3 things kids showed us at Shipwrecked VBS

3 things kids showed us at Shipwrecked VBS
June 23, 2017 Jody Brolsma

Shipwrecked VBS is here!

For months, our team has worked, researched, written, tested, and designed.

We listened to kids, parents, and church leaders.

We fine-tuned the Bible message, going deeper than a beachy theme, and giving kids the reassurance that when life feels like a wreck, we have the ultimate Rescuer.

After a week of field-testing Shipwrecked VBS, we realized a few things:

Kids are deep. VBS is full of crazy-fun games and zany laughter, but there are also times of deep discussion. Kids floored their Crew Leaders with the God-connections they made. When we handed out wrapped Lifesavers during an activity, one girl commented, “The candy is like Jesus, and the wrapper is like how our worries get in the way of us being close to him.” Um…wow! The kids who come to your VBS are thinkers! Don’t sell them short, assuming all they want to do is run around and be wild. Small group discussions are powerful times of transforming connections to Jesus.

Kids have intense struggles. Every day, kids completed the Bible Point with the phrase “Jesus rescues.” And we definitely heard an earful about things kids need Jesus to rescue them from. Broken families. Broken hearts. Sickness. Loneliness. Too many kids understand what it’s like to feel shipwrecked in life—lost, alone, and wondering if anyone is out there. We got to celebrate the ways that Jesus walks beside us as a friend and rescuer.

Kids have big hearts. In mixed-age crews, kids cared for each other. They prayed together and served each other. When one crew finished a challenge at Ship Rec Games, they jumped in to help another crew solve the problem. Big kids helped younger crew members. And they blew us away with their involvement and care for kids in Haiti through Operation Kid-to-Kid. They want to change the world.

You’re in for oceans of fun at VBS…and those kids who attend might just teach you a thing or two!

Jody Brolsma is the VBS Executive Editor/Champion at Group Publishing in Loveland, Colorado. She’ll be the first to tell you that it is truly the funnest job in the world! (That’s why she’s been doing it for more than 20 years.)

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