Its Vacation Bible School time and we don’t want to leave the grown-ups out. So, I thought I’d share the layout for Adult Vacation Bible School that my mom and I have been working on. Last summer, we did a plan for Game On! Adult VBS and we have been working on this new plan for this summer.
I do want to share that these ideas are based on the Lifeway In the Wild Adult and Children’s VBS plan. But, this post is all about the outline that my parents will use at their church.
My dad is a pastor at a small church and they do not have any children in their ministry circles. Also, many of the adults in their group did not attend Vacation Bible School as a child, so this is a change for them to act like a kid, but learn like an adult. My parents have been involved with VBS Summer activities for more than 40 years. They are both parts of a regional training team each spring and start planning for the next Vacation Bible School as soon as the first on is over. We buy year-round and brainstorm and think of new ideas as the year unfolds.
Even though grown ups have heard many of these truths for much of their lives, presenting it alongside a theme and moving towards similar truths each day the message seems to be reinforced in a different way.
Another focus of the week is to do a craft at each gathering that is something the adults might actually use. For kids its often important to just do something that will reinforce the truth or story. With grownups, you want to use your time wisely and while reinforcing the concepts of the day, you want to create something together they will use at their office or home and more importantly could act as a conversation starter to others they may encounter.
For mom and dad, they use the 5 Wednesdays of July as their outline to host VBS and then combine it with meal and study time. I’ve seen suggestions to use the VBS curriculum as an outline for a women or men’s retreat, which is a great idea for reinforcement so close together.
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Day 1 | Encounter in the Temple
Story: Jesus in the temple (as a kid) | Luke 2:41-52
The Point: Jesus understood His purpose – He knew He came to do His Father’s will
Craft: FROG wooden magnet – this is a kit, but it could be made out of left-over wood pieces or flat wood pieces from a hobby store. The front has the letters FROG and then a frog graphic in the middle. Underneath it says “Fully Rely on God.” The adults will color the design and then add magnets to the back to use at home and see on the refrigerator as a reminder.
Alternative Craft: Oriental Trading has decorative church shaped birdhouses, any projects with church windows like stained glass would be fun – a suncatcher or windshield mirror hanger.
Meal/Snack (at the Watering hole): Temple Tacos (Chicken or Turkey)
- Church provides: chicken tacos in the crockpot – 3-5lb bag of frozen chicken, taco seasoning, diced tomatoes with green chilies
- Others bring: tortillas, taco shells, chips, lettuce, cheese, salsa, tomatoes, onion
- Dessert/Snack: push-ups (orange sherbet ice cream) – always makes you feel like a kid
Day 2 | Encounter at the River
Story: Jesus is Baptized | Matthew 3:1-17
The Point: Jesus is the Son of God – Jesus is God’s Son based on the testimony of God’s Word
Craft: River Rocks –write the motto on the middle or around the edge of the rock, depending on the size of the rock you are able to use. Then draw animal print designs, small animals, or trees and leaves to decorate the rest of the rock. The rock makes a great paperweight, or house décor to remind you to focus on Jesus.
Alternative Craft: go on a nature walk and gather the rocks needed for the art craft. Or, make a sensory water bottle combining water, vegetable oil, and food coloring in a recycled water bottle.
Meal/Snack (at the Watering hole): chicken strips and sauces to “dunk” them in
- Church provides: chicken strips
- Others bring: BBQ sauce, ranch dip, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, macaroni and cheese
- Dessert/Snack: half-dipped sugar cookies (black and white or use food coloring to make white almond bark blue) – makes the cookies look like they have been baptized
Day 3 | Encounter on the Water
Story: Jesus walks on the water | Matthew 14:22-33
The Point: Jesus proved He is God’s Son – Jesus is God’s Son and He alone has the power to save people from their sin.
Craft: Courage Cup Holder in the book VBS curriculum. Wrap tomato sauce cans with jute cord. Use felt or art foam to make a lion face and mane by layering gold on top of brown. Glue on googly eyes. Use the can as a pencil holder and when you see it, it reminds you to keep courage in the power of Jesus.
Alternative craft: sensory water bottle could work here too.
Meal/Snack (at the Watering hole): River Rock Soup
- Church provides: soup base – meat, diced tomatoes and seasoning, river rock
- Others bring: corn, canned beans, mixed vegetables, hominy, diced potatoes, carrots, minestrone soup, crackers
- Dessert/Snack: dirt dessert with path drawn in the top or blue river flowing through Cool Whip
Concept: Jesus is the rock that we build our foundation on. Just like the soup will be started with the basis of the rock. But, Jesus knew His purpose. We talked about this on night one. He came to fulfill God’s purpose. We all have a purpose when we gather. Tonight it might have been to bring a can of corn or tomatoes, but when you come here, you have something to contribute as we gather. And what you get here is a greater understanding of God and His power alone to save people. That’s the story we keep telling.
Day 4 | Encounter at the Tomb
Story: Jesus appears to his friends Mary Magdalene, Peter and John | John 20:1-18
The Point: Jesus rose from the dead – Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are all fulfillment of prophecy
Craft: Planter – we are using a kit from Oriental Trading. We ordered “create a scene” Safari theme stickers to decorate them. The goal here is that we are reminded Jesus is alive when we see our plants growing.
Alternative craft: Jewelry box or gift box – use round paper craft boxes and paint with grey or brown paint to look like a rock. You could also modge podge with magazine textures or animal print scrapbook paper. Another option is to use stickers to decorate and put your motto or verse on it. Another option could be to put a cross on top and place a gift in to give a friend just like the gift of eternal life Jesus offered us in the tomb.
Meal/Snack (at the Watering hole): Pulled Pork Sandwiches
- Church provides: pulled pork in a crockpot – pork tenderloin or pork sirloin covered with pulled pork seasoning pouch or BBQ Sauce and Chili Sauce or Orange Marmalade
- Others bring: buns, potato salad, pasta salad, baked beans, fruit salad, vegetable salad (broccoli or pea)
- Dessert/Snack: filled cupcakes with pudding or none cook icing or ding dong cake – just something reflecting a surprise inside the middle. If doing this in the summer, you could get July 4th Funfetti cake mix and put red filling (colored vanilla pudding/icing or a strawberry jam filling) in the middle. Resurrection Rolls or cookies would also be a great option if your adults can see you making them with the marshmallow inside disappearing.
Concept: pork tenderloin goes in the crockpot as one big slab and after time in the crockpot (tomb) it comes out different.; changed and transformed into something else. Our encounter with the tomb, Jesus, should transform us into something new.
Day 5 | Encounter on the Road
Story: Two men encounter Jesus on the road to Emmaeus | Luke 24:13-35
The Point: Jesus makes Himself known to us – God reveals Himself to use throughout all Scripture.
Craft: concrete stepping stones (encourage participants to wear sandals or beach shoes for this evening, if they are able) – set up stations to make the craft time more successful. Pour thick concrete mix halfway up the sides of a foil disposable cake or lasagna pan. Have adults remove their shoe and sock of either right or left foot and leave their shoes at the “foot drying station”. Have them press their foot into the middle of the concrete. Slowly have them remove their food and place in a 5-gallon bucket full of water. Use a dish cleaning brush to get the concrete off their foot. Then, have a foot drying station where they can dry their foot off in a towel and put their shoes back on. You will want a separate towel for each person. Then, the adult can go back to their pan and put decorative marbles or use a skewer to write the motto or verse reference in the wet concrete. You will need to designate a drying area in the church where the pans can be set and left alone until you gather again the following week. The concrete stepping stones can then be placed in a flower bed or as a plant stand and seen as a reminder of walking along the road with Jesus and telling the story to others.
Alternative Craft: roll out a big piece of butcher paper on the ground. Draw a roadway as we see it today with boundary lines and a dotted center lane. Or, with rocks along the way so it looks like a path. Have each adult trace one foot along the path. Once everyone has had their foot traced, move the paper to a long table. Inside the outline of their foot, each participant should write one (or more) things they learned or were reminded about Jesus and plan to tell others that they encounter this week. Hang the paper in a prominent place in the church where adults would pass it weekly and be reminded of their commitment to Focus on Jesus and tell others about their encounter.
Idea from the book we love – car air freshener – cut animal or safari shapes from sticky back art foam and same shape in the same direction from felt (animal print felt would be fun and can be found at a local hobby shop). Remove backing from art foam and place ends of a 10-inch piece of cord or yarn on the sticky back. Press the felt piece on to the sticky part of the foam. Place a few drops of essential oils on the felt side of the air freshener. Hang from your car mirror.
- We love the idea that this was an “as you are going” concept. These men were on the road like they would be any day and they encountered Jesus. Then, they wanted to tell everyone they came across about what they had experienced. The same is true of our time in the car. It is what takes us place to place along our plans for each day. Its also where we interact with and have captive time with others to tell them about what Jesus has done for us.
Meal/Snack (at the Watering hole): Ssssssss Sandwiches
- Church provides: Sundae stuff for dessert celebration at end
- Others bring: white bread, wheat bread, sliced ham, sliced turkey, sliced cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato, pickles, chips for dip, dips
- Dessert/Snack: celebrate the ending of VBS with an ice cream party – do regular sundaes, banana splits, or brownie/cookie sundaes
Steps to success:
- put out a sign-up sheet for the meals at the end of VBS or on Sunday morning during the Sunday School hour. Provide the main thing and don’t stress if everything is not covered.
- plan ahead – get someone in one of your older classes or who like to do crafty stuff to help prepare the smaller pieces needed for crafts. Give them an assignment weeks ahead, maybe even months if you have the time and have everything you need ready.
- Have your teacher or preacher teach the lesson each week. Or assign the lesson to a different adult each time. The buy-in from your class will really help them own the investment of the program
- Don’t be afraid to act like kids. If you want to have big group time and start with signing songs and doing motions or watching the videos, go ahead!
- Include and incorporate the songs into your corporate worship time each week.
- Don’t overthink that the grown ups will catch on quicker than the kids. If your time is short, prep what you can for crafts so you have plenty of time to do the lessons. But, grown ups can glue or cut straight either!
Alternative Idea – use these as sessions at a Men or Women’s retreat, use prior to VBS to train adults on Wednesday nights or Sunday nights leading up to them leading children at VBS
