you to come to this Live Occurrence and bring a friend or two!

One Word

A few weeks ago, I outlined the process I try to utilize when doing summertime planning for the coming school year. This week is the first time that process will be put into motion for 2009-10. It's time for the pastors and I to have our annual Confirmation Ministry planning retreat. We do this in late-May, when our failures and successes are fresh in our minds. The hope is for us to create the most effective plan possible for helping 5th - 9th graders grow in "faith, love, and obedience to the will of God". The tricky part is that we also do our best to honor the traditions of a church that, to my knowledge, is the only congregation that has a five year confirmation ministry.

(The joys and sorrows of this particular educational model might be the subject of another post; but not today.)

I've been toying with an idea that is new to our congregation...and to me...but I doubt the idea is universally "new". I'm calling this work-in-progress ONE WORD. The goal of the curriculum is to focus on a one-word theme for the duration of the class time. From a pedagogy standpoint, there would be a variety of activities that appeal to the three learning styles and the eight multiple intelligences. From a curricular perspective, we would use (1) Scripture, (2) Church History, (3) Luther’s Small Catechism, and (4) Culture in each lesson to help young people explore what God is saying about a variety of topics.

For example, let’s say the ONE WORD on a given night was “Covenant”. Here’s how the lesson would unfold:

1. Gathering Activity
2. Prayer
3. Definition of Covenant
4. Scripture Stories
5. Introduce Memory Verse
6. Covenants in Church History
7. Covenants in the Catechism
8. Covenants in Kid's Lives
9. Memory Verse Recap
10. Covenant Challenge this week

Obviously, for Christians, the title ONE WORD refers not only to a thematic focus on a singular word, but on the idea that our faith is rooted in God’s living and breathing Word. Helping young Lutherans become more Biblically literate is the bedrock of every confirmation program. That said, my hope is that ONE WORD will serve a practical purpose for these teens as well. By referring to the one-word theme throughout the teaching time, I believe kids will retain more of what is taught. The hope is that the ONE WORD will function like a trigger for young minds in the weeks and months to follow. When kids hear the word “Covenant” they might be more likely to recall the activities and discussions that took place during class time than if they were on their 3rd week in an 8-week series exploring the Letters of Paul.

Of course, that’s all pretty idealistic. That's why we're still in the "idea phase" of planning.

As an additional disclaimer, this is a highly-contextualized tweak of a unique confirmation ministry that already exists where I work. I’m looking forward to fleshing it out and exploring new wrinkles with the pastors later this week. Of course, like all ideas, it’s possible that this one won’t come to fruition. I post this in the hopes that someone might find this helpful for their context…or for people to offer their own Confirmation Ministry thoughts on koinonia.




(I think if we end up running with this idea, our ONE WORD on the first night should be...are you listening? PLASTICS!)

Claiborne Recap

I enjoyed my maiden voyage to the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College late last week. I took a little heat for referring to the GAC campus as "simultaneously beautiful and bland" on Twitter...but I stand by my initial observation. The benchmark of our trip was to spend the day with Shane Claiborne.

(For those of you not familiar with Shane's work, take a moment to click here, here, and here.)

Shane preached at the daily chapel service and then spent some open Q&A time with a group of a couple dozen youth ministers. He is a person who has the gift to be fully present where he is. I never sensed anxiety or secondary agendas in the conversation. He is compelled by the Gospel to present his case for a radical new (or really old) kind of discipleship. Not once did he urge us to buy his book, visit his website, or donate financially to his cause. Instead, his focus was on honoring our questions and affirming this ragamuffin group of youth ministers for their work.

The group ate pizza in The Dive (an on-campus hangout) and a few of us traveled down to Mankato for relaxing and reflecting. It was a beautiful spring day. We ventured to the campus of Mankato State and soaked up the sun and college frivolity. I read a few chapters from the book of Acts in my Carolina-blue "Lutheran Study Bible"; others napped.


At night, Shane gave a more formal presentation to an auditorium filled with a predominately under-30 crowd. With my computer in the fix-it shop and my phone / voice recorder out of battery, I was forced to jot a few salient points on the back page of the aforementioned Lutheran Study Bible. Here were the money quotes:

On war:
Christians should be the hardest people to convince that violence is necessary; not the ones beating the war drums.

Referencing a sign on a church / homeless shelter in Philly:
How can you worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?

On criticism:
The best critique of what's wrong is the practice of something better.

Quoting MLK:
We should lament deeply that the most segregated hour in our nation is 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.

Addressing accusations that he's a Socialist:
If we learn to love others as ourselves, Capitalism won't be possible and Marxism won't be necessary.

Much of what Claiborne presented aligned with my immersion experiences at the Centro Luterano in Mexico City. I am moved by this message and find myself inspired to make different choices in the way I live. Upon my return home, I re-read my New Year's resolution post about The Year Of Living Simply. Several friends misunderstood my intention for those resolutions. Out of genuine concern for my well-being, they thought I was trying to simplify my life so I would be less stressed and anxious. What I was really getting at, however, was trying to establish patterns that were more congruent with my faith. Embracing rituals, spending less money, and making smarter use of the Internet are a few ways that I can avoid the ruts that are associated with my residence in Suburbia. My road trip to see Shane Claiborne reminded me of the call to take up my cross and follow Jesus...and to joyfully live in response to God's grace.

(It also reminded me how much I like hanging around really smart people.)