If this is your first year coordinating your Vacation Bible School Program, CONGRATULATIONS! You’ve got many of tasks ahead of you but the reward at the end will be more than worth it. We have put together a general overview to will help you create an outline for your planning schedule this year. Remember that you were specially chosen to play this role and we know you can do it!
Several Months (4-6) before your VBS get your VBS leadership team together to estimate your attendance and set dates for the program. Go ahead and publicize the dates to your congregation and to our bookstore so you can get plenty of volunteers and find out how to get the word out in the community. At this point start looking at which VBS program you might want to use and order your VBS materials before they are sold out, they do go quickly. Having your team brainstorm together now helps you understand which things that will need longer preparation time, put together and distribute teacher materials and begin compiling registration lists.
Very early in the planning process staff should give thought to establishing the goals of the VBS program.
- What objectives should be met for the program to be considered successful?
- Who do you expect to participate -- children at what ages; youth; family units?
- Is God calling you to reach out in new ways to a new segment of the community?
- Are you planning a week to enrich the church children's understanding of the Bible? Or is it to reach out to new people in and fun and inspiring way?
- Is the program to be an outreach to the community?
A couple of months before your VBS you will want to start distributing registration forms, create daily schedules for VBS Week, start your publicity to the congregation and community, fill all the teaching staff positions and start training your team! Make sure you have the contact information – phone numbers, email addresses and names – of the people that will be teaching and anyone who volunteers to create things.
About a month before your VBS continue to maintain your list of registered students and stay alert to any staffing adjustments needed as you finish up the details of the schedule for your VBS Week. Follow-up with any items you have outstanding and touch base with your VBS teachers to make sure they have what they need for that week.
One week before VBS will begin your final setup up before the big event – decorations, registration tables, sorting craft and game supplies to the right rooms. Now you should run a check of student count versus you materials. Remember you will have some last minute people show up. Provide teachers with current information about their classes and prepare any packets you will provide to the parents.
The Day before your VBS begins run a final check of supplies (are the pencils sharpened?) and rooms. Then take a breath and start praying for all the kids, families and volunteers that will be involved with your VBS this week.
First Day of VBS make sure you arrive early -- take time for more prayer with your teams and even in the stress remember to celebrate the opportunities to witness. Especially early in the week, watch for rough spots needing adjustment the next day and after the children leave, brief staff meeting to catch loose ends. And don’t forget to take lots of pictures!
After you wrap up your VBS it’s a good idea to collect evaluations and suggestions from the staff for future kids events at the church. Make sure you display photographs for congregation and get a list to the Kids Church teachers, especially for families that came and are not already affiliated with the church so they can remember them when they show up for regular services. It’s also a good idea to do a group thank you or send thanks yous to all the staff that helped make VBS 2009 the best ever.
If you need help, we have a great staff ready to serve you both online and in the store. You can find other supplies, like prices for games or attendance and Bibles for new believers in our stores as well.
We know you will have a great 2009 Vacation Bible School experience!
