Vacation Bible School and Summer Formation
By Suzanna Green
Director of Christian Formation
If your church is considering doing a Vacation Bible School (VBS) program this year, here is something to keep in mind before you begin your planning. Typically, I hear two reasons churches want to put on a VBS. One is that the church wants to offer something to their local community-a free or low-cost childcare option for working parents with the added component of teaching children something about God and God’s love for them. The other is that the church wants to increase attendance, in other words to get more young families to attend their church.
I have a lot of experience with VBS. I have either been a participant, volunteer, or director of a VBS almost every year since I was a very young child. One thing I’ve found to be true across the board is that if the second goal is your only reason for doing a VBS, it’s not worth it. In at least 90% of cases (probably more) VBS does not meet that goal. Don’t stop reading yet though, if you just determined that maybe VBS is not the right summer formation plan for your church, scroll down to the Summer Fellowship and Formation Ideas for a whole list of plug-and-play summer fellowship and formation ideas. There are so many ways to bring your church community together over the summer and to encourage church members to invite a friend to come along – I compiled this list to help you with formation ideas.
If you have gotten this far and are still interested in hosting a VBS at your church this summer, here’s a few best practices and some curriculum suggestions.
VBS Best Practices
● First, think about how many students you expect and how many folks in your congregation can volunteer
● Then, choose the model that works for you based on those numbers:
○ One-room VBS where students are all-together in the parish hall
○ Stations VBS where groups of students with designated leaders move from station-to-station over the course of the morning
○ Three-day VBS Monday-Wednesday or Thursday-Saturday
○ Evening VBS with the whole church family (see p. 3 for details)
● Recruit VBS volunteers with intention
○ Recruit one-two folks with strong organization skills to be the VBS coordinator(s)
■ These folks will oversee all the other volunteers, student registrations, group lists, supply lists, etc.
○ For each volunteer role, pray and reflect about who might be the best fit
○ Create a short job description for each volunteer role
○ Ask specific people to serve in specific roles (i.e. instead of or in addition to a general bulletin announcement about needing help with VBS, ask one person to lead each station, ask specific people to be group leaders, etc.)
○ Get creative with opportunities to help
■ There will be folks who want to help who can’t be involved during the week, here’s some ways to include those folks:
- VBS workdays: folks can help with set-up or putting together materials on a Saturday or evening ahead of time
- VBS supply lists: folks who can’t be there can help purchase supplies or snacks for the week
■ There may be folks who can only help for one or two days, don’t be afraid to plug these folks in too. They make great assistant group leaders or assistant station leaders, floaters, or substitutes. More hands are always better
● Make sure that every volunteer who helps with VBS has a current background check and safeguarding training
● Have fun! VBS should be fun for the adults as well as the kids, worknights and set-up days can help build the sense of community and camaraderie among the adults prior to a week of fun and hard work
● For even more planning and prep ideas, check out this VBS planning article
Free VBS Curriculum options
● Best for one-room VBS:
○ DWTX Staycation Bible School
○ DWTX Children and Youth curriculum Here am I, Send Me
○ DWTX Children and Youth Curriculum Let Love be Genuine
● Full stations VBS:
○ Abundant Life Garden Project VBS from Episcopal Relief and Development
○ Waves of Gratitude from United Thank Offering
○ Email Suzanna (formation@dwtx.org) for a list of churches that have previous years curriculum they would be happy to donate to your church!
For other options that cost anywhere from $40-$300 check out these two lists:
● Buildfaith’s VBS top picks for 2026
● Buildfaith’s VBS perennial favorites
Summer Fellowship and Formation
If you haven’t heard me say this before, formation happens in relationships and summer can be a great time to gather as a church family for fellowship and fun! You can also add a formation component to your events, and I’ve listed some suggestions for that below. But please know that if you are getting church folks together for fellowship and fun, you are still doing formation! These events can be done on a Sunday after church or a weeknight or weekend, whatever works best for your particular context. These events work for any size church and are listed from least to most planning needed.
Summer Fellowship and Formation Ideas
● Summer Cookout: Have some folks in your church who like to grill? Get some burgers and hot dogs on the grill and gather the congregation together for food and fellowship. Invite people to bring their favorite lawn game and a side or dessert to share!
○ Formation component: sharing faith, big way of love for kids, or sight psalm pictures and scriptures on the tables
● Outdoor Coffee Hour: if you have a playground, host coffee hour there so adults can visit and children can play. Instead of the usual pastries, offer ice cream, paletas, or popsicles. No playground? put out some chalk and bubbles. No outdoor space? Put out some children and youth-friendly craft activities, books, or toys in your coffee hour space and a puzzle or craft for the adults too!
○ Formation component: put out a few sharing faith cards, big way of love for kids pray it or say it cards, or a word search related to that day’s scripture
● Game Night: invite folks to the church and have them bring their favorite board games and a potluck dish and play games together.
○ Formation component: Play Apples to Apples Bible Edition, Taboo Bible Edition, or Bible Pictionary or Charades (make your own list/cards or you can find some online)
● Bingo Night: same idea as game night but with bingo.
○ Formation component: send each household home with a Summer Formation Bingo card
● River, beach, lake, or pool day: Is your church close to a body of water? Does someone at your church have a pool or do you have a community pool? Invite everyone to that spot for a day of fun and fellowship. Offer lunch or have folks bring their own food.
○ Formation component: read one of these books on baptism: The Gift of Baptism, Water Come Down, We Remember Your Baptism or read the story of Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan
● Church Field Day: Invite folks to your church for outdoor summer activities that all-ages can play, ending with a sponge or water balloon relay to cool folks off. To make sure all-ages can participate (if they’d like), include some games that can be done seated and a cheering section for those who would prefer to watch the fun from a distance.
○ Formation Component: after the field day events, have some wondering time as a whole group or in households using these Wondering Together questions
● Evening all-ages VBS
○ Bring the whole church together three-five nights in one week, or once a week for three-five weeks for dinner, fellowship, and some VBS-style Bible study.
○ Use one of the free VBS curriculums listed above or one of these intergenerational VBS curriculums:
■ All God’s Children The Church Family Gathers for Summer or for A Very Blessed Summer
For more information on any of these ideas, curriculums, or other formation resources feel free to reach out to Suzanna Green, Director of Christian Formation at formation@dwtx.org.
