Vacation Bible School

Usually a weeklong series of two-hour meetings once a day for religious school which takes place annually during children's vacations from school. I've only attended Baptist ones; I don't know if other denominations do this. In addition to the religious lessons, similar to those of Sunday school, we usually made some sort of craft project that we would work on each day.

Vacation Bible School (a.k.a. VBS) is the term for a special type of religious education which caters toward children, usually in the summer. The programs are usually implemented by evangelical Protestant denominations.

History

In 1894 in Hopedale, Illinois, the first Vacation Bible School was instituted. D.T. Miles, a pastor's wife and resident of Hopedale, had been a public school teacher before marrying. She continued to teach Sunday School. Miles felt she was limited in time constraints in the weekly Sunday School hour. She started a daily Bible school to teach children during the summer months. The first Bible school enrolled 40 students and lasted four weeks. A local school was used for classes, while a nearby park was used for outdoor activities.

In 1898 Eliza Hawes, director of the children's department at Epiphany Baptist Church in New York City, started an "Everyday Bible School" for underprivledged children. Classes were held at a rented bar in New York's East Side. Hawes continued her efforts educating children for seven years.

After becoming aware of Hawes' summer program, Dr. Robert Boville of the Baptist Mission Society recommended it to other Baptist churches. Through Boville's guidance a handful of summer schools were established. These school programs were taught by students at the Union Theological Seminary. During one summer, one thousand students were enrolled in 5 schools. In 1922 the World Association of Daily Vacation Bible School was founded by Boville.

Vacation Bible School Today

Today many churches run their own Vacation Bible School programs, without being under the umbrella of a national organization. Many churches conduct a weeklong program consisting of religious education, skits, puppet shows, arts and crafts, and religious songs which cater toward preschool and elementary aged children.

At times parents of preschool and elementary aged kids tend to use VBS's as a cheap babysitting service during the summer.

Typical VBS Songs

• Jesus Loves Me
• If You're Happy and You Know It
• Jesus Loves the Little Children
• This Little Light of Mine (I'm Gonna Let It Shine)

References

• http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/07-99/07-10-99/a04he020.htm Barcellos, Robert J., "VBS reinforces seasonal lessons," ''Standard Times'', July 10, 1999.
• http://lookoutmag.com/pdfs/111.pdf Moll, Kaye, " Standard Publishing's VBS Celebrates 80th Birthday," ''Lookout Magazine'', March 30, 2003
• http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1994/vp940806/08060047.htm Wright, Betsy, "Fond Memories of Vacation Bible School Can Last a Lifetime," ''The Virginian Pilot'', August 6, 1994.

they told us stories from Jesus’ day

they gave us cookies and Kool-aid punch

the cookies were made with palm kernel oil

they tasted a little like coconut cake

and the punch was red and it tasted red

and the church had a janitor whose name was Levi

and he used to sing really loudly at times

amazing grace how sweet the sound

and we sat in a room where the floor was white

and pretended to listen to stories about Jesus

gobbled down cookies and slurped our red punch

and one Sunday morning 

some kids slurped too much

and clear yellow pools appeared on the floor

at first it was one

then three and then four

and the pools turned to rivers

and then there were more

and everyone knew but no one would say

and Levi came with a mop and he sang

I once was lost but now am found

and he left the floor so clean that it shined

white as a coconut cake or a lie

and we all looked down

we all turned away

we saw we were naked and we were ashamed

it was red

bright red

and it tasted red

and Jesus still loved us

but Jesus was dead.