VBS in Babylon

June 2012

If you visited Fellowship Hall during Vacation Bible School, you would have thought you were in a place far from here. The resemblance to an Arab marketplace was remarkable.  And that was just one of the reasons why VBS was so successful in 2012.

The theme Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity took the kids back in time, to interact with a famous Bible personality, Daniel.  Each day the kids learned more about Daniel and his relationship with God.  These Bible stories taught valuable lessons for today.

VBS began every evening with dinner.  Then the kids broke off into their tribes to learn the day's lesson.  Throughout the night, they would travel with their tribe to areas of the church for games, music and shopping.

The Marketplace was a most intriguing activity.  Tents were set up and occupied by merchants who assisted the shoppers to create all kinds of crafts.  Each craft was paid for with gold coins called a denari, that each child received at the beginning of the session.  The crafts included the hanging garden,  weaving, music shop and shirt printing.

The lessons were acted out in skits performed by actors who depicted Daniel's life in Babylon.

This year, volunteers helped at every turn - food preparation, leadership, set design.  The teens helped with the crafts and assisted in  tribe time - the games were led by the older teens.

The kids had a blast - and the helpers seemed to have fun too.