The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Days 4 & 5

Background info:

In June I posted about how V.B.S. is a great service opportunity for youth during the summer. In case you missed it, you can read that post here. In it, I highlighted 5 reasons why this should be a very viable option for your youth program to help out with.

Well, this week is V.B.S. week at Cedar Run and because of this I am going to give some give real-time examples of how the 5 reasons really shine through. On Tuesday I talked about how helping out with another V.B.S. is a positive way to support another ministry in your Church. You can read it here.  On Wednesday I posted about how it serves as a local mission trip.  Yesterday I focused on how students bond during V.B.S.. Today is Reasons #4 & 5.

Reason 4: Opportunity for youth to serve the Church

In my June blog about this, I said:

As an advocate for youth being actively involved in the life of the church, having youth serve at V.B.S. is a great opportunity for the rest of the church body to see youth playing an active role.  It shows that you do not have to be an adult to serve in some sort of ministry position.  You can serve and be effective at a very young age.  These young children look up to the youth so much and lasting mentorships may be developed because of this opportunity.

Obviously by the youth and young adults helping out at V.B.S., they are serving within the church.  HOWEVER, this is only just 1 instance, but there are countless other ways for youth and young adults to serve within the church.  They can help out and serve in areas such as acolytes, scriptures readers, worship team members, testimony sharers, ushers, greeters, work days, nursery help and many other opportunities.  When you have youth serving in various areas throughout the church, people can see that the younger generation are actively apart of the church and that there can be a role for them as well.

Reason #5:  Another opportunity for YOU to bond with students.

In my June blog, I said:

During the summer months students vanish.  You see them one week, the next week they are on vacation or at camp or someplace else.  The consistency of student involvement during the summer is just not there.  But I know that every day during V.B.S., I can go in the Church from 9 am – 12 pm and see students, interact with them and encourage them in Christ.  It really is one of the best non-camp contact work opportunities youth ministers get every year.

This was completely evident in the amount of students who came to help out.  We had 22 youth and young adults help out at V.B.S. which means that I had a chance everyday to interact with all 22 of them.  How great is that?  I have bonded with them in different ways that I would not have been able to regularly.  Our impromptu BK break runs and many other small things have provided great memories and good bonding moments for me with them all.

To sum of the week, having the youth and young adults team up together to help out with V.B.S. provided so many benefits to them and the church.  It is my hope that you got to see these reasons why flushed out with some real examples.  AND, it is my hope that next year both the Children’s Ministry Director and you, the Youth Director, can team up to use youth in V.B.S. and see how the Lord uses it to be a ministry to them, you all and the church.

Thoughts, questions, comments?  Post them so we can get a good discussion and all of us can benefit.