BREAKING NEWS!
If your church would like to offer VBS shirts to the kids in attendance, the district will pay HALF of the cost. All you need to do is submit a receipt and the District Office will cut you a check for half of the total cost.
We believe this is a great way to promote not only your VBS, but your church as the kids are out and about in the community and wearing the shirts.
I have had great luck with ATS in Bay City if you need a place to call and get a quote. They are very reasonable and fast and will work with you if you have a tax exempt number. Receipts can be scanned and emailed to [email protected] or if you have any questions. Thanks!
Do you know that 85% of Christians declare their heart and life to Jesus by the time they are 17 years old? That’s a HUGE number and to reach those children in your community, VBS is one of the easiest ways to get them through your doors and to work on building their relationship with Christ and the church, so they too can be part of that 85%.
Make it easier and cheaper on your church (and yourself if you are the director!) and utilize resources within the District prop center. There are backdrops, decorations and all of the curriculum included within a theme that are available for loan at NO COST. On average, using the prop center saves each church $400 – $700 since the District Office can provide the big items. Gloria Gonzales, the Christian Education Coordinator for St. Luke’s Essexville UMC says, “We could probably do VBS (without the District resources) but it wouldn’t be as nice. Decorating would be more minimal. Experience for kids wouldn’t be as memorable.”
If you would like to see what there is in the prop center, feel free to email me and we can set up a time in the fall when the props are all back. There are lots of options for what you can do.
This summer, between the 18 churches who are utilizing the district prop and resource center, they hope to reach over 800 children! That’s a lot of seed planting within our youngest people and it takes weeks of planning and hours of effort to set up a successful VBS outreach plan.
Please pray for the following VBS leaders of the churches listed below during their week of VBS so it is safe, successful and full of relationship building with Jesus. (If you would like to add your church, please email me with the dates).
Week of:
June 13th– St. Luke’s Essexville, Midland First
June 23rd – Aldersgate Midland, Bayport
July 8th – Arenac Christ, Saginaw First (for thee weeks)
July 21st – Frankenmuth, Pigeon 1st and Pigeon Salem
July 28th – Birch Run, Oscoda, Vassar First, Weidman
August 4th – Mt. Pleasant First, Swan Valley, Freeland, Coleman, Owendale, Gordonville
August 11th – Auburn, Gladwin First, Caro
Resources:
Cokesbury VBS has a group page on Facebook that has awesome pictures of churches who are getting ready for their VBS and posting pictures of what their sanctuaries, stages and rooms look like. If you need inspiration or have questions, it is a great place to go. You need to go to Facebook and request membership in their group.
Oriental Trading Company has generic theme decorations to match the most popular VBS sets from the last one to three years (or more). Their prices are usually very good and sometimes they offer a free shipping code which makes it very affordable!
VBS 2020
I know, I know…you haven’t even hosted your VBS for this summer, but I’m going to mention NEXT summer’s already? You betcha! Here are some tips that may help you plan for your VBS next summer:
- Pick a date and advertise it to your attendees this year so they can ‘save the date’.
- If you have picked a theme (Cokesbury already announced their 2020) you can do a sneak peak at one of your VBS nights to gain enthusiasm
- If you choose a theme that was brand new this year to do NEXT year, then you can start shopping to get clearance items. However, don’t wait too long as these supplies get snatched up fast! Cokesbury has already started to discount their Mars and Beyond craft and curriculum items.
- If you have a place for storage, load up on clearance items and begin collecting craft, mission and game pieces for the next year so you don’t have big purchases all at once.
Cokesbury 2020 – Knights of the North Castle
Group 2020 coming June 12th!