VBS is not just for the kids

When our family came to Redeemer in the spring of 2015, I was not ready to try to make new friends. We were grieving our most recent military move, and I sat on the sidelines for a few months. But when the summer came and we started hearing about Vacation Bible School, I knew it was time. This was our new church home, and we needed to jump in and make these people our family. From moving and connecting at churches over 15 years as a military family, I have learned this: VBS is the best week of the entire church year for making new friends. Why? Because it’s a hard week.

There’s no way around it — VBS is exhausting. There is no tired like Friday-after-VBS tired. But there is a certain connection you can only have with other people when you have done a hard thing together, and that makes VBS as much of an opportunity for growing adult relationships as it is for the kids. When you are thrown into a situation with other people that requires you to problem solve and get messy together, you jump over months of small talk and straight to the heart of who you really are, and fast. 

That first year, the Lord blessed us with an extra hard VBS week. I was assigned to help in the nursery with Redeemer’s brand new VBS program for preschoolers, which we now call Kinder VBS. All of a half-hour into the first morning, we made the rookie mistake of taking the preschoolers, who had just gotten settled into their rooms, to the sanctuary for music time with the older classes. What could be more fun? Singing! Hand motions! A little trip out of the classroom! It seemed like such a good idea at the time. But it turns out that when 15 preschoolers who just stopped crying about being left in the classroom see their moms in the big assembly room, they start crying all over again! The children cried all the way back to the classroom, sobbing in their little line as we led them across the foyer. We had to have snack time early just to help them calm down. Lesson learned: No leaving the classroom for the little ones until the end of the VBS day.

As the week progressed, my fellow volunteers and I learned from our mistakes (and sometimes hid in the nursery work room to eat Goldfish crackers and get a tiny break) and we saw the Lord provide in so many ways. As the children settled into their routine, we had more time to talk and get to know one another. And that Sunday when my kids and I came back to Redeemer for church, we knew people. We had common experiences that connected us — hilarious, awkward, sweaty, paint-and-glue covered experiences. We were part of the team.

This summer my family will retire from the Army and move to the Cincinnati area. Depending on when we arrive, we could be getting settled in a new church right before VBS season. If the opportunity is there, we’ll sign up to volunteer — me and the kids, who are now 17 and 14, well past the age when I could drop them off to volunteer and go run errands. We will go because it will be time to serve a new church family, and because it’s the fastest way to let that new church get to know us. We will be tired at the end of the week, but I know God will use that time.

I know that if you sign up to volunteer at Redeemer’s VBS this year, he will use you, too. If you are new, we need you — take a risk and come let us get to know you. If you have been here a long time, we need you — come because there are new people you need to meet and people you have known a long time who you can know better. VBS may look like it’s all about the kids, but it’s really for the adults.

Make plans to join us June 11-14 for Vacation Bible School 2019, PROOF Pirates: Finding the Treasure of God's Amazing Grace. Volunteer and student signups will begin in April. Stay tuned to the Redeemer Vacation Bible School page for updates.