As July begins, most schools are close to announcing reopening plans, though their doors won’t open until August.
However, as summer continues, a different type of school is already in session: Vacation Bible School.
And in the wake of COVID-19, churches are adapting their VBS programs in a number of different ways to deal with the changing times.
For Asbury United Methodist Church, this summer’s VBS will be entirely online. Their three-day program, BOLT, comes from GO! Curriculum.
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“Their catchline is, ‘Instead of bringing your kids to VBS, we’re bringing VBS to your kids,’” said children’s and family ministry director Heidi Warren.
Warren said that while the BOLT programming is designed to be completed over three days, the links and videos will be available to registered families throughout July.
“You don’t have to do them consecutive days,” she said. “It could be once a week, it could be all three days in a row.” Warren added that the activities presented in the BOLT curriculum utilize common household items that are easy to find.
Warren said that, the church had different curriculum planned for VBS. And once the pandemic hit, they discussed pushing VBS back or even moving it to winter. However, they ultimately decided on using the BOLT curriculum, as it was purposefully created to be a “’backyard’ VBS,” according GO! Curriculum’s website.
“We feel great,” Warren said. “We’re close to our numbers. We’ve had a lot of participation, a lot of excitement about it.”
A longer stretch
For the First United Methodist Church of Columbus, this summer’s VBS will last a bit longer than three days. According to director of youth and family ministries Jennifer Riddle, FUMC’s VBS program is a five-week experience that began the week of June 29.
Riddle explained that the church has instruction packets for families, and there will be videos that accompany the packets. The activities in the packet will be completed at home. However, the VBS is not entirely an “at-home” experience; there is also a chance for kids participate in-person each week.
“You have an entire week to do the activities that are in the packet,” Riddle said. “And then, on Friday, each week we’re getting together at the green space at the church at 10 a.m. to just do some activities that are a part of the packet. So families, if they don’t feel comfortable coming in person, they can do those activities on their own.”
Riddle added that, because of health concerns, in-person time will be limited to one hour. Furthermore, every family that attends will need to have at least one adult present to watch their children. All adults are required to wear masks, but for children it’s optional.
“We’re going to keep people in their family groups as much as possible,” Riddle said.
Similar to the BOLT curriculum, Riddle said that the suggested crafts in the packets will require common household items or objects that are easily found in nature.
“But I have bought extra of some of those things, especially for folks that may be struggling economically, so if they need things like that, I’m supplying for whoever might need those,” Riddle added.
Before planning out VBS, Riddle sent out a survey to see what families wanted to do.
“A lot of them, I think, are kind of overwhelmed with online opportunities but understand that because of COVID, we kind of need to find a safe balance as best we can,” she said. “And so, they were really interested in trying to do some face gatherings (sic) such as doing something outside.”
Riddle said the curriculum, Compassion Camp, was chosen because it was designed to be flexible for both “online interaction and in-person interaction.” She added that having the program take place over a longer period of time is a good way to include families who might be out of town for some of July.
In-person and virtual
While First United Methodist is doing a mostly at-home VBS with weekly in-person gatherings, St. Paul Lutheran Church has chosen a different approach: a three-day VBS from July 20 to July 23, with the option to either attend in-person or participate virtually.
“For those that opt to do the virtual option, we’ll be making videos and recordings that feel as much like they were here as possible,” Director of Christian Education Cheryl LaBelle said. “We will also have bags of student activities that they can take home with them, picked up ahead of time, and have with them so that they can participate. Like snacks with recipe cards, and crafts. We’ll have videos that lead and show them how to do that.”
LaBelle said that she and some of the church’s VBS volunteers will record these videos in advance and upload them to YouTube.
“So it’ll still be a lot of the same faces, the same personalities coming across, so that it will feel as if they attended,” she said.
On the other hand, the in-person VBS will be similar to programs of years past, albeit with new health guidelines.
“We’ll be sanitizing, day-to-day, after they’ve left and give them their own designated space so that it’s not shared space,” LaBelle said. “We’re going to be doing a lot of things outside, too.”
She added that there will be prepackaged snacks and that children will be asked to bring their own water bottles to avoid the spread of germs.
“We’ll still set it up so that activities can be had where they still have fun,” LaBelle said. “They will still interact with one another, still (have) some healthy competition as well as good fellowship and hopefully some laughs
“And then the same thing with our other rotations, too — the music, the Bible story, all of that stuff…it’ll be interactive. So they’ll fully get to participate, but still taking into consideration some social distancing.”
She said that the church set up its VBS with flexibility in mind, so that the church could be prepared in case any new COVID-19 security measures or considerations arose.
“But we did believe that people would desire coming together,” LaBelle said. “We’ve been having in-person church services, and we’ve been seeing a lot of families coming. And so we see that that is important to those families to have that socialization. So, we knew it was important for kids to be able to come together.
“But for those families that were more concerned, we did want to give a virtual option so that they can still participate.”
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To find out more about VBS at your local church, ask a leader, check the church’s website and/or social media, and look through the Republic’s Saturday religion listings.
How to register for the programs mentioned in the article:
- Asbury United Methodist Church: Email [email protected] and provide your children’s names, a home address and an email address. Warren will send you a link and password to log on and participate in VBS. The home address is so that the church can send your kids a thank-you card for participating and a gift certificate for ice cream. Warren said that while the church has asked people to register before June 30, she will continue to accept registrations any time before July 31. According to Go! Curriculum, BOLT is appropriate for anyone ages five to 85.
- First United Methodist Church of Columbus: Fill out the church’s Google Doc form at http://tiny.cc/FUMCcompassionVBS
to register. This VBS is for kids pre-K through the fifth grade. Riddle said that families can register at any time throughout the five weeks. Families can choose whether they want to pick up the materials from the church or have them dropped off at their house. - St. Paul Lutheran Church: Go to https://vbsmate.com/events/stpaulcolumbus/19093 to register. Make sure to specify whether or not you are signing up for the virtual option. The church is asking people to register by July 8 so that they can have the right number of take-home bags. However, LaBelle said that they will accept registrations up until the scheduled VBS days (July 20 to 23) and even in the middle of that week. She added that if there are still materials available, she will provide them to those who register late. The age range for this VBS is kids three years old to those who have completed the sixth grade.
All three of these programs are free and open to all children within their age ranges, regardless of whether or not these children attend the church in question or live in-state.
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