It is time to get the ball rolling if your church is going to have VBS this summer. It takes effort to find the people willing to commit to the various jobs that need to be filled. But what if your church only has two or three children? Or maybe there are no children in your church – what then???

I want to piggy-back on a post I wrote about 9 months ago about the VBS we were able to pull off last year. How Can Small Churches Do VBS? My church had two high school age youth and three younger children plus some grandchildren who came when they were visiting their grandparents. Yet we were able to serve almost 50 children in our VBS. I’m again looking for volunteers, though this year we are way ahead of where we were this time a year ago.

Where does one start when his/her church is short on both children and people willing to lead them?

• Prayer – serious unending prayer, prayers that you carry with you wherever you go because it is that important to you. Engage others in prayer as well.
• Pastors and church members in other small churches who have only a small number of children. Encourage them to get involved. Invite several pastors and other church members to serve as Bible characters on one of the days to enrich the Bible lessons.
• Create your own directory of the small churches in your area, with their pastors and youth workers, and use it to recruit every year.
• Invite Christian youth groups in one of the larger churches – perhaps they would be willing to take on your VBS as a service project. They could be teacher’s assistants and can make a big difference in the enthusiasm levels if your teachers are getting up in years.
• Christian school teachers. Get the word out that you are serious about ministering to the children in your community. Ask anyone in the school system for suggestions on who might serve well as VBS teachers.
• Announce your goals on Facebook and on other social networks. You may catch the attention of people who share your concerns even if you don’t know them personally.
• Maybe you can find a pocket of children in a neighborhood where you can visit and bring a simple craft and Bible activity on several weekends in a row to generate interest in your VBS.
• Look for the children that aren’t already being reached in other churches. You can wear yourself out trying to compete with the big churches. Don’t knock yourself out to get all the children who are trying to go to every VBS in the community. Those children are being served. Look for the ones who are falling between the cracks – they are the needy children.
• When VBS is over, consider ways you might serve these children around the calendar. Maybe a weekend activity every month or two. …and of course, make sure you have a Sunday School Class available for them.

The most important thing is Don’t give up! Look around. Are the schools empty? Those children are tomorrow’s leaders. If our churches are running out of children, it should remind us we are missing their opportunity to influence our communities. Wake up people! There is no ministry more important than children’s ministry and youth ministry. Pray to the Lord and ask him what talents you have that you can invest in today’s children. And find a VBS you can get involved with, even if it isn’t in your own church.

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