June 18, 2015June 7, 2018 Peter Witkowski Vacation Bible School

5 Reasons Why VBS Is A Big Deal

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Ah…Vacation Bible School, there is nothing like it. Screaming kids, water games, snacks with gummy worms hidden in them. What kid wouldn’t be up for a week of summer fun? (I was always ready for some gummies and water balloons!) Hopefully, we adults are also getting bit with the VBS excitement bug! Sure we have to manage all those sugar filled, crazy kids. But hosting a great VBS is worth the cost! Here are my top five reason VBS is a big deal!

1. VBS Connects Us To Our Community!

Yes, some kids spend their entire summer hoping from one VBS to the next. When they drop into our VBS, we should be thankful! Each time we connect with a new family, we develop a better picture of what our community is really like. VBS will help us to better understand how to ministry to our neighborhoods.

2. VBS Demonstrates The Love Of Christ!

Bible believing Christianity is increasingly unpopular in our culture. If we affirm biblical marriage and label sin as sin, we w kids free 1 ill be unpopular and perhaps even labeled as bigots.

One of the best means for fighting against the angry Christian stereotype is to love our neighbors. VBS gives us the chance us to do just that! As we serve our neighbors’ and co-workers’ kids, we can dispel many of the myths that surround our church. Remember the words of Paul: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).

VBS provides our church a premium stage for wowing the world with the love of Christ! Remember the words of our savior, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Let’s highlight God’s love this summer by loving kids via VBS!

3. VBS Fulfills The Great Commission!

Evangelism is not just something missionaries do. Nor is it something we do “out there.” Jesus said all of us are to be making disciples (Math 28:18-20)! We need to be sharing the gospel in Asia. But, we also must talk about the good news of Jesus in our towns, homes, and ballparks! VBS gives us an amazing venue for reaching and discipling the kids in our community! By participating in VBS, we get to experience the joy of obeying Jesus’ mission call!

4. VBS Connects Us To The Unchurched!

Many kids only come to church during VBS. By breaking out the wacky games, we can reach the usually unreachable. VBS expands the reach of the gospel into our community introducing Christ to kids who have never sat in a pew before.

5. VBS Can Lead To Redemption!

This is the big one. We have VBS every year because God saves. We welcome kids to church this summer because God uses VBS leaders to open the eyes of the blind. And I’m not talking about just the back kids. I’ve heard many reports of “good” church kids getting saved during VBS. Anytime the gospel is present, the Holy Spirit can move in powerful ways! He often works through VBS. Let’s hope and pray that God uses our VBS to bring many to salvation!

And now it’s your turn! Why is VBS a big deal to you and your church family?

Click Here To Register For VBS @ Amissville Baptist Church!

January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 Peter Witkowski Babies and Birth, Children's Ministry

The Amazing Benefits of Adoption

Adoption perhaps stands second only to marriage as a physical, earthly actualization of the gospel. The whole process from the parents’ selection of the child to that family’s struggles (i.e. paperwork, financial cost, corrupt legal systems, and time away from loved ones) to securing a precious child from a rough situation displays how Christ graciously chose us and also suffered for us so that we might have eternal bless. And for this reason alone, the church should be excited and supportive of adoption. Moreover as James writes, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the father is this: to visit the orphan and widows in their affliction” (1:27). But, the benefits of adoption as an expression of true faith do not stop here.

Community Benefits

The arrival of adopted children also brings the Great Commission zooming into in our towns and communities. When our children’s ministries are filled with Asians, Africans, Hispanics, Caucasians, and every other race, our churches can no longer make missions something that happens out there (oh say, in Africa somewhere). It’s happening here and now on the playground. When we teach Sunday school, we are reaching the nations. With the entrance of each adopted child into our kids’ zone, our churches begin to resemble heaven more and more!

Are you excited? I hope you are! Adoption when done through the love of Christ is amazing.

The Community Challenge

Now, it will challenge our application of the gospel. If we think that church should be a nice social club for this ethnicity or for that culture, we will be troubled. Likewise, those who love the idea of their child marrying someone just like them will probably be put out by the possibility of their child marrying someone with different skin tones. But those who think this way don’t ultimately have an issue with adoption.

The One Way Forward

Their problem is with Jesus. Our Savior teaches that “Here there is not Greek, Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all” (Col 3:11). If this is true, then the color; culture; and; ethnicity of our kids or of our kids’ friends don’t matter. Now, putting off sin and embracing Christ is a big deal. But all the other discriminating ideas we embrace are superficial and can be outright sinful. Notice that James 2:9 says, “But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” To be a loving follower of Jesus, we must joyfully embrace adoption and all its ramifications for our local church. There is no other biblical option.

After all, our Savior is not all about protecting our church’s music style or our family’s homogeneous Christmas pictures. His plans are way bigger than making sure we feel comfortable in our sanctuary. Jesus is about saving people from all over the globe. Notice, he commands us to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Math 28:19). He wants his people to follow his example and love all people from all cultures and ethnicities as if they were our brothers, our family members. Adoption powerfully reminds all of us of God’s mission and also enables all of us to partake in God’s global kingdom plan.

May 21, 2014July 8, 2014 Peter Witkowski Children's Ministry, Discipleship, Vacation Bible School

The Summertime Gospel

V…B…S…V…B…S…V…B…S

Hundreds of kids running around downing Jell-O incased gold fish is just one of the many things that make Vacation Bible School one of the craziest but most exciting events on the church calendar. As the week of crafts, games, and singing unfolds, Christian parents and youth have the chance to pour the gospel directly into the heart of kids. But as with all good church programs, Christians must actively work to keep VBS focused on preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

The Purpose Of VBS

Several VBS publishers have begun to tailor their programs to church kids. These curriculums emphasize God’s love, obeying parents, or caring for schoolmates. They want kids to bounce out of the closing ceremony with a better understanding of how to be good Christian.

Though well intended, the move to make VBS into a summer camp-style-refresher course on the merits of moral living is not the best use of church resources. The people of God are called to be evangelistic. We are to follow Christ and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15). Our goal should not be to turn outreach programs into members’ only ministries. Not too long ago, the evangelical church redid Sunday school, changing it from a program designed to reach poor, inner-city kids into a muffin filled fellowship time for adults. Now I don’t think adult fellowship times are evil. But we must be careful not to become so focused on meeting our own needs that we close our eyes those outside our walls. One program that traditionally has had an outside focus is VBS. Let’s keep it focused on the Great Commission by inviting the community to attend.

Though reaching the community is hugely important, an effective VBS also needs a message that connects to those outside the church. If we call unsaved kids to be good without offering them the power of the gospel, we will confuse them in one of two ways. Either they will leave depressed because they cannot be meet the impossible standards of Jesus or they’ll leave a VBS t-shirt wearing Pharisee, who is convinced they can conquer sin through sheer will power. Let’s not leave kids hopeless or help them cover up their sin nature with some spiritual self-esteem. Let’s faithfully proclaim the gospel, trusting that God will work mightily!

Now when it comes to preaching the gospel this summer, we do not need to restrict it to an emotional display that climaxes with a pastor passionately asking kids to accept Jesus because “He will make everything better!” After all, who wouldn’t sign up for their best life now by repeating the short phrases of a sinners’ prayer?

A better option is to make all of VBS be about the gospel. We should choose curriculums or create programs that help the kids singing in our pews to understand the depths of their sin. Then, we direct these energetic souls to Christ who has paid for their sin. We offer them the hope of eternal life while reminding them that to gain true life they must abandon their self-centeredness. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).

What About The Church Kids?

Now some might be concerned that a VBS focused on the gospel might fail to connect with the church kids. First, we need to remember that our good church kids might not be saved. They could be all about the nice things in life because they hope their mission’s offerings and Sunday school attendance will get them into heaven. Second, we need to remember that our goal is not to help kids pretend that they don’t need a savior. Even saved children still need to be reminded of the cross and of their need to depend on Christ alone as the live they Christian life. “The cure for kids who feel burdened by sin is not to ignore the topic (they feel the burden anyway, even if that aren’t talking about it), but to administer large doses of the good news so that their faith Jesus grows” (Klumpenhower, p. 39). The gospel is relevant for every kid regardless of how many times they went to Sunday school.

This summer, let’s make the VBS all about the gospel!