RE: VBS in the evening?? (Full Version)

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PrincessDonna -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 4:36:25 PM)

Our church does it in the morning and a good bunch of people take the week off or go in afternoons only. We also bus in kids from 3 or 4 surrounding towns. It's very much a whole church effort...those who can't be there are often those who provide the most financially.

A church nearby does it at night, I think 6-8:30. They also bus the kids in. I think there is a need for BOTH morning and evening VBS, since everyone has different schedules.

My kids will only go to our own VBS this year because the other one conflicts with something we already have planned. Plus, the other one is too focused on earning points and getting prizes, not on learning about God and having fun...but that would be another thread...[;)]



PrincessDonna -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 4:38:36 PM)

quote:

BUT there are a few which are doing evening ones ... AND afternoon ones ... but they seem to all be in reverse -- the ones for preteens and teens are in the afternoon, and the ones for the 4-8 age group are from 7-10pm! Now, my kids in that age range are in bed by 8 at the latest ... why aren't they doing the younger in the afternoon and the teens in the evening?!?!?!??!?


Can you make that suggestion? Maybe it's too late for this year, but maybe they could change it for the future?



karlie -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 4:40:00 PM)

quote:

Ah, see...that's where the church leadership should step in, imo, and encourage them to be more involved in the church and it's programs. Especially older women...they are called to be mentors to the younger women on how to be proper wives and mothers, etc.

That's great for some areas, and we have lots of older adults helping in various areas. But how many retired adults are guitarists, drummers and drama people? Most of those gifted in those areas in our church are in the 25-45 year old range. Most are men and have jobs. Yea, we could put together a program with mostly retired adults, and SAHMs who want to help, but it would exclude a huge number of people who want to be involved in the VBS program(now called Kids' Crusade at our church) and who actually want to participate with thier kids instead of dropping them off.

That's the biggest reason people in our church like nighttime VBS..they actually enjoy participating as a family and daytime VBS would make that difficult if not impossible for some.



Tinkerbell_ -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 4:42:35 PM)

Ours is in the evening and has been for as long as I've been coming here. We live in a predominantally military area where more than 80% of our church works during the day. Even the older (retired ones) are busy with volunteer work or various jobs. We have over 250 kids...there's barely enough adults to help during the year let alone at VBS during the day.

Luckily for me my kids are older and during the summer we don't have a 'set' bed time.

I think the church does the best they can for the members they have.

One church I went to in Illinois had their VBS all day on a Saturday. Why? "Because VBS is the costliest mission we have and this way we won't have to spend so much money." [8|]



kernsfamily -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 5:22:11 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: 3cappuccinosmom

Ten years ago when I was a teen helper for vacation Bible school, all the ones I knew of were in the morning, and usually ended at noon.

I have noticed in our town that *all* the churches are advertising VBS for 7-9 pm. Is this a new trend? What would the reasoning be (to avoid the heat? To avoid VBS being free daycare? to make sure parents are involved?)?

I was hoping to let my kids attend several different ones over the summer, thought they would enjoy it, but those hours just wouldn't work for a 3 and 5 year old in our house! [&:]


At our church, it is 9-Noon (June 16-20).....but, there are a ZILLION churches in our immediate area, and some do choose to have VBS in the evenings....most likely to be able to have more adult leader participation, easier on parents to bring their kids, and they also have in mind that kids have many other activities (sports, day camps, etc...).....

9 does seem to be VERY VERY late....

However, even though our church's VBS is during the day, we have 5,000 kids show up each day, and more than plenty of parent/adult volunteers to help out and make it a great success....AND a BLAST!



karlie -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 5:23:51 PM)

Nine does seem late. Ours is from 6:30-8



SweetLittleErin -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 5:27:30 PM)

I think ours is over by 8 or 8:30...I cant really remember because I am usually there from when I get off work until 10 or so-preparing for the next night and cleaning up afterwards. Most folks usually end up hanging around visiting until 9 or so anyway though.



isaacsmom -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 5:40:20 PM)

quote:

we have 5,000 kids


5,000? Wow! That's great! We'd be super thrilled with 50! (even 30-40!) [:D]



SweetLittleErin -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 5:43:32 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: isaacsmom

quote:

we have 5,000 kids


5,000? Wow! That's great! We'd be super thrilled with 50! (even 30-40!) [:D]


Yup...thats us! We have a GREAT year if we have 50!![:D]



karlie -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 5:46:04 PM)

We run about 300 kids, nearly half from outside the church.



PrincessDonna -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 5:56:06 PM)

We have around 100, I think...half those being from our church. I don't think I would send my kids to one that had more than 200 kids.[&:]



karlie -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 6:01:20 PM)

To me it's no different than sending them to a small one if your adult to child ratio is relatively the same. We have 300 kids but we usually have about 180 workers, not including the parents that stay, so it's very well supervised and controlled.



buckifn -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 6:04:07 PM)

We generally do VBS surveys and let the congregation choose which of 3-4 themes they like best as well as if they prefer a.m. or p.m. programs..Almost every time I can remember in 20 yrs. the evening hours has won out.

One thing I would suggest is perhaps for those kids who miss vbs because of when it is scheduled the church could possibly offer a mini camp with opposite hours during Christmas break or something.



zoebob -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 10:10:38 PM)

Our church does it in the AM's and also do it at a nearby park instead of at the church. However, many churches do it in the evening and I think it is becuase they can get mroe workers.

This is actually only the 2nd year that we've been here that our church has done it. Last year we had about 100 kids and half of them were not from our church. Some men helped by coming in before going to work and setting up. We had at least 5 men that were there for the whole thing: our pastor, assistant pastor, youth pastor, and the dh of the lady who was running it. He is a salesman and I think he took the week off or somehting. He played guitar for opening exercises and set up sound equiptment. The youth pastor's 19 yr old son was also involved all week and I can remember at least one retired gentleman helping. The rest were SAHM's including the wives of the pastor and AP.



sen10tious -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 10:31:44 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: buckifn

We generally do VBS surveys and let the congregation choose which of 3-4 themes they like best as well as if they prefer a.m. or p.m. programs..Almost every time I can remember in 20 yrs. the evening hours has won out.

One thing I would suggest is perhaps for those kids who miss vbs because of when it is scheduled the church could possibly offer a mini camp with opposite hours during Christmas break or something.

Oh please, tell us a little more how that works. It sounds like it could be a “Too many cooks spoil the broth” disaster rather than a “Many hands make light work” winner at some of the churches I have attended (where some people were very territorial.) How big is your church? What kind of authority structure do you have? Do the elders run things or are they yes-men for the pastor?

As for the “mini camp with opposite hours during Christmas break or something;” I floated that idea once for spring break. (Christmas is so hectic with scheduling that the only thing our church schedules special during the week before Christmas is the Christmas Eve service. The musicals, drama, parties etc are supposed to be over by mid-month.) But back on topic – The main problem we ran into with scheduling VBS during public school spring break was not nearly enough available adults. We never did it. A lot of parents would have loved having "free daycare" for their elementary grade kids though. If we had pulled it off, it probably would have been more of a neighborhood missions VBS than a church family VBS.

The system at my present church works well where the VBS director is completely autonomous and separate from the children's department. Our church is still just a little too small to employ a director of Christian education.



sunshine4God -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/30/2008 11:34:34 PM)

We have Vbs during the daytime from 8-12 but in past years have had it at night.I think daytime is better since you can go outside and play cool water games,instead of being inside.



thisistheday -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/31/2008 1:44:57 AM)

Our church still does VBS in the mornings most years. A few years ago we did it in the evening, and I think that it was easier to find workers. There certainly were different faces there helping, which was nice.

In the summer bedtime isn't a big thing here, since we don't have to get up early to be anywhere. I can see where that would be an issue for some though.

At our church VBS doesn't start for kids until they are 4 or 5, except for workers kids. Part of that is due to lack of helpers. The curriculum we are using this year is not geared to younger kids also.

Dee



garsyt -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/31/2008 12:57:57 PM)

In our little town we have three churches and they share the load when it comes to VBS. The VBS program rotates between the 3 churches with one church hosting for 2 years, then the next church, then the next. It is up to that church to decide when and at what times VBS is held. For the last few years, my kids haven't attended VBS here locally but the girls did attend one at a nearby Baptist church. They did theirs during the morning hours and had LOTS of volunteers. Many of them were teachers that taught at the churches school, and lots of SAHM's and retirees too. AND LOTS of teens! They also did a bus ministry and bussed in at least 150 kids from inner city neighborhoods in the nearby big city. With the cost of fuel this summer tho - I don't know if they will do that or not. I haven't heard when they are planning theirs for yet. In fact I haven't heard about ANY VBS's yet. Our little town also has what they call a summer youth program that meets two mornings a week from mid June through the end of July. It meets at one of the local churches too and is completely run with donations and volunteers and only charges $5 per child. But it's only for kids ages 6 -12.

Blessings,

Garsy



PatricksPeaches -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/31/2008 1:23:38 PM)

Last year we had VBS in the evening. Not sure of the reasoning. But this year it is in the morning. Again, not sure of the reasoning. My thought on the evening time was so that the parents who work could get their children there. That would make for more children attending. For the parents who work in the morning it might be harder to get their children there, as they could already be in a daycare or at the babysitter.

Personally, I liked the evenings better. We are not morning people. :( It just worked better for us later in the day. Last year was my dd first year at VBS. She loved it and she will be attending this year, even if it is in the morning. I will just have to get over my morning issues. :)



stellaluna -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/31/2008 1:48:56 PM)

I'd love to volunteer for VBS, but ours is during the day and I'm working.



Roberta_ -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/31/2008 8:53:00 PM)

I have been looking around here for a church that does VBS. I'm sure I'll start seeing signs somewhere once school lets out.

My church in Indiana did theirs in the evenings and had a lot more kids that way. Ours was usually 6-8 pm and ran 6 days instead of 5.



daughter_of_faith -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (5/31/2008 10:22:46 PM)

Every church I have been involved in has had their VBS in the evening....except for one. They had theirs in the morning (from like 9 to noon or something like that). I was a teacher at that one and could only make 4 of the 5 mornings because I had something else going on the other day...and I WAS a SAHM at that point. If I recollect, I could have done it every evening. Granted, this was when my son was tiny...so he didn't really have a sleep schedule (I think he was a month or two old) so regardless it wouldn't have mattered. I just kept him with me as I was teaching the preschool and Kindergarten.

It's ironic, but that's the age group I now have for Sunday School. I guess God knows where my talents are best utilized. LOL.....

When we've had ours in the evening, they've gotten over between 8 and 9 depending on the church. At my former church, my son was involved in a Wednesday night program that ran from 7PM to 8:30PM. I thought that was kind of late, but I sent him anyways because of how much he was learning & it was only one night a week. Besides...being taught about God is very important! At my current church, our Wednesday night program runs until 8:30 or 9 PM. When I was teaching that class I usually tried to leave before 9 as the Spanish ministry helpers would usually come to watch the kids on the playground around 8:30...



buckifn -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (6/1/2008 4:23:38 PM)

quote:

Oh please, tell us a little more how that works. It sounds like it could be a “Too many cooks spoil the broth” disaster rather than a “Many hands make light work” winner at some of the churches I have attended (where some people were very territorial.) How big is your church? What kind of authority structure do you have? Do the elders run things or are they yes-men for the pastor?


Well...I'm not sure what you mean, but- Our church is on the smaller side avg 150 members, as in pretty much all churches of course there are 1 or 2 territorial people, but we don't let that stop us, Our authority is a combination of bylaws, Elder's, and Pastor, but I don't think that has ever been a conflict....our pastor teaches an adult class sometimes at VBS, but other than that the VBS Director , Assist. Director, and the vbs team pretty much puts everything together.

I never look at ministering to children (youth) as "free daycare" even though I realize some parent's may see it that way. I look at it as sowing seeds God will water. We generally use the "sports type" themes for the camp and it goes over very well...



sen10tious -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (6/1/2008 4:48:21 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: buckifn
We generally use the "sports type" themes for the camp and it goes over very well...

Do you think that a sports theme gets more men & boys involved; or no real difference? This year, the only men involved in our VBS are in music/audio. Two years ago we had a young man do the games/outdoor activities and he became an instant hero to a flock of little boys!



Consecrated2God -> RE: VBS in the evening?? (6/1/2008 5:33:21 PM)

Ours is from 9-noon, and we're combining with the Baptist church and working together at it. We have a lot of retired people working it, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun this year.

When I was a kid, I went to an evening one.



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