By Brad Dupray
Ruth Wingfield is one of three children’s directors at First Christian Church in Florissant, Missouri. While Ruth currently specializes in ministry to children in third through sixth grades, she has honed her expertise over the last 33 years in developing one of the most effective Vacation Bible School programs in the U.S. Ruth’s husband of 47 years, Charles, has been the senior minister at First Christian for 34 years and her son Steve is transitioning to become the Senior Minister at First Christian upon Charles’s retirement next year. Ruth is an alumnus of Johnson Bible College and has three other sons, two daughters, and 19 grandchildren.
Have you been doing VBS at First Christian since you and Charles arrived in Florissant?
The first year I was here I was pregnant with our last child. He was born on the first day of VBS! Needless to say, I began the next year working with VBS at Florissant.
How has it developed over the years?
The church was running fewer than 200 when we came here, so VBS was relatively small. As the church grew so did VBS. Or maybe I should say as VBS grew, so did the church. VBS has been a great outreach program of our church. Our peak was last year. We were well over 800. This year, with the difficulties of having VBS during construction of our new worship facility, we were right at 800 and we have more than 250 workers. With lots more space we once again look forward to lots more anticipated growth in next year’s VBS.
We still include a super junior high VBS. It’s the coolest and the best very creative. We have 120 junior highers every morning. You’ve got to be doing something right to get junior highers up in the morning!
Churches do VBS at different times of the summer. Have you found a time that works best for you?
We deal with three or four school systems, so we have to wait until the last one is out. Our goal is to do it as soon as the last school is out. We want to give the kids something as soon as they have a little break. We also want to be the first church in our community to do the theme we have chosen.
How about the time of day?
We do a 9 to noon, three hour stretch in the mornings. It’s a false perception to think you’re going to get more helpers in the evenings. People are exhausted; they’re involved in other committed ministry events or they’re on the ball field. Kids need something exciting to get up and go to during the summer mornings. VBS should be thought of as meeting the needs of the children, not planning it around workers’ schedules. Always select the time that best fits the needs of the children in your community .
How far in advance do you start planning for VBS?
We put our VBS on the calendar in January but I will have already selected my theme in the fall. You’ve got to get that VBS date publicized early if you want volunteers to take off work and to know when not to go on vacation. We are already looking at next year’s theme and schedule.
What does VBS do for kids?
Our goal is to make our own kids aware of outreach to kids who do not go to church. It gives a focus to our regular kids to be on a mission. It has provided one of the greatest avenues of reaching new families for our church. We have testimony after testimony of new members who say VBS is what brought them. One flyer on the door, they checked it out, and they stayed.
How do the kids from your church connect with kids who come to VBS as guests?
The kids come together really well. For example, I have four classes of each grade level, so I take the Florissant (church) kids and spread them through every class. We prepare our regular church kids ahead by telling them: “You are hosts and hostesses to the new kids coming to VBS. You need to be on a mission to welcome them, to show them how to behave, inviting them, sitting with them. The world is coming to us.”
It sounds like you’re preparing kids to be missionaries in their own neighborhoods.
This summer we registered families from Nigeria, China, Kenya, and even Bethlehem. We’ve got to let our children see that they are on a mission right here in the U.S.A.
Standard Publishing’s “Trading Places” theme took us on a journey to China, Kenya, Brazil, Mexico, and Poland. We had youth and Bible college students in our church who were going or had gone to those countries on mission trips. We had them share their mission trip experiences or their mission trip plans. We used that exciting outreach to prepare our kids to think in terms of going to the world.
Is there some unique means of connecting families to the church through VBS?
It’s people connecting with people. The more workers I recruit for VBS, the more there’s a definite connection to outreach in the community. Our people are connected at the ball fields, at the dance studios, at the gymnastics studio, on swim teams. People are confident to invite friends because they are confident in the program.
How does your VBS program tie in with the rest of your children’s ministry?
We do excellent follow up. The first thing is camp. We do outreach for camp immediately after VBS. If a nonchurch family hears the excitement of VBS and camp from their kids, you’ve got a major inroad to that family. Then we go after them through our fall children’s choir program. We have six or seven children’s choirs. VBS addresses follow up by bringing kids in through those programs.
How do you go about recruiting volunteers?
We begin by asking people who served the year before, then we have a concentrated two week period with a volunteer resource table in the foyer and announcements in our worship times.
Are most of your volunteers moms?
No. A large percentage of our 250 workers are high schoolers. They work with recreation, crafts, team leadership groups, music, and drama. We have three areas for these to take leadership roles on one of our praise teams or bands. “Cream of the crop” youth up front makes a powerful witness to the whole VBS. Our church leaders understand the value of great outreach programs for children. It has been a blessing to have summer interns, and I involve them in a major way in the directing of VBS. That works to bring them experience and to prepare them to be outstanding future children’s directors. Some men take a vacation week; some take off just for the morning. This summer we had a fireman, a college professor, a principal of a Christian school, and many schoolteachers.
What benefit do the volunteers get from being a part of VBS?
The satisfaction of parent involvement with their own children and feeling they’re making a real contribution in a very dynamic program. They get to connect with other adults in the church, and they get to work with people they may not know.
Are you able to transition your volunteers into other areas of service?
As a children’s director it gives me a bird’s eye view to recruit Sunday school teachers. I look at my volunteers there to see who would make good Sunday school teachers. I sometimes recruit inexperienced people, totally new Christians. We even allow nonmembers to be in classrooms where they can learn and see role model teachers and hear the Bible stories. We use that as a mission as well. I’m not afraid to put any unchurched worker in a classroom so they can hear the message. It’s a wonderful teaching experience for them.
What makes VBS so special to you?
My passion is for the open minds of children to be taught the Word of God and to be inspired to follow Christian role models and most importantly to see Jesus. That’s my personal desire. Knowing the fertile soil in the hearts and minds of children and knowing that reaching them can make a difference for eternity. VBS is one big, effective tool for making that happen. I truly love the creative ways you can make this church program cutting edge so as to attract unchurched kids. One child loving VBS can open the door for reaching the whole family for Christ.
Brad Dupray is director of public relations and advertising with Provision Ministry Group, Irvine, California.
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