Give: Kids Helping Kids Through VBS
Every summer, many churches host a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for children where they can have fun playing games, participating in activities, worshipping the Lord, and learning more about Him. Similar to church services, many VBS programs also take up a daily offering for the duration of the “school.” Convincing kids to give up what’s in their piggy banks may seem like a difficult task at first, but it’s clear from their involvement in giving through VBS that seeds are being planted and the Lord is at work in the hearts of these children.
Whether giving for the first year or for many years, several churches chose the Children’s Homes (ABCH) as the recipient of their VBS offering, and we are so thankful! We got to talk with four of these church partners about their involvement and learned more about the reasons and heart behind donating their offering to ABCH.
Ashley Holmes, Director of Children’s Ministry at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals, shares of their relationship and connections to our ministry. “ABCH is a ministry close to the heart of our church. We have lots of foster parents in our church family, especially ones who are associated with ABCH. Specifically, our pastor and youth pastor are both (licensed) foster families through ABCH.” she says.
At Taylor Road Baptist Church in Montgomery, their Preschool and Children’s Minister, Stephanie Holmes, learned this year about giving to ABCH through a Facebook post shared from one of our development officers. She says, “I try to rotate each year, our VBS offering between a local, state, national, and international ministry. This year I was looking for a state ministry. We talked about ABCH each day at VBS and helped explain to the kids how they would be helping children their own ages.”
Adding in extra elements of fun through these offerings helps children invest all the more in the outcome at the end of the week. At Mexia Baptist Church Woodward Avenue Baptist Church VBS in Frisco City, the VBS offering was presented as a competition of boys versus girls with the prize being that the winning team would get to build an ice cream sundae on the head of the losing team captain.
As they gave throughout the week, Senior Pastor at Mexia, Randy Breedlove, shared how some of the children at his church came up with money to give to the offering, “Many kids gave sacrificially, money they had saved or had received for birthdays or other special occasions.” This made being one of the team captains who experienced having a sundae built on his head worthwhile and quite memorable for the children who sacrificially gave to the Children’s Homes!
At First Baptist Church Bay Minette in Baldwin County, Children’s Ministry Director Megan Franklin says that the kids at her church were excited about giving to this offering because they know there are others who are less fortunate than them. When asked how the kids responded to knowing they are helping other children by giving, she says, “I’ve noticed they’re always willing to help out, especially when it’s other kids their age. So, they were happy about it.”
Likewise, Ashley shares how the kids at Woodward Avenue had happy hearts ready to give, in part due to knowing and having met children in ABCH foster homes who attended their church. “This was not the first time our children had heard the name ABCH, so a lot of them were familiar with what it is and the mission behind what you do and how you serve. I know it means that much more to them that they are able to put faces and names to the ministry that they have tangibly helped serve through their offering.”
In total, we received over $4,800 this summer from just these four churches! Wow! We’re so thankful for the cheerful giving of these little hearts and their desire to serve the Lord and further impact His Kingdom.
If you’d like to make a difference through giving like these little ones have, visit us here.