It's January and that means it's time to start working on VBS. I know it’s 6-7 months out, but there are a few high-level decisions you need to make now to set you up for success in the coming months.

One of the first questions that is asked is, "What VBS curriculum should my church use?

The truth is there are a lot of great curriculums out there, and while I have my preferences, I won’t advocate for any of them in this post.

When picking out a VBS curriculum there are so many things to consider.

• Theme

• Cost

• Content

• Structure

• Strategy

• Music

• Volunteer needs

• So much more

While you will need to answer all those questions, I think there are three main questions you need to answer before any others.

Three Questions to Ask Before Picking a VBS

1. Strategy (Why are you doing this?)

For me this is the most essential question to answer.  If you don't take the time to think through your strategy, you're just throwing a dart at the wall and then drawing a target around it.  That's... not advisable.

When making your strategy ask questions like:

• Why do you want to host a VBS? 

•  Is it an outreach? 

• Is it a discipleship class? 

• Does your senior pastor require it? 

• Is it what you've always done?

I've always considered VBS an outreach and one of the best outreaches to kids all year. It uses the most resources, has the largest turnout and needs the most volunteers.

However, I found that many times my VBS was disjointed from what I was doing on Sunday mornings. 

VBS had focused teaching with décor and volunteers and great music, and my Sunday morning services weren’t. When I did get kids to come to the weekend after VBS many times they got whiplash because it was so different.

So, I made a change to the curriculum that better supported my plans for the summer. I made sure I could reuse my décor, the music, and Sunday morning and VBS followed a similar structure. They didn’t match completely, but they rhymed.

2. Content (What and How does it Teach?)

Once you’ve made the strategy decision, it’s time to decide which one you’re going to do. And while I think theme, music, and decorations are important, they are not near as important as what and how they teach.

Most curriculums worth their salt are Biblically based. However not all are written with the same excellence or teach what your kids need to hear at that time.

For example, let’s say last fall you did a series on Joseph, and the VBS you’re looking at revisits his story. The company isn’t doing anything wrong, but, for you, going back over the same story may not be the best choice. 

You’re going to want to find the most effective curriculum that teaches your kids what they need to know now. 

To make the best content decision, look at the scope of what your kids are learning over the last year and half and ask these questions:

• Does this VBS content support what they’re learning? 

• Does it repeat previous recent lessons? 

• Is it out in left field compared to what they’ve been learning?

Also look at the lessons in the VBS. 

• Are they relevant to what your kids are dealing with right now? 

• Do they present the lessons in an engaging way? 

• Are the lessons memorable? 

• Is it compatible with your beliefs? 

• How easy or difficult is it to change?

Answering these questions will help you narrow it down to just a few options, but the next one will narrow it down even further.

3. Structure (How does the VBS function?)

I know this may sound weird to be asking this question now or at all but hear me out.

There’s a secret you may not have noticed about VBS curriculum companies.

They have one structure and stick to it. Because they have to come up with something fresh every year, they don’t add or subtract stations or move around snack. And if they do it's a big deal.  These companies have one structure and fill in all the activities for their stations each year.

This is great if you use the same curriculum year after year, but if you switch to a different company, they’re most likely going to use a different structure.

But what difference does that make? It keeps it fresh for the kids, right? Yes, but you have another group to consider. 

Your volunteers.

VBS is one of the most volunteer heavy events you'll have all year. In addition, most likely this is the only kid event that many of your people will volunteer for. 

If they’ve served before, they’ll be looking for this year’s structure to be identical to last year’s. They’ll be thinking they know what to expect and know what they’re getting into. 

They’re not going to be excited about changes.

At my second church, I used Group VBS for years. We had the structure down to a science. Many of my volunteers who had been with me from the beginning started skipping the training meetings because it was mostly the same content year after year.

However, after about 5 years, I made the switch to Orange VBS. I switched to their Sunday morning curriculum a year earlier and wanted to line up my summer the strategy better.

I thought the switch would be ok, but what I didn’t anticipate was the backlash from the volunteers. 

They didn’t know what was going on or what to expect. The Bible story station which was our biggest draw no longer existed and was instead incorporated into the opening. Snack station was a big rally point for the entire VBS, now it was part of the games’ rotation. And don’t get me started on the Small Group station. This was the biggest change, and I had a lot of pushback because of all the extra work they had to do.

I knew this was the best choice, so I stuck with it and had far greater success the next year.

You can read more about this transition here.

If your strategy and content decisions lead you to a different curriculum than in years past, then you really need to look at the structure and spend extra time training your volunteers on the changes.

These aren’t all the questions you need to consider. There’s a lot more to picking a curriculum, but this will help you narrow it down to one or two options and set you up for greater kingdom impact this summer.

If you’d like to read more about VBS you can find the posts here.