Stepping into the Gap for Kids

On July 27-31, Calvary held their first week-long Virtual VBS with the goal to reach families in their church, in their community and beyond. Pastor John Jakes said, “We just wanted to provide some way for kids and families to learn about and enjoy Jesus. There were no churches hosting VBS live and only one other mainline church was doing anything at all. Most churches have completely shut down children’s programs for summer. We wanted to step into that gap and provide an opportunity to see people who love Jesus who would also show love to them.”

VBS Goes Virtual

The platform they chose was the one that the majority of their church family were already using: YouTube. They created a series of five playlists, one for each day of VBS. They had two different versions so families could choose videos geared toward young kids or older kids. They promoted it each day on social media and even ran some small ads on Facebook to broaden their reach in the community. In the weeks before the event, families were encouraged to sign up for an activity and craft packet that was dropped off or mailed to their home.

Virtual VBS consisted of multiple pre-recorded segments starting with “Memory Verse Challenge,” a few fun kid-friendly worship songs, a Bible story, a simple craft that they could do at home, a recreation time to encourage families to get up and move, and ending with “Missions Time” highlighting what it is like to be a missionary reaching out with the gospel in different places. The only traditional VBS activity they didn’t include was Snack Time. “That’s on our list for next year,” joked Pastor Jakes.

The Risk is Worth It

Given the fact that this was completely new territory, why did Calvary Baptist see this as a worthwhile project? “There were two big reasons,” says Pastor Jakes. “First, in our particular church, children’s ministry has been one of our most intentional and successful sources of gospel fruit. Consistently, God has used VBS in our church in the past. Even though it was harder this year we didn’t want to abandon this opportunity for kids to hear the gospel message. Second, we noticed that we often think, ‘we’re not big enough to pull that off.’ But we are learning that just because it will be challenging, doesn’t mean we won’t succeed. Stepping out in faith, taking a risk, and trusting God for the results has been really worth it for us.”