resources for effective children's ministry

VBS Idea - Summer Sunday School

• 3 months before
  • Pray - recruit prayer partners for your summer ministry.
  • decide on the curriculum.
  • find out from your teachers who will be planning to take the summer off and who will be available to help with the VBS.
  • determine your staffing needs and go to the adult classes to explain what your are doing and where you need help. Let the parents know that you are giving the regular teachers the summer off so they can attend an adult class and that by helping our for 2 to 10 weeks they can enjoy the opportunity of teaching children and be an encouragement to the regular teachers.
  • ask specific people to coordinate specific areas - such as Craft coordinator, Music coordinator, Bible Learning Activity Coordinator, Bible Lesson coordinator, & Memory Game coordinator.
  • begin promoting in the church.
  • determine schedule - decide if you will run for church and Sunday School or for Sunday School only.

    Both schedules allow for all ages, except for the 2's & 3's to rotate through each area throughout the morning. You would have the teachers teach in just one area and then repeat it for the next group. The 4's & 5's and the 1st & 2nd grade would use the same rooms and teachers and the 3rd & 4th and the 5th & 6th grades would use the same rooms and teachers. For example, if you were teaching the story for the older children, you would tell it to the 5th & 6th graders while the 3rd & 4th graders were at craft ( SS only schedule) and then the children would switch rooms and you would tell the story again for the 3rd & 4th graders. This allows your staff to concentrate on one thing each week. This is a great time to involve your youth as group leaders for the younger ages. They would each be assigned a small group of children that they would stay with each week for the summer and then help that group as they move from area to area.

• 2 months before
  • continue with recruiting.
  • continue to promote.
  • schedule and hold a training.
  • gather supplies.

• 1 month before
  • finalize staff and get schedule to everyone so they know when they are serving.
  • continue to promote.
  • make sure all your supplies are ready.
  • print a map of classrooms and distribute so everyone knows where they will be.

• During
  • pray!
  • be sure everyone moves from one class to the next on time.
  • be available to assist wherever needed.

• After
  • Thank God for fruit!
  • follow up on decisions.
  • follow up on visitors.

    These are just a couple of ways to utilize your VBS. You could also use them in place of your mid-week club program in the summer. You may want to use one VBS resource for a BBC or a traditional week of VBS, another for Sunday School in the summer, and yet another one for your mid-week classes. They are a good buy and the materials can continue to be utilized after the summer is over by using in your children's church. Whatever way you decide to utilize your VBS the important thing is to pray and to commit to being effective. Any parks department can provide our kids with fun and games during the summer. VBS is fun , but there is a reason for that fun - to direct children to Jesus and to help them learn to apply what they learn to their day in day out lives. I pray that this will be a truly effective and fruitful summer for your ministry!

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