Vacation Bible Schools Close Their Doors

Vacation Bible Schools are harder to find than they used to be. At least that is the general trend observed by a study conducted by the Barna Research Group in 2005. The origins of VBS are usually traced to 1898, when Eliza Hawes, the wife of a doctor in New York City, rented out a beer parlor in order to instruct indigent street children about the Bible during the summer. Hawes’ passion for the spiritual formation of children eventually inspired her pastor to adopt the program by bringing it onto the property of the Church. Over the next two decades more and more Churches began to reach out to Children through a regular “Bible School” that typically corresponded to the summer months, until, in the 1920’s, publishing houses began to produce literature specifically intended for Summer Bible Schools. Over the decades that followed Vacation Bible Schools proliferated and became something of an institution in many areas, with some towns hosting multiple Bibles Schools each year. Among Southern Baptist Churches, nearly a quarter of annual baptisms are attached in some way to the conduct of a VBS. VBS has been a vital ministry to children in the U.S. for generations, but some recent data indicate that its future is far from certain.

According to an article by Edith Webster of the Rockford Register Star, a survey conducted by the Barna Group found that, “Since 1997, the percentage [of Churches] continuing [to offer VBS] has dropped from 81 to 69, representing 38,000 fewer churches.” [The Rockford Register Star, August 8, 2005] This decline would be no cause for alarm if Churches were simply opting to seek alternative ways of reaching children during the summer and had found other more effective means, but, according to Webster, this is not the case. The most common reason Churches cited for dropping the ministry was “lack of teachers.” This study is an occasion of both sorrow and joy for me. When I think about thousands of Churches in our country who, over the last ten years, have discovered that they have few members who are passionate about reaching their own children for Christ, I can’t help but feel regret for the lost opportunities. Jesus once told His disciples that, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” [Lk 10.2 (NIV)] Jesus was observing, as so many in the Church have observed since, that there never seem to be enough workers to accomplish what needs doing.

I am, however, simultaneously rejoicing at how the Lord has recently answered our prayer for workers here at Gilead. Jesus seems to be complaining about the lack of decent help in Luke 10, but what is unexpected about this statement is that Jesus makes it while He is in the process of sending people out to share the gospel. He had good workers, but, in light of the size of the task at hand, He wanted more. He wanted even greater capacity to minister in new ways and in new places. This is a desire that I share, and I pray that we will never lose sight of the unsown fields and the unreached people right in our own communities and homes. How many spiritual fields go unsown because there is no one willing to plow the ground? I shudder to think, but I am thankful that we were able to do some “harvesting” during VBS because the Lord of the harvest sent you into the field. I am thankful that ours is one Vacation Bible School that stayed open.