Rhonda Adams remembers volunteering in a Camden elementary school when a child approached her and said, “I know you. You are from Malvern Hill [Church].”
“When that happened, I knew we were doing things right,” Adams said. “We were getting our church’s name out into the community.”
Adams serves as the volunteer children’s director for her church. Since 2006, she’s watched the Vacation Bible School enrollment of students and teachers grow from 101 in 2005 to 383 in 2011. She credits the growth to year-round promotion and an emphasis on evangelism during VBS week.
“VBS promotion is not just a one-shot deal,” she said. “Everything we do throughout the year influences how well VBS does during the summer.”
She pointed to the church’s fall festival last October, drawing about 1,600 people. The church also volunteers in schools, helping with test monitoring; provides weekend food bags for families on reduced- or free-lunch programs; collects school supplies; and leads in teacher recognition.
“Those school relationships have opened doors for us to promote VBS in the schools,” she said. “We provide VBS boxes with an invitation inside, allowing each child to have one.”
The church also promotes VBS with about 175 yard signs each May. A spring Easter egg hunt also helps the church connect with families and provides opportunity to build relationships and point to Vacation Bible School.
“Churches have to get out there in front of people,” she said. “We have to do whatever it takes to get the word out about our VBS.” She applauded the financial support of the Malvern Hill church family and the more than 100 volunteers who turn out each summer.
“It’s not difficult to get volunteers,” she said. “It’s about communicating the importance of VBS. People will volunteer when they understand the spiritual importance of what we are doing. Vacation Bible School is one of the church’s primary outreach endeavors, and it is so convenient. When else do we have such a great opportunity to connect with so many families?”
Malvern Hill Church had one Jewish child attend, and a non-Christian Asian-American family sent its child to VBS, Adams said. “Some children won’t likely come back for Sunday school, but VBS provided an opportunity for those children to hear the gospel,” she said.
Separating administrative functions (such as promotion) from spiritual areas (such as evangelism) is important for Adams and her VBS leadership team. “You must keep the areas separate so that you can stay focused on each of them appropriately,” she said. “The administrative area requires a lot of a church’s work and planning, but we must address the spiritual area with as much passion. You can do everything just right administratively, but I believe it’s through the spiritual focus that God blesses what we do. Why are we having Vacation Bible School? That’s where the evangelism comes in.”
At Malvern Hill, the entire church is asked to pray for VBS using prayer calendars. The week prior to VBS, the church is pointed to pray for specific things. She said the church had 37 decisions this year in VBS – 26 from non-member families at Malvern Hill.
Adams teaches Bible studies each night for grades 1-5. “Every night we talk about the gospel and build on it through the week,” she said. “On Wednesday night, one of our pastors takes the entire time to present the gospel.
“As children respond to the gospel, we divide them into groups and talk to them. Of those responding, the pastor sends a letter to families who are not part of our church. He says, ‘If you don’t have a church, we would like to talk with you about it.’ With our own children, we take our time with follow-up, knowing it is a part of an ongoing process and being aware that some of the children just aren’t ready to fully understand what they are doing in a gospel response. Some jump up because they see another child jump up, or they may only have a ‘head knowledge’ of the gospel. We want to be very careful about decisions occurring through VBS. We are diligent about our follow-up.”
Adams said VBS plants gospel seeds in the lives of children, and the church may never know how those seeds blossom. “Someone came up to me this year and said she was talking to a grandfather in our community,” Adams said. “The grandfather commented that his granddaughter had attended our VBS and accepted Christ as her Savior. It’s great to hear those stories.
“Our minister of music, Buster Morris, said his family didn’t attend church when he was a child. Someone took him to VBS, and now we all see how that seed blossomed in his life,” Adams said. – SCBC