I can remember some things about Vacation Bible School when I was younger. We usually had a half-day program, gathering in the morning and finishing at lunch time. Our classes generally used the same rooms that we used during the regular Sunday School year. The program ran for a week, usually relatively soon after school got out for the summer. the leaders and teachers were mostly parents of the children in the program.

What I don’t remember is specific content or themes for any of the years. I don’t have any recollection of the stories we learned or lessons that were taught. I guess they were general lessons that were not that different from other things that we learned in Sunday school.

Things are different in our church these days. Vacation Bible School has an average attendance that is well over double the average attendance in our weekly Christian Education classes. Our church runs an evening program because that is what works best for our volunteers. Many of our leaders work during the day and then give us evenings for a week to staff the program. My participation with the program is primarily with the songs, opening exercises and other things that focus on the themes and Biblical stories. Most years I take quite a few photographs and even record a little video that can be used in a presentation that documents the week.

Another difference that I remember well. When we had Vacation Bible School we prepared a presentation that was incorporated into the worship service on Sunday. Participating in the church service on Sunday was an important part of our experience. It is unlikely that we will even have10% of the children who participate in our program come to church on Sunday. Certainly we won’t get a third of them. We have learned that preparing a program for Sunday doesn’t really work. You simply won’t have the children to participate.

One factor is that we serve quite a few children in our program who do not participate in the regular programs of our church. There are always a few children whose parents sign them up for as many Vacation Bible School programs as practical and who go from church to church all summer long. Most of the children have some connection to our church. Our own children are good about inviting friends and families who are not particularly active in the church, but who have visited on occasion often bring their children. Some of our guests might become more involved in the church after their VBS experiences. It can be an entry point for people to get more involved in the church.

Part of the story seems to be that after a week of bringing their children to the church daily, families make plans to do other things on Sundays. The are plenty of people who consider themselves to be regular members of the church whose attendance patterns vary.

The comparison between my own experience as a child and the programs we offer today is not really relevant to very much. The congregations are different sizes, in different settings and a lot can change over the decades. As a congregation we have to adapt to the times and serve the people in our community today. Attempts to go back or to recover the experiences of the past rarely meet with success. The world is different and we are called to engage in ministry in this time and place, not another.

I do, however, use my own personal experience as a kind of gauge - a way of reflecting on how things have changed. One of those changes is that the church - and perhaps society in general - is moving away from program-based ministries. Our church has long been a program church. It is the right size to focus its energies on offering programs. We have a long tradition of opportunities to become involved in programs for specific ages of people. Most of the programs have an expectation of regular attendance at meetings or gatherings.

As the church moves away from programs, participation is focused more on events. People participate in a single event and then go on to the next one without the expectation that they will have a formal pattern to their participation.

Vacation Bible School is an interesting phenomenon to observe because it operates as a program for some participants and as an event for others. Some of the children will attend all five nights. Others will attend some, but nto all. Our experience has led us to expect decreased participation on Friday evening. There are plenty of children who will attend four of the five sessions. We will have new children each evening who have not attended previous evenings. Each session is an event for some of the participants. As a result we have to plan ouf program so that it can also function as an event. We want a child who attends a single evening to have a meaningful and positive experience without designing the program so that it is repetitious or boring for those who attend multiple evenings. It is a real challenge for those who plan and lead the sessions.

I am a product of the days when churches offered programs and it is a challenge for me to move into thinking in terms of stand alone events. I’ve been quick to criticize churches that seem to just flit from event to event without developing commitments to on-going ministries. We’ve seen the effects of one-day programs for hungry and homeless people. The programs consume huge amounts of donor resources and offer a single day, but draw down donations to the providers who feed people 365 days a year and offer on-going support. Not every ministry can be viewed as an event only.

I suppose that part of the educational mission of Vacation Bible School is to teach those of us who are leaders in the church new ways to engage in our ministries and new ways to look at the church. As the world changes and the church changes with it. we are challenged to develop ministries that are relevant and engaging.

The week will be an adventure and I pray that I will keep open to learning as the days pass.

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