It’s vacation Bible school season. And while kids are running crazy with craft projects and juice boxes, it’s also a great chance for your church to meet folks who typically aren’t spending a lot of time in your building.
A moment from a couple of years ago at my church really stands out of how to do VBS follow up well. My pastor nailed his sermon following a week of VBS. He was his normal funny, relevant, theologically sound self, but this was an important sermon because of the audience.
VBS is not only for kid’s from my church, but also ones from outside of it. For a week, parents not from our church were dropping off their kids. And hopefully when they picked them up, they heard about how much fun they were having.
The Sunday after VBS week is an important one. My guess is parents of kids who never went to our church probably showed up. There were games and festivities outside for families and children sang a song they learned during the service. Parents show up for this stuff. That means there were probably a lot of first time quests at this service -- some believers and others that may be on the edge.
The sermon was about making God the treasure of your life. (The VBS theme was a take on the “National Treasure” movie. I’m not the biggest fan when churches use movie titles and themes, but I’m trying to not let that fog my judgment of the week.) The sermon was good for me and I bet it resonated with people visiting the church as well.
This shows that there is importance in making sure the message inside the church matches the marketing. My church promoted this event, but didn’t stop there. They made sure there was a chance to engage families. It’s important to take advantage of having a new crowd. What if this sermon was so so or didn’t tie in to the VBS curriculum? What if our senior pastor and worship leader where on summer vacation? Would it have been a lost opportunity?
Beyond the sermon, the church also hosted one of its lunch with the staff events. This is where people can come to learn more about the church ask any question and get a free lunch. It seems like good scheduling to have this event on that Sunday as well.
How about you? Any stories, good or bad, about VBS follow-up?
