Using Teens in VBS

Teenagers are an amazing resource for VBS help.

Teenagers are an amazing resource for VBS help. Leading up to VBS, they can prepare crafts and decorations and even do simple but necessary tasks like stuffing goody bags.

During VBS, teens provide energetic extra hands in the classroom and in recreation. As someone who struggles with those VBS dances, I let my teens handle all the stage motions for our VBS every year. Not only did I not have to struggle with memorizing motions, but an instant cool factor was achieved by having a high school boy doing the VBS motions and wearing a silly costume each day.

Looking at the VBS workload from a director's perspective, I can tell you that the value of using your teens is immeasurable. Truly, I wouldn’t want to have a VBS without teens serving!

But have you ever stopped and thought about what serving at VBS does for the teen?

In the summer of 2003, I was finally old enough to be more than just a helper at VBS. My sixteen-year-old self was the co-teacher of the 3-and-4-year-old class at my church’s VBS. The day’s lesson was on the great commission, and we taught the kids that we were to “go fish for Jesus.” I was in a pink kimono-inspired top with chopsticks in my hair while sitting out on the rec pad having a snack. We were doing a call-and-response time with the kids, practicing what we’d learned, when right there at a table full of kids, I knew that I should do this for the rest of my life.

Right there at VBS, at just sixteen years old, God called me into the ministry. My life was radically changed because I was a teen serving at VBS. The ripple effect of kingdom impact due to that VBS cannot be measured.

Yes, teens are a wonderful resource. You never know when God might be doing something amazing in and through them. There may be teens at your church who will be called into the ministry while serving at VBS like I was. Maybe there will be teens who discover their gift while serving. Maybe a teen who is not yet walking with Christ will hear something while helping at VBS (because all their friends are there), and it will change his or her eternity.

• Invite your teens to serve.
• Encourage them to serve.
• Give them tasks and appropriate leadership roles.
• But more than that, pray for them. Pray that God will guide them, that he will grow them and use them to accomplish his will and his purposes.

VBS is a powerful week, not just for the boys and girls attending.