A Reflection on Waypoint VBS

Written by Toni Anderson

Many of you know that I’m new to the Children’s Ministry Director role and so VBS this year was a new experience for me. Over the past few weeks of planning and praying for VBS, each day I wondered how things would go. How long would this craft take? Would the kids have fun? Will this game work out? It was easy to lose the purpose within all the details. I deeply hoped for this event to be spiritually impactful on the children at Waypoint.

VBS this year centered around the theme of God as our imaginative creator and designer. We focused on how David and Jesus both trusted God as their creator and followed the plan that He laid out for them. The kids joyfully sang and recited the theme verse this year which was Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” As the kids heard the Bible stories and sang songs, they learned about how God created them with purpose and intention. They were taught about how Jesus followed God’s plan by his death and resurrection on the cross, so that he would take the punishment for sin. I hope the kids absorbed what we were singing and talking about, the message behind each song and each Bible lesson. However, sometimes, especially for the littlest kids, their takeaways are “Jesus loves me”, but often it’s “my favorite color is purple.” Either way, I know this event was a spiritual investment in the children at Waypoint that will impact their lives and relationships with God.

I’ve heard people say that to a child, love is spelled T-I-M-E. God showed me that any amount of time invested in our children is invaluable because in God’s economy, nothing is wasted. It’s sowing seeds in a garden that you hope to see blossom one day. Every Bible story, complicated dance move, and craft is an act of love and service that we can render to God in worship. My prayer is that this type of love and service for our kids would nestle deep in their hearts, that it would play a part in their journey to Christ.

VBS is not only a spiritual investment in our kids, but also in our own lives. When I reflect on VBS, I remember the joy that was present each day and the excited (but sometimes confused) looks on the kid’s faces as we learned the songs and dances. It reminds me how Jesus promised the disciples that even though there would be sorrow in this life, their sorrow would turn into joy and no one could take away their joy (John 16:22). How often do we lose our joy as we get older? We let our joy be touched by the hardness of the world around us. But childhood often represents uncomplicated joy and finding delight in the simplest things. It seems to me that this is something that we can learn from our children at Waypoint. May we receive full joy from God, like the children in our lives.