Is VBS for Churched or Unchurched Kids? Why Not Both?

As you read this, thousands of churches around the world are gearing up for a week of Vacation Bible School. For some churches, this means welcoming and teaching hundreds of children. For others, it might be just a half dozen kids. Other churches fall somewhere in between. Whichever group your church falls into, we’re thrilled that you are taking time out of your busy summer to share the good news of Jesus Christ and biblical teaching with children.

We recently asked other leaders and volunteers this question on our Answers VBS Discussion Group:

Let’s talk about whom you do VBS for. Is your VBS just for your own churched kids? For the kids in your community? Or . . . ?

Here are some of the answers we received.

Both. We end up with an almost 50/50 split, but keep praying for more kids.

We have about 300 children at our VBS with at least 80% of them coming from the community.

We certainly invite everyone, but our youth pastor reminds us each year that not only are we commanded to spread the gospel, we must make disciples of the kids who already believe. That’s one of the biggest reasons we love AIG. It does such a great job of teaching Christ to both those who don’t believe and those that already do!

It’s a community outreach event.

We get 80-some kids at VBS, and we probably have 30 from our church. I love the community outreach!

Both. Not only are we trying to help our kids grow, but we are also trying to bring in those who don’t have a church.

Mainly community since we only have 3 kids in the church, but we offer classes from ages 4 thru adult. Our adult class tends to be the largest one. We average about 40 per night, counting workers.

We have 5 kids in Sunday school from Pre-K–6th grade and last year had just at 100 each day for VBS!

About 30% are staff kids and 70% community kids (mostly unchurched). My goal is to show them learning about God can be fun so they will want to return on Sundays. It is my privilege to teach the memory verses which I know God will use in their lives in the future (Isaiah promises God's Word will not return void, but will accomplish God’s purpose).

Answers VBS is designed for both churched and unchurched children. We always present the gospel and defend the truth of God’s Word, answering the questions of our day. This makes it great to teach kids who are learning about the Bible for the first time or to equip and encourage children who regularly attend church, read the Bible, or are believers.

If you have questions about VBS, join our Answers VBS Discussion Group. We’d love to connect with you there!