By Brett Hetherington*

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a long-standing summer tradition in many churches. Signs advertising the week-long event welcoming neighborhood children into the church to learn about Jesus can be spotted frequently in towns across the East Ohio Conference. This summer Girard First United Methodist Church (Central Valley District) partnered with other churches in the Girard ministerial association – and with an area retirement community – to run an evening VBS.

“We’re really fortunate here at this particular site of Shepherd of the Valley where our independent residents are in independent apartments. They are all wonderful people who love to serve and they care about each other. And to see them not just care for one another but to be able to volunteer for something and care for the kids – and they do service projects all the time – but this was just super special. And we live in a community here at Shepherd of the Valley and what a great way to share that and for the kids to see that,” shared Christine Briggs who serves as chaplain at Shepherd of the Valley.

Rev. Jennifer Wellington is the pastor of Girard First UMC and one of the pastors of the ministerial association who led the charge for this year’s VBS program.

“VBS is a love of mine. I was willing to plug in to what they were doing but it felt like there was an openness to doing something new. In the past it had been each church take a turn hosting year to year. When I was in Cleveland, we hosted night to night at different churches and as long as we provided transportation it worked. I suggested the final program at Shepherd of the Valley,” she said.

Briggs added to Wellington’s assessment of how the plan unfolded. “Jennifer asked if we had any residents who would like to participate. I thought absolutely; they love to be active, they love to socialize with one another, they love to participate in a wide range of activities, they do service projects and things throughout the year. I told them a little bit about what we were doing. Some were happy to come to hear the kids sing, and we had a good amount of people who wanted to jump on board and were excited to connect with the kids,” Briggs said.

Girard First UMC has not had a VBS program for a while, according to one of the co-directors of this year’s VBS. “Growing up VBS consisted of 200 kids. All at the same church. Ours were different, always in the morning. A two-and-a-half-hour period felt shorter but not cramped. For not having VBS for a long time at our church we had a good turnout. We’re trying to build it back up,” shared Leah Avery.

This year’s VBS consisted of approximately 28 children and over 40 volunteers.

For the first four nights the VBS program rotated amongst different churches in the ministerial association. For the final night the program held court at Shepherd of the Valley, led largely by volunteers who live there.

“Pastor Chris asked if some of us wanted to help at VBS and there were about 10 of us who volunteered. I was in a group with two other people, a husband and wife. What we did is we had stations, basically what we did is they were talking about compassion and community,” said Marsha Jankowski, one of the resident volunteers.

Jankowski is a retired teacher who still works as a tutor and is a child advocate. She has taught at many levels and was amazed at how the VBS program turned out.

“I was impressed with the children when they came in. They didn’t know us and we didn’t know them. It was an extraordinary experience. They were very happy children, so it was nice to know that they were coming, and they were going to enjoy it,” Jankowski shared. “They were engaged. You would ask them to do something, and everybody would volunteer to read or whatever.”

Community was the theme that the VBS curriculum closed out the week with, and it was a very appropriate theme according to Briggs.

“That is what we spend a lot of time talking about with our residents is that we are a family, we are a community, we are here for each other. They’re good checking with each other and on each other, watching out for each other. I think the fact that the kids seeing that community in action, seeing the residents in community with each other, the residents were so welcoming and inviting; they didn’t feel like they had to come in and be quiet and worry about bothering people. They’re just so loving and welcoming and inviting. To see them laugh and the kids laugh, any time you can get multi generations together is such a good thing. Jesus definitely wants us to do that,” Briggs said.

Connections were forged amongst the children who were a part of the VBS program as well, as walls fell and allowed for them to build relationships amongst each other. “It was really cool seeing these kids who have next to no contact with each other except maybe in school. As soon as they were in VBS they didn’t care about social groups they were just like ‘hey let’s be friends,’” shared Sam Eaton, a co-director.

“The things that we didn’t think were going to catch on were things that caught. The middle age group really liked meeting other kids,” shared co-director Kara Sheesley.

For their part, the kids enjoyed being connected in community with the residents of Shepherd of the Valley. One constant thread throughout all the conversations is that the kids were not shy about interacting with residents. They were quick to engage, and they were friendly in their engagements.

“I thought how often do they get an audience with adult people who have the patience and the time to listen? This group has the time to give. My hope is that we can build on this to do other things together. The residents all were talking about it afterwards and the kids were talking about it afterwards, asking ‘when are we going out to Shepherd of the Valley again,’” said Wellington.

The residents felt the same way after their involvement.

“They all were raving about how much they loved being a part of that. How much they loved seeing the kids, how they were impressed seeing how much the kids learned each night. They enjoyed the experience and they wanted to do it again,” shared Briggs.

“For VBS I just love that they were willing to come. They were willing to do whatever you asked them to do. They were relaxed, happy and engaged. You can’t ask for anything more. Plus, it fulfilled what we were trying to show them, how we’re all important, we’re all to be cared for, respected and loved. Us, and also them,” added Jankowski.

The VBS program concluded with kids sharing what they had learned throughout the week and a sundae bar with ice cream donated by a local ice cream shop.

When reflecting on how everything came together, Wellington gave credit to Jesus. “The whole process was a Jesus thing. It unfolded for us. We had the initial plan of what we always did. But each step of the way was an ‘aha’ moment, and why wouldn’t we have the residents be a part of it?” she asked.

“I love to see happy kids. Here it was at the end of the day. It was two and a half hours. Here Jesus smiled. It was perfect, it really, really was,” said Jankowski.

The Conference Communications team would like to share other stories that highlight ways that each of us is answering the call to reach out to our communities in creative ways. Please e-mail your ministry story to EOC Executive Director of Communications Rick Wolcott at wolcott@eocumc.com.

* Brett Hetherington is the Communications specialist for the East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church.