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Sunday and (Wednesday - optional) evenings, and during the afternoons
Monday - Thursday, your short term mission team will do Vacation Bible
School Outreaches at the specially chosen church you'll be serving with for
the week. The children will range in ages from 3-12. Often, the younger
ones will be accompanied by their moms. Teenagers will often participate as
well or observe from a distance.
A Vacation Bible School is a great way to share the Gospel and disciple
those who attend. We have carefully and prayerfully put together this VBS
package and have seen it produce great results. It communicates
a lot of step by step biblical truths and at the same time, is fun and
interesting.
Your group will do a total of 5 main VBS's and one scaled down VBS
(without a craft and snack for the Wednesday Evening Outreach that
falls midweek).
Sample V.B.S. Outreach Schedule (Approximate time 2 hrs.)
2:00 - 2:20 - Game time outside with children
2:20 - 2:35 - Song time (4 or so upbeat songs 2 or so slow songs)
2:35 - 2:50 - Puppet show
2:50 - 2:55 - Two short testimonies geared towards children
2:55 - 3:00 - Drama or skit if you have one
3:00 - 3:45 - Bible Story via DVD
3:45 - 3:55 - Memory verse via puppets
3:55 - 4:10 - Crafts & snacks
Below is more info on each part of the VBS:
Game time - 20 - 30 min.
Your group will play outside games with the children such as; jump rope,
beanbag toss, ball tosses, duck duck goose, soccer, bubbles, face
painting, frisbee games, baseball (with plastic bats and balls, and etc.
You can organize your group into smaller groups who can be in charge of
the various games happening. There won't be large group games where
all the children will be involved in, but various, smaller games happening at
the same time. The children usually will rotate and go from one game to
the other as they please. After game time, make sure each group picks up
their sports equipment as the children will often try to take it. This is a time
to get to know the children and draw a crowd from the community. We
would ask, if you could, to bring some sports equipment with you for this time.
(There will be no play time for Sunday or Wednesday evening VBS's. These
condensed VBS's will need to fit within the message time of the Adult
Outreaches. VBS's on Sunday and Wednesday evening will last about 1
hour 15 minutes, so these VBS's will be a little shorter.)
Song time - 15 min.
If you're team is able (if not we can fill in for you) you will do 5-7 children's
Spanish songs. Several of these should be upbeat songs with motions and
several can be slower songs. (There will be no song time for Sunday or
Wednesday evening VBS's as children will have participated in the song time
with the adult outreach and the VBS will need to fit within the message time
of the adult outreach. VBS's on Sunday and Wednesday evening will last
about 1 hour 15 minutes, so these VBS's will be a little shorter.)
Puppet show - 15 min.
A big highlight of the V.B.S. is the puppet show. We have the puppets and
the Spanish scripts. The scripts are on a Cd and easy to follow. It
basically involves voice recognition. Upon arrival, we'll show those in your
team, who want to be involved in this area, how to do it.
The theme for the puppet teaching time is as follows:
VBS 1 - The importance of serving God (Sunday Evening)
VBS 2 - All have sinned and the problem of mankind (Monday)
VBS 3 - Jesus, God's remedy for sin and mankind's problem (Tuesday)
VBS 4 - How to accept Jesus and be saved (Wednesday)
VBS 5 - Giving thanks to God (Wednesday Evening. No crafts or snacks)
VBS 6 - How to live for God and overcome sinful habits (Thursday)
Two short testimonies geared towards children - 5-10 min. total
Try to be brief (3-5 min.) and share something that God did in your life to
draw you to Him when you were a child. More on sharing your testimony
Bible Story - 40 min.
This is done via DVD on a large screen or TV. Because the
children are more unruly in Mexico and harder to control, we find a Bible
Story via DVD works best. We provide the movies, big screen or TV for this
part of the V.B.S.
The theme of the Bible Story teaching time is as follows:
VBS 1 - "Creation" (Sunday Evening)
VBS 2 - "Moses and the Ten Commandments" (Monday)
VBS 3 - "Life and Miracles of Jesus" (Tuesday)
VBS 4 - "Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus" (Wednesday)
VBS 5 - "David and Goliath" (Wednesday Evening. No crafts or snacks)
VBS 6 - "The Apostles and the Early Church" (Thursday)
Memory Verses - 10 min.
After each Bible Story time, we will spend a few minutes teaching the children
the Bible verses (Except Wednesday evening VBS). These verses are taught
via puppets. The last day we will hand out prizes for those who can say from
one to all the verses. If your team could bring some prizes for the memory
verses it would be great (50-75 would be good). We'll talk more about what
kinds of prizes at the bottom of this page.
If your team would like to include the verse some way in your crafts, here's
the verses and version we uses:
VBS 1 - Génesis 1:1 "En el principio, Dios creó los cielos y la tierra."
VBS 2 - Romanos 3:23 "Pues todos han pecado y están destituidos de la
gloria de Dios."
VBS 3 - Romanos 10:13 "Todo el que invoque el nombre del Señor será
salvo."
VBS 4 - Efesios 2:8 "Porque por gracia son salvos por medio de la fe; y esto
no de ustedes, pues es regalo de Dios."
VBS 5 - No memory verse for Wednesday evening VBS as the children will
have just been given one to memorize during Wednesday afternoon's VBS.
VBS 6 - Filipenses 4:13 "Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece."
Craft & Snack time - 20 min.
This is an important time where your team's participation is important. The
children are divided into groups of ten, with one or two people from your
team attending them. You will need to bring crafts and snacks for at least
100 children (we will notify you if you'll need to bring more). Package the
crafts in bags of ten bags. Package the snacks, as well, in bags of ten. Put
both the bags of crafts and bags of snacks in one larger non-see through
bag. Each large bag should contain all crafts and snacks for a group of ten
children. We have discovered that by forming groups of ten, and having
them sit on the floor, works best for crowd control. Each sack is for each
group of ten children. Try to avoid candy and sweets for snacks.
Salvation Altar Call on the last day of VBS
The last VBS (Thursday), we"ll present a clear salvation invitation for
children to receive Christ. This will be the culmination and goal for all that
has been done in the VBS's. It's a special time and many will pray to receive
Christ or recommit to Him.
Here's the verses we use in presenting the gospel to them:
Romanos 3:23 "Por cuanto todos pecaron y están destituidos de la gloria
de Dios."
Romanos 6:23 "Porque la paga del pecado es muerte, más la dádiva de
Dios es vida eterna en Cristo Jesús nuestro Señor."
Juan 3:16 "Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su
hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en el cree, no se pierda más tenga
vida eterna."
Romanos 5:8 "Más Dios muestra su amor para con nosotros en que
siendo aun pecadores Cristo murió por nuestros pecados."
Romanos 10:9 "Si confiesas con tu boca que Jesús es el Señor y crees
en tu corazón que Dios lo levantó de entre los muertos serás salvo."
Summery of what you need to be prepared to do and bring:
1. Bring game things to play with children during the play time.
2. Be prepared to sing some children's songs (If you need help let us
know). For help with children's VBS songs click here
3. Bring crafts and snacks for five VBS's with enough for 100 in each VBS.
4. 50-75 prizes for those who memorize VBS verses.
5. Come prepared to share 12 testimonies geared for children.
Here are some craft ideas:
Coloring books - You can photo-copy pages, or purchase a Bible coloring
book (preferably in Spanish) and have the children color them. Crayons
needed.
Puppets - Use paper lunch sacks and provide pieces for their mouths,
ears, and etc. Crayons needed for this craft.
Paper plate half-masks - Beforehand, cut paper plates in half, punch holes
by ears, and cut eye-holes and a slot for the nose. Let the kids color them
and put rubber bands through the holes. They can wear the masks by
putting the rubber bands around their ears.
Paper plate visors - Beforehand, cut paper plates in half and punch a hole
near each corner. Have the kids decorate them and tie a piece of pre-cut
elastic through the holes to make a visor.
Crowns - Trace a simple outline of the front of a crown onto tag board or
other stiff paper. Cut them out and punch a hole at each end. Let the kids
decorate them and put a piece of pre-cut yarn or elastic through each
hole. To put the crown on, place on head and tie strings in back.
Here are some snack ideas:
Single serving of canned fruit/applesauce, pudding (don't forget spoons.
Single serving bags of chips.
Single serving bags of peanuts.
Single serving boxes of raisins.
Single serving cookies, or animal crackers.
Granola bars
Individually wrapped Hostess/or similar treats.
Graham crackers.
Handi-Snacks (crackers and peanut butter, etc.)
It definitely works best if the snacks are individually wrapped and easily
transported. It is often possible to get stores in your area to donate these
types of items.
VBS Prize info
These are given to children who can say from 1 to all of the memory verses.
Prizes are a great way to reward those who have worked hard to hide God's
word in their hearts.
We'll give out varying kinds of prizes depending on how many verses the
children can say. It is best to hand out the same kind of prize for the amount
of verses memorized. For example; all who can say one verse would all get
the same prize and etc. This helps with crowd control and cuts down on
each child wanting a different prize (when working with large numbers of
children crowd control becomes important).
Normally, we'll take the prizes you bring and put them into our cache of
prizes and hand out as most appropriate.
Here's some ideas for prizes:
For saying 1 verse - Pencil with a small coloring book or workbook leaflets
(in Spanish please).
For saying 2-3 verses: Rubber balls, small cars (boys) hair things (girls)
crayons, party favors toys, bubbles, dollar store stuff, coloring books or
workbook leaflets (in Spanish please).
For saying 4-5 verses: Frisbees, jump ropes, soccer type balls, markers,
coloring books (in Spanish please), small stuffed animals, and etc.
Normally, we'll hand out about 40 prizes to those who can say 1 verse, about
25 to those who can say 2-3 verses and about 10 to those who can say all
the verses. Of course, sometimes these numbers can vary if we have more
children in the VBS. Any extra items are put into our prize cache and used
when numbers are up at a VBS.
We would appreciate it, if you can get a hold of large amounts of coloring
book type leaflets, pencils, or crayons, to bring them down. They work great
for prizes for those who say 1-3 verses.
Thank you for your thoughtfulness and we're looking forward to a great VBS
with your team.
Monday - Thursday, your short term mission team will do Vacation Bible
School Outreaches at the specially chosen church you'll be serving with for
the week. The children will range in ages from 3-12. Often, the younger
ones will be accompanied by their moms. Teenagers will often participate as
well or observe from a distance.
A Vacation Bible School is a great way to share the Gospel and disciple
those who attend. We have carefully and prayerfully put together this VBS
package and have seen it produce great results. It communicates
a lot of step by step biblical truths and at the same time, is fun and
interesting.
Your group will do a total of 5 main VBS's and one scaled down VBS
(without a craft and snack for the Wednesday Evening Outreach that
falls midweek).
Sample V.B.S. Outreach Schedule (Approximate time 2 hrs.)
2:00 - 2:20 - Game time outside with children
2:20 - 2:35 - Song time (4 or so upbeat songs 2 or so slow songs)
2:35 - 2:50 - Puppet show
2:50 - 2:55 - Two short testimonies geared towards children
2:55 - 3:00 - Drama or skit if you have one
3:00 - 3:45 - Bible Story via DVD
3:45 - 3:55 - Memory verse via puppets
3:55 - 4:10 - Crafts & snacks
Below is more info on each part of the VBS:
Game time - 20 - 30 min.
Your group will play outside games with the children such as; jump rope,
beanbag toss, ball tosses, duck duck goose, soccer, bubbles, face
painting, frisbee games, baseball (with plastic bats and balls, and etc.
You can organize your group into smaller groups who can be in charge of
the various games happening. There won't be large group games where
all the children will be involved in, but various, smaller games happening at
the same time. The children usually will rotate and go from one game to
the other as they please. After game time, make sure each group picks up
their sports equipment as the children will often try to take it. This is a time
to get to know the children and draw a crowd from the community. We
would ask, if you could, to bring some sports equipment with you for this time.
(There will be no play time for Sunday or Wednesday evening VBS's. These
condensed VBS's will need to fit within the message time of the Adult
Outreaches. VBS's on Sunday and Wednesday evening will last about 1
hour 15 minutes, so these VBS's will be a little shorter.)
Song time - 15 min.
If you're team is able (if not we can fill in for you) you will do 5-7 children's
Spanish songs. Several of these should be upbeat songs with motions and
several can be slower songs. (There will be no song time for Sunday or
Wednesday evening VBS's as children will have participated in the song time
with the adult outreach and the VBS will need to fit within the message time
of the adult outreach. VBS's on Sunday and Wednesday evening will last
about 1 hour 15 minutes, so these VBS's will be a little shorter.)
Puppet show - 15 min.
A big highlight of the V.B.S. is the puppet show. We have the puppets and
the Spanish scripts. The scripts are on a Cd and easy to follow. It
basically involves voice recognition. Upon arrival, we'll show those in your
team, who want to be involved in this area, how to do it.
The theme for the puppet teaching time is as follows:
VBS 1 - The importance of serving God (Sunday Evening)
VBS 2 - All have sinned and the problem of mankind (Monday)
VBS 3 - Jesus, God's remedy for sin and mankind's problem (Tuesday)
VBS 4 - How to accept Jesus and be saved (Wednesday)
VBS 5 - Giving thanks to God (Wednesday Evening. No crafts or snacks)
VBS 6 - How to live for God and overcome sinful habits (Thursday)
Two short testimonies geared towards children - 5-10 min. total
Try to be brief (3-5 min.) and share something that God did in your life to
draw you to Him when you were a child. More on sharing your testimony
Bible Story - 40 min.
This is done via DVD on a large screen or TV. Because the
children are more unruly in Mexico and harder to control, we find a Bible
Story via DVD works best. We provide the movies, big screen or TV for this
part of the V.B.S.
The theme of the Bible Story teaching time is as follows:
VBS 1 - "Creation" (Sunday Evening)
VBS 2 - "Moses and the Ten Commandments" (Monday)
VBS 3 - "Life and Miracles of Jesus" (Tuesday)
VBS 4 - "Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus" (Wednesday)
VBS 5 - "David and Goliath" (Wednesday Evening. No crafts or snacks)
VBS 6 - "The Apostles and the Early Church" (Thursday)
Memory Verses - 10 min.
After each Bible Story time, we will spend a few minutes teaching the children
the Bible verses (Except Wednesday evening VBS). These verses are taught
via puppets. The last day we will hand out prizes for those who can say from
one to all the verses. If your team could bring some prizes for the memory
verses it would be great (50-75 would be good). We'll talk more about what
kinds of prizes at the bottom of this page.
If your team would like to include the verse some way in your crafts, here's
the verses and version we uses:
VBS 1 - Génesis 1:1 "En el principio, Dios creó los cielos y la tierra."
VBS 2 - Romanos 3:23 "Pues todos han pecado y están destituidos de la
gloria de Dios."
VBS 3 - Romanos 10:13 "Todo el que invoque el nombre del Señor será
salvo."
VBS 4 - Efesios 2:8 "Porque por gracia son salvos por medio de la fe; y esto
no de ustedes, pues es regalo de Dios."
VBS 5 - No memory verse for Wednesday evening VBS as the children will
have just been given one to memorize during Wednesday afternoon's VBS.
VBS 6 - Filipenses 4:13 "Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece."
Craft & Snack time - 20 min.
This is an important time where your team's participation is important. The
children are divided into groups of ten, with one or two people from your
team attending them. You will need to bring crafts and snacks for at least
100 children (we will notify you if you'll need to bring more). Package the
crafts in bags of ten bags. Package the snacks, as well, in bags of ten. Put
both the bags of crafts and bags of snacks in one larger non-see through
bag. Each large bag should contain all crafts and snacks for a group of ten
children. We have discovered that by forming groups of ten, and having
them sit on the floor, works best for crowd control. Each sack is for each
group of ten children. Try to avoid candy and sweets for snacks.
Salvation Altar Call on the last day of VBS
The last VBS (Thursday), we"ll present a clear salvation invitation for
children to receive Christ. This will be the culmination and goal for all that
has been done in the VBS's. It's a special time and many will pray to receive
Christ or recommit to Him.
Here's the verses we use in presenting the gospel to them:
Romanos 3:23 "Por cuanto todos pecaron y están destituidos de la gloria
de Dios."
Romanos 6:23 "Porque la paga del pecado es muerte, más la dádiva de
Dios es vida eterna en Cristo Jesús nuestro Señor."
Juan 3:16 "Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su
hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en el cree, no se pierda más tenga
vida eterna."
Romanos 5:8 "Más Dios muestra su amor para con nosotros en que
siendo aun pecadores Cristo murió por nuestros pecados."
Romanos 10:9 "Si confiesas con tu boca que Jesús es el Señor y crees
en tu corazón que Dios lo levantó de entre los muertos serás salvo."
Summery of what you need to be prepared to do and bring:
1. Bring game things to play with children during the play time.
2. Be prepared to sing some children's songs (If you need help let us
know). For help with children's VBS songs click here
3. Bring crafts and snacks for five VBS's with enough for 100 in each VBS.
4. 50-75 prizes for those who memorize VBS verses.
5. Come prepared to share 12 testimonies geared for children.
Here are some craft ideas:
Coloring books - You can photo-copy pages, or purchase a Bible coloring
book (preferably in Spanish) and have the children color them. Crayons
needed.
Puppets - Use paper lunch sacks and provide pieces for their mouths,
ears, and etc. Crayons needed for this craft.
Paper plate half-masks - Beforehand, cut paper plates in half, punch holes
by ears, and cut eye-holes and a slot for the nose. Let the kids color them
and put rubber bands through the holes. They can wear the masks by
putting the rubber bands around their ears.
Paper plate visors - Beforehand, cut paper plates in half and punch a hole
near each corner. Have the kids decorate them and tie a piece of pre-cut
elastic through the holes to make a visor.
Crowns - Trace a simple outline of the front of a crown onto tag board or
other stiff paper. Cut them out and punch a hole at each end. Let the kids
decorate them and put a piece of pre-cut yarn or elastic through each
hole. To put the crown on, place on head and tie strings in back.
Here are some snack ideas:
Single serving of canned fruit/applesauce, pudding (don't forget spoons.
Single serving bags of chips.
Single serving bags of peanuts.
Single serving boxes of raisins.
Single serving cookies, or animal crackers.
Granola bars
Individually wrapped Hostess/or similar treats.
Graham crackers.
Handi-Snacks (crackers and peanut butter, etc.)
It definitely works best if the snacks are individually wrapped and easily
transported. It is often possible to get stores in your area to donate these
types of items.
VBS Prize info
These are given to children who can say from 1 to all of the memory verses.
Prizes are a great way to reward those who have worked hard to hide God's
word in their hearts.
We'll give out varying kinds of prizes depending on how many verses the
children can say. It is best to hand out the same kind of prize for the amount
of verses memorized. For example; all who can say one verse would all get
the same prize and etc. This helps with crowd control and cuts down on
each child wanting a different prize (when working with large numbers of
children crowd control becomes important).
Normally, we'll take the prizes you bring and put them into our cache of
prizes and hand out as most appropriate.
Here's some ideas for prizes:
For saying 1 verse - Pencil with a small coloring book or workbook leaflets
(in Spanish please).
For saying 2-3 verses: Rubber balls, small cars (boys) hair things (girls)
crayons, party favors toys, bubbles, dollar store stuff, coloring books or
workbook leaflets (in Spanish please).
For saying 4-5 verses: Frisbees, jump ropes, soccer type balls, markers,
coloring books (in Spanish please), small stuffed animals, and etc.
Normally, we'll hand out about 40 prizes to those who can say 1 verse, about
25 to those who can say 2-3 verses and about 10 to those who can say all
the verses. Of course, sometimes these numbers can vary if we have more
children in the VBS. Any extra items are put into our prize cache and used
when numbers are up at a VBS.
We would appreciate it, if you can get a hold of large amounts of coloring
book type leaflets, pencils, or crayons, to bring them down. They work great
for prizes for those who say 1-3 verses.
Thank you for your thoughtfulness and we're looking forward to a great VBS
with your team.
| Game Time |
| Game Time |
| Song Time |
| Song Time |
| Puppet Time |
| Testimony Time |
| Story Time |
| Craft Time |
| Craft Time |
| Fun |
| Developing Relationships |
| | |
| Vacation Bible School Prep |
