Today was the first day of Vacation Bible School at church. And what a fun day it was! This year's theme country is Malawi. For the last few years, the VBS overall theme has been "Going Global with God," and then there is a focus country. The country is one that the church has been or is working in, etc.
When I think of Malawi, I think of my friend Kristen. When I worked at Decision magazine, she went to Malawi to cover what God was doing through BGEA there. You can read her story here.
The church has been transformed by all sorts of African-themed decorations. Very cool. Here Kate and I are posing next to a big ol' elephant.
This is my first year helping with VBS (well, at our current church), and I am helping with the crafts. I love VBS! I LOVED going to VBS as a child--we used to go to at least a couple of VBS programs each summer.
Each day, participants are encouraged to bring donations. For the global focus, folks are asked to bring money each day. The goal is to raise $10,000 in order to build a well in Malawi. Today, people were supposed to bring in pennies and nickels. Kate enjoyed putting them in the collection--here, she is dropping them in one by one. hahaha
For the local community focus, participants were encouraged to bring in socks and underwear for children. Each day, there is a specific theme for donations.
There are more than 700 children registered for VBS this week! This is worship time with the little ones--there is a separate worship for the older kids. Kate is somewhere in the picture. She had a fabulous time today and can't wait to go back tomorrow.
We started VBS this week too. We have a different theme, but it was a fun first day. I'm exhausted. Jasper loved it though! Didn't want to leave!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you- I LOVED VBS when I was a kid-it was so fun for me(being raised Catholic)-to go to church and learn about God the fun way!
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteI have a book coming out in October entitled "Going Global with God: Reconciling Mission in a World of Difference." I liked the title a lot and thought the first phrase was original with me, and now I find out that your VBS has been using it for several years! Very cool.
So I'm curious about where your church is located. It must be large, with 700 children in VBS, though maybe it's an ecumenical VBS. I'm going to be posting on my blog about others who have used this phrase (titusonmission.wordpress.com) so I'm eager to know as much about your context as possible: name of church, other countries you've covered in previous VBS years, how it's worked to have such a global focus for VBS. You can reach me at: tituspresler@earthlink.net, as well as on the blog.
The book is coming out from Church Publishing and their Morehouse imprint. Ordering info is on Amazon.
Warm regards,
Titus Presler
White Plains, NY