10 Impactful Mission Projects for Your Church's VBS
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Vacation Bible School is a hallmark of summertime fun for our kids! Churches rally their staff and volunteers to provide a fun and informative week of faith-based activities for elementary-aged kids. VBS is a great place for churches to introduce their students to mission work, which is work the church does to show the love of Christ to the community and to those who are in need across the globe.
One of my kids' favorite weeks of VBS included a week-long focus on missions. Each day at VBS, the kids completed at least one mission-oriented project, which included collecting school supplies for lower-income schools, writing cards to those who are isolated, and cleaning up trash in the community.
Let’s explore how churches' VBS programs can be more intentional about incorporating mission projects into the curriculum.
How Do You Choose the Right VBS Mission Project?
There is so much fun and learning to pack into VBS week, and being intentional about each element included in this important week is so important.
When considering how to incorporate mission projects for VBS, first consider how many kids you plan to include in this event. If you are hosting several thousand kids, then your mission projects need to be simple and accessible to all ages. If you have a smaller, more intimate group, you could consider taking on a more ambitious project.
Consider what supplies you may need for this work. How will you acquire these items? Do you plan to ask families who are participating in VBS to donate supplies? Is the church able to provide everything for each child to participate?
Identify a need you can easily meet in your community or abroad. Is there a local group, school, nonprofit, or organization that you can support through the work your kids do at VBS? What missions work is your church already involved in? How can the kids support this work? Once you have a need, then you can begin to form a plan of how your group can show the love of Christ to others!
Simple Mission Projects Kids Can Do during VBS
Simple ideas can be the most effective when having your students get involved with mission work. A few simple VBS mission projects include:
1. Collect an offering to support a missions organization. Have the boys compete with the girls to see who can donate the most money to support this work.
2. Identify something that kids could easily make or perform that would be a blessing or encouragement to others. This could be making encouraging cards, creating a video message for a group, or even performing a song or skit for a group.
3. Organize a drive for items to support local missions. Have the kids bring in school supplies, pantry items, baby items, or other necessities that can support local mission work.
Local Mission Project Ideas for VBS
There are so many ways we can support people in need who live in our own communities! Here are a few ideas to get you started:
4. Create care packages for the homeless. Allow the kids to put together kits with essentials such as socks, toothpaste, snacks, and notes. Find a local shelter or outreach that is able to use these care packages. Matthew 25:40 says, “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Remind the kids that they are taking time to care for those who are struggling in our community.
5. Write thank-you cards and create gift bags for community helpers. Show those who work hard in your community to care for others that they are appreciated with care packages. Send these to local police officers, firefighters, nurses, and teachers. Plan to deliver them to their workplace and share with the kids the value of honoring those who serve others (Romans 13:7).
6. Sponsor a food drive for a local pantry. Collect canned goods and other pantry staples to help stock your local pantry. Allow each VBS group to bring a specific item, and then inventory what you collect at the end of the week. To make it more fun, you could decorate the collection boxes so they feel extra special!
7. Plan a community clean-up day. Take time to pick up trash at a park, playground, or even at the church. Provide gloves and bags. Make the clean up fun with teams and races as you care for God’s earth.
Global Mission Projects to Support Through VBS
You can introduce your VBS students to the global world of missions! Some ways to support global missions include:
8. Adopt a missionary for the week. Choose a missionary family or group of families to support and pray for over the course of the VBS week. Your groups can write them letters, create drawings for them, and collect small donations to support their families' work. Take time to share details about the important work these missionary families are doing across the globe.
9. Support clean water projects. Partner with organizations that help to build wells or provide water filters across the globe. Kids can raise funds and do a “Walk for Water” challenge. They do relay races carrying buckets of water to understand the challenge others face to get clean water. John 4:14 reminds us that Jesus is the living water! We can show others love by making sure they have access to the knowledge of Jesus and the clean water they need to survive.
10. Support a global nutrition program. Have your VBS sponsor meals for kids across the globe who are struggling to survive. Set a goal of how many meals you’d like to sponsor in the week and track your progress. You can use visuals such as rice jars to show your impact. Some great organizations to consider are Feed My Starving Children or World Vision.
Tips for Organizing and Leading a VBS Mission Project
- Create a clear goal for your VBS to work towards. Choose one main mission project to focus on as you go through the week and find ways to get the kids excited about that work.
- Make sure your activities are age-appropriate. Your preschoolers are not going to be able to do as much as your 5th graders, so plan accordingly.
- Build your mission's focus into the plan for every day of VBS. Discuss what you are collecting at the start of VBS, or have a station that explores missions each day.
- Make sure scripture is at the center of your projects. Point the kids back to a verse in the Bible that encourages us to share the love of Christ with others.
- Create a visual that shows your impact growing over the week. Kids need something they can see and get excited about for the mission work to really resonate with them. Create a thermometer or other visual that shows what they have accomplished.
Conclusion: How VBS Mission Projects Teach Kids How to Serve
VBS missions projects teach kids that the gospel is something that is for them and for the world around them. Missions empowers them to be the hands and feet of Christ at a young age and inspires a heart of compassion for those around them. Jesus is a friend, and he is also a great and mighty God who desires to be in a relationship with every person. What a comfort for our kids to know that God is for them personally, and he also cares about every person in this great world he created!
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/BiserkaStojanovic
