The summer is almost over for many of us.  Long gone are the days when school starts after Labor Day.  My son starts school on August 5 and there are others in Georgia that will start in July.  With the end of the summer, we start to look at all the things we did and ask if they were effective. One of the biggest questions I see this time of year is “What are churches doing other than VBS?” 

I love VBS.  I write a lot about it and feature it here.  But I often wonder if it is still relevant and effective in today’s world.  Don’t get me wrong, I think we should definitely leverage the summer with some kind of outreach event for kids. But maybe, we should do something other than what we’ve been doing for the past 40 years.

The question is, what?  VBS can be a sacred cow and making a change can be difficult.  There’s not nearly as much material out there.  But there are many innovative kidmin pastors trying something new and different.  Today, I’ll outline 4 VBS alternatives that are new and different and may be the perfect fit for your community.

1. Sports Camp

The Assemblies of God has a curriculum called Mega Sports Camp designed for churches to teach sports and Jesus at the same time.  I held my own a few years back with great success. You can read about it here.

The point of an outreach is to reach people who don’t know Jesus.  Unfortunately, VBS and events like it attract more Christians than the lost.  If you do a sports camp, the primary focus isn't Jesus, but rather parents who want their kids to get better at sports. The Gospel is still preached, but it's in a less overt package.

We can complain about parents sending their kids to travel ball and missing service. But one thing is for sure, travel ball is expensive.  If you offer a sports camp, you’ll attract some of these families, and as a bonus be able to charge a nominal fee. These parents won't bat an eye.  Unless you’re charging hundreds of dollars for your camp, the week of training is a steal. 

Even if you make it free, it’s still a draw.  Parents may be far more interested in their kids learning how to kick a ball than how to make a church out of popsicle sticks. 

When I led my sports camp, my church had private school on the campus.  We had a gym, a baseball and football field.  We offered a ton of sports which attracted even more kids.  Even if you don’t have access to all those facilities, just an open field is enough. Be creative and see what happens.

2. STEM Camp

I haven’t led one of these camps, but I sent my son to one this summer.  First, they did a traditional kids service in the morning. Then they learned about engineering in the afternoon.  For my non-sporty son, this was a win-win.  He couldn’t wait to go back. 

One of the biggest problems with VBS is all the volunteers you need.  You may even be limited to how many kids you can host because you don’t have enough people in your church.  To solve that problem, this church brought in a youth group from out of state for a missions trip.  The group was the main team leaders and led with professionalism and passion.

Like a sports camp, a STEM camp will attract outsiders, not just the church crowd.  Coding, engineering, math, and science may be scary to you, but maybe not for everyone in your church.  There are probably people in your church that know how to do some of those things.  Even still, YouTube is a great resource to learn the basics. 

Like I learned when I led my sports camp, I had people step up to lead that never led with VBS. They did it because they were passionate about it and wanted to share their skills.  They were some of my best leaders and made the week a lot more fun.

3. Fine Arts Camp

Like STEM camp, I haven’t led one of these either, but my son attended.  I admit, we’ve become VBS hoppers. 

The Fine Arts camp is similar to the STEM camp except they focused on teaching music, art, dance, and theater.  Each kid picked two tracks and alternated throughout the day. They worked toward a showcase at the end of the week. 

One of the hardest parts of VBS is getting parents to come back to your church.  Since the Fine Arts camp was working towards the showcase, it was always our plan to attend.  It was just like attending my kid’s music recital.  We don’t miss those, or we get labeled the world’s worst parent by every absent parent storyline we’ve ever seen.  Your parents won’t miss it either.

The kids pastor at this church partnered with the worship department to create their curriculum.  They not only learned how to do each of the skills, but how we can use them glorify God with our talents.  This camp did attract more churched kids, but I think it was still effective. 

Special shout out to that kid’s pastor because he did a full VBS two weeks before.  I can’t imagine…

4.  Separate Events

Instead of trying to put all your eggs in a one-week basket, why not diversify your events?  You can capitalize on regular rhythms of the summer, out of school, July 4, and back to school. 

When kids start the summer, they’re ready to party.  Get some water inflatables or a big slip and slide.  Invite the community out and just have fun.  You don’t have to do anything spiritual.  This kind of event gets guests used to coming on your campus and meeting your people.  Be sure to collect their information so you can follow up later.

Similarly, for Fourth of July build community.  Go to a park or set up a special place to see a fireworks show.  At my church in Sarasota, we were a mile away from the city-wide fireworks show.  Because the city charged for parking a lot of people didn’t want to park there.  So, we opened up our parking lot for a watch party.  We played music, passed out water, and encouraged community.  A lot of people came to our grounds not for a church event, but to get a good view of the show.  We passed out invite cards to our next big event. You can have a picnic or some other get together and invite the community to join.  Parents are looking for something fun, easy, and cheap to do with their kids during the summer.  You can meet that need.

Before kids go back to school, consider a generosity campaign.  Give away bookbags, school supplies, clothes and shoes.  Partner with your local salvation army, clothing bank, or food bank.  You’ll care for the community while also showing the love of Jesus. 

Bottom line, you don’t have to do VBS.  There are a lot of other options out there.  With a little planning, some innovation, and elbow grease, you may find a new way to reach the people in your community.  And that’s what it’s all about.

What have you done other than VBS that’s effective?

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