Vacation Bible School

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Vacation Bible School, or VBS for short, is the term for a special type of religious education which caters toward children, usually in the summer.

The origins of Vacation Bible School can be traced back to Hopedale, Illinois in 1894. D.T. Miles, who had been a public school teacher before marrying, continued to teach Sunday School but felt she was limited in time constraints in teaching the Bible to children. Miles started a daily Bible school to teach children during the summer months. The first Bible school enrolled 40 students and lasted four weeks. A local school was used for classes, while an adjoining park was used for recess.

In 1898 Eliza Hawes, director of the children's department at Epiphany Baptist Church in New York City, started an "Everyday Bible School" for slum children at a rented beer parlor in New York's East Side. Hawes continued her efforts for seven years.

Dr. Robert Boville of the Baptist Mission Society, became aware of the Hawes' summer program and recommended it to other Baptist churches. Boville established a handful of summer schools which were taught by students at the Union Theological Seminary. During one summer one thousand students were enrolled in 5 schools. In 1922 the World Association of Daily Vacation Bible School was founded by Boville.

Today many churches run their own Vacation Bible School programs, without being under the umbrella of a national organization. Other churches, particularly United Methodist, Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and Southern Baptist, may opt to use themed curriculum "package" programs from their respective denominations or independent publishing houses. A positive argument toward using one of these programs is the easy preparation and marketing tools provided. The detractor is the possibility of another nearby church using the same program.

Many churches conduct a weeklong program consisting of religious education, skits, puppet shows, arts and crafts, and religious songs which cater toward elementary aged children. Some may charge fees at a rate competitive with other summer camp programs and use VBS as an evangelistic outreach, while others offer a free service to educate children. A group of local churches who do not have the resources to run VBS for the entire summer may elect to coordinate their schedules to provide continuous childcare.