For five years the congregations of First English Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Paul Lutheran Church and Christ Church Grosse Pointe have hosted a joint Vacation Bible School open to all children.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced organizers to restructure this summer’s weeklong program, which was embraced by participants and their families.
“It was quite the challenge,” said Renata Conger, the parish education and youth ministry coordinator at First English. “The past five years, we’ve had 80 to 120 kids. This year we didn’t want to cancel it. Our goal was to send the message that God is not dead because of the pandemic and church is not confined to a building.”
Created By Participants Eleanor and Madeline
An example of a daily post, a window banner that says “Jesus’ power helps us do hard things."
When representatives from each church figured out how to share their message, they purchased a VBS curriculum and adapted it to a largely virtual format. It opened Sunday, Aug. 2, with a drive-thru event during which registered participants and their parents were given supplies and goodies to take home.
“We prayed for each family, gave them ice cream and then they drove off,” Conger said.
Monday through Friday, participants were asked to accomplish three tasks, the first of which was to participate in a Zoom session that included a daily Bible verse following the theme of this year’s program that “Jesus’ power pulls us through, even when things get tough,” Conger said.
Next, participants were asked to watch a video the churches produced.
“Some of it we recorded ourselves,” Conger said. “Some of it was part of the curriculum we purchased.”
The 30-minute video was interactive, she explained, asking families to pause and discuss what they’d watched or pause and do an activity. Their total involvement was around 90 minutes, Conger said, “about the amount (of) time of a Disney movie, but it’s growing their faith instead.”
The third facet of each day involved the children responding in some way to the message they’d learned that day. Responses could range from drawing a picture to performing an act of kindness. The object was to capture a photo of the response and post it on a private Facebook page exclusive to registered participants.
Photos Credit Renata Conger
Natty, a member of Christ Church Grosse Pointe, holds his personalized water bottle —
a prize given at the end of a flash mob.
“We got to see kids doing these things and everything reinforced the day’s point,” Conger said, noting though the Facebook community was private, many of the posts received likes and positive comments. “Then, if they completed all three things at the end of the day, we did a random drawing of who did all three, and the next day, we’d do a flash mob. Our volunteers wore masks and showed up at a child’s house. The parents knew we were coming and told us the best time to come, but the children were surprised. We did two or three every day.”
The “mini surprise party” flash mobs included confetti and streamers, games, songs, popsicles, a Bible reading and prayer. Everyone wore masks, spread out, stayed outside and used hand sanitizer, Conger noted
Photo Credit Grosse Pointe News
Pastor Justin, of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Grosse Pointe Farms, led a flash mob of volunteers for participants, front and center, Grace, Nate and Kate.
“At the end of the week, if you did all three things all five days, you were entered into another drawing for a $50 gift card to Whistle Stop,” she said. “We’re happy that we were able to support a local business. And it kept them motivated. They came for the prizes, but they stayed for Jesus.”
Conger said she was pleased the “complicated, weird program” not only worked but involved participants from age 2 through kids going into sixth grade, as well as middle school and high school volunteers who helped things run smoothly. Their efforts formed a great community spanning from toddler to adult.
“I think we all needed it,” she said.
In addition to daily activities, the VBS program served to help others. Half of the registration fee was used for supplies, while the other half was used to buy diapers for the Metropolitan Detroit Diaper Bank. Participating churches also collected additional diapers and wipes for the organization, bringing the total collected to 3,944 wipes and 2,083 diapers to support local families.
Photo Credit Grosse Pointe News
Ground presented the grand prize to Sam (right) who participated in VBS with his sister, Maggie.
The drive was the idea of St. Paul’s Audrey Cox.
“She organized it,” Conger said. “It was good because it was encouraging kids to show Jesus’ love by doing things for others.”
Also helping fund the program — and its prizes — were a grant from Thrivent Financial and a donation from the Shorewood Kiwanis Club.
“This couldn’t have happened without help from them,” Conger said, noting the additional funds were used to purchase prizes. Older children received sturdy water bottles personalized with their names, while younger children received smaller water bottles and goodie bags.
“But having the flash mobs — those were the best prizes,” she said. 'Having groups of people randomly showing up, the parents would email us the next day and say, "The kids are still glowing.'"
Photo Credit Grosse Pointe News
Thousands of diapers and wipes were collected for the Metropolitan Detroit Diaper Bank.
The number of VBS programs offered this year was down considerably from last year, from around 20 in the Grosse Pointe area to two. Conger said she and other organizers made sure to take every precaution to make VBS a safe and spiritual activity for those involved.
“We had a really long FAQ page,” she said. “We made videos of what it would be like, why we’re doing it this way. We wanted parents to know, yes, it will be weird and different, but we care about them. And God is still here.
“Even if they only did something on one day, it’s better than not doing anything the entire summer,” she added. “Most families stuck with it through the week. We got great feedback and the kids loved it; a lot of the volunteers were saying this was the highlight of their summer. I think everybody really needed it.”
By: Jody McVeigh