VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

Most, if not all, of my adult life I've worked in Vacation Bible School in the churches where we were members.  I remember living in Joplin, Mo., and taking Nikki as a baby to VBS there.  I even directed VBS in a couple of churches along the way.  Both the girls were saved through VBS so I've always had a special place in my heart for it and the way it can reach children for Jesus.  However,  once I started working 20 years ago, my VBS participation ended.

Fast forward to the present, retired and plenty of time on my hands.  When they started promoting it at ACP, I didn't hesitate to check it out.  I had lunch with our Children's Minister to "research" what they do, how they do it, and where might be the best place for me after all these years.  She was delightful and very qualified for her role, I thought, and when she said they usually have 75 children...I was in!!!!  I've been in churches where the attendance was minimally 200 children so I figured this would be a piece of cake.  I should have known better....!!!!!!!

Last week, Monday through Thursday, we went to Vacation Bible School from 9a.m. to 12p.m.  David signed up (with no coercion from me) to help with recreation (held in our gym).  I was given a "crew" of 11 6-10 year olds (our theme was "Shipwrecked").  My responsibilities were minor, actually.  I had a little follow-up activity (given to me) after the joint worship opening time introducing that day's theme, verse and a skit and then just went with them to Crafts, Story Time and Recreation.  At those places, I helped where needed and worked with my "crew" keeping them (or trying!!) orderly and quiet.

First day of VBS-note there is no picture of the last day!!!!

Needless, we were both exhausted walking home each day after VBS.  The weather has been beautiful here, very fall-like (although we did get caught in a brief little rain one morning walking to church and I had wild, wavy hair all day!!!!) and walking home was an enjoyable time where we could share our day's stories with each other.

My overall thoughts???  I think the biggest problem was space.  We didn't use the worship center for joint worship time because it is often unavailable because of weddings in the summer months.  That would, however, have given us more room to spread out during the opening time and music at the end of the day.  The craft room was also tight for the number of kids there making it loud and very chaotic.  But the crafts were very good and the young woman leading them was excellent, as was the young woman doing the story time.  Because not all of the children were English speakers (though most were but also spoke French), instructions were usually given in both languages.  And recreation...was recreation!!  It was the one time we "crew leaders" didn't have to be with the kids so we watched from above...

I don't know why I am still surprised when I find things so different from "back home".  But even here, in Vacation Bible School, there were differences I had to accept and adjust to.  The children attending are a mixed group of cultures, languages, religions and backgrounds (which I love) and the church culture is smaller with different needs and priorities...except wanting to teach children about Jesus.  And, for me, that's where it begins and ends.  The other issues of space, language, quality of snacks, etc. are unimportant as long as we provide a fun environment of learning about Jesus to the children in Paris.

A friend (in the US) said she didn't know if she could work with small children now at her age.  Perhaps I, too,  am too old to work with young children like I used to...but I've learned I'm certainly not too old to learn new and different methods of teaching the truth about Jesus.  I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks!!!!!