5 Reasons Why You Might Want to Kill VBS in Your Church

Last updated on: January 1, 2017 at 3:16 pm by Josh Daffern

5 Reasons Why You Might Want to Kill VBS in Your Church 2017-01-01T15:16:44-06:00 Josh Daffern

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

www.unsplash.com

2. Our task as a church is to make disciples, not have children repeat a prayer. Yes, VBS is good at exposing children to the gospel, without a doubt. But American evangelicalism has uncomfortably reduced the gospel to a simple (not-found-in-Scripture) Sinner’s Prayer. If we can get someone to repeat that prayer with us, then our work is done, right? Not even close. VBS is geared towards getting kids to make a one-time decision, to repeat a prayer, with no thought of meaningful follow-up. That’s why for Southern Baptists at least (the kings of VBS in our minds), baptism rates are decreasing in every age group except for children under the age of 5. We don’t baptize infants (like ‘those’ denominations we look down our noses at), but we baptize toddlers. VBS fosters a culture designed to induce children to make a quick decision and repeat a prayer with little meaningful follow-up.

3. The key to discipling children is through families, not the children. Let’s say a child attends every day of your church’s VBS, 15 solid hours of gospel exposure. As good as that might be, there are still over 3000 waking hours in that child’s year. How are you making an impact during those hours? Some churches have embraced VBS because in essence they have written off the parents. They know they can’t reach the parents, so at least they will try and reach the kids. But as good as your VBS might be for those 15 hours (and let’s be honest, a lot of VBS’s are cheesy), those seeds of faith will be trampled by 3000 waking hours of negative influences if you can’t reach the entire family. More than making a decision or repeating a prayer, if you want to truly disciple children, you have to effectively reach the parents.

Go back Continue Reading

New Wineskins

church

vacation bible school

VBS

Previous Post

August 18, 2016

The Problem With the Church is That We've Made Church for Church People

Next Post

September 6, 2016 Why Football Season Tears Into Your Church Attendance and What We Can Learn From It

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Family Matters Ministry in the Trenches Morning Brew MTVpastor New Wineskins Top Menu Truth from Life Uncategorized Watch Sermons

Select a Month June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many times does the word "Christian" appear in the Bible?

Select your answer to see how you score.

10 12 3 7