VBS 1898 to Kids’ Camp 2024
“They often surprised us by questions about Scriptures that showed they understood and reasoned aboutthe Word of God. A great many questions were asked about
living the Christian life….” Virginia Hawes, wife of Walker Hawes, a medical doctor
who moved his family to New York City to specialize in a medical ministry to children, penned these words in 1900. This was just two years after her Daily Vacation Bible School venture began in response to the overwhelming need she saw for something “safe and fruitful” to occupy the time of the “idle and sometimes unruly children” that swarmed the streets and open squares ofthe East Side.
Through “Bible stories, songs, scripture memorization, crafts, and kindness” she brought the gospel to the children in her community who may not have encountered
it in any other way. As Virginia persevered in this evangelistic ministry to children, other churches around the nation began to take notice, and adopt VBStraditions of their own. It has been noted that by 1916 VBS was “accepted as one of the established, most blessed means of sowing the gospel seed in places where otherwise it might never fall.”
Isn’t it exciting that for well over a century, churches around the world have engaged
in VBS for their churches and communities summer after summer?! In 2017, the West Lenexa SDA Church in Lenexa, KS invited the NC4Y (New Change for Youth) youth group to participate in the VBS hosted at their church, and even provided a bus driver to bus the 40-60 kids from the refugee communities in Wyandotte County where
NC4Y was active. This continued for the next two summers, during which time kids looking for a better path were introduced to Jesus, their Truest Friend.
However, the summer of 2020 brought new and significant challenges to busing our kids 40 minutes across town for VBS. The primary obstacle—large indoor gatherings were not happening. With Covid shut-downs still in full swing, the NC4Y leaders prayed about what to do to stay in community with the kids who had been participating in Pathfinders, soccer teams, community service projects, and weekly Bible studies. Thoughthere were restrictions on indoor, public gatherings, we observed that the grounds of the apartment complexes where many of our youth lived were beehives of activity. Bored kids roamed looking for ways toburn off energy and pass the time, and exasperated parents were all too willing for the kids to be anywhere but indoors.
It was during this season of literal closed doors, that God gave us a burden for the open door to evangelistic ministry in the communities where we were already working. If kids couldn’t be taken to VBS, why couldn’t VBS be taken to kids? We called it Kids’ Camp. We selected three apartment complexes packed full of kids. We packed our old trailer full of pop-up tents, tarps, and totes filled with other supplies. We recruited volunteers. And with Jesus by our side, we took Bible stories, songs, scripture memorization, crafts, and kindness into the inner city. The kids showed up, their parents showed up, and God showed up in mighty and powerful ways to soften hearts and open doors of friendship.
By the end of that first summer, many of the kids were begging, “What now? We love singing together and learning more about God together! We don’t want this to stop.”
So we started meeting on Sabbath afternoons in NC4Y leaders’ homes. We continued with Bible stories, songs, and scripture memorization. Kids invited friends, and our NC4Y group grew. Since that first summer in 2020, we have hosted Kids’ Camps in apartment complexes in inner city, Kansas City every summer. Our group has outgrown meeting in leaders’ homes on Sabbath afternoons. We now rent a large meeting room and a few classrooms in thebasement of the old building on 31st Street that houses the Mercy and Truth Medical Missions Clinic. In 2022, our group was organized as a church company among the sisterhood of churches in the Iowa-MissouriConference. On any given Sabbath there may be anywhere from 10-20 adults and 50-100 youth of all agesworshiping together—still sharing Bible stories, songs, and scripture memorization.
We have just completed our fifth summer of Kids’ Camps—VBS on-site in inner-city apartment complexes.These on-site gatherings have allowed us to reach 500-700 kids each summer. This summer, of the tenteens/young adults who were on-the-ground leaders each night, seven are youth who first encounteredNC4Y through Kids’ Camps—most at the invitation of a friend.
While many elements of what we do remain the same from summer to summer, this summer we launched our first ever Parent Tent where each night, parents who are out to watch and listen anyway were invited into conversation about friendship with Jesus and helping their families grow together in Jesus. We alsoembarked on our first ever Kids’ Camp Mission Trip! We were invited by Scott & Julie Griswold of Reach the World Next Door to take Kids’ Camp on the road to Houston, TX to serve in an area with many Afghanrefugees their team has been working with for several years. Forty-two of our NC4Y adults and youth spent a week in the Houston heat sharing God’s love with the 150+ kids and parents who showed up to the park each night. It was truly an unforgettable time together witnessing, first-hand, God’s miracle-working power!
We wish there were time to tell more about baptisms, worship service offerings, open doors to Christian education at Sunnydale and Midland Adventist Academies, teen-initiated Bible studies in their own neighborhoods and schools, and more, but time fails. Suffice to say, we’re five summers in and we, too, could reflect with Virginia Hawes, “They often surprised us by questions about Scriptures that showed theyunderstood and reasoned about the Word of God. A great many questions were asked about living the Christian life…,” and we, too, could join in testifying that we’ve seen God use VBS/Kids’ Camp “as one of the established, most blessed means of sowing the gospel seed in places where otherwise it might never fall.” Thank you, Jesus, for including us! What an absolute privilege it has been to watch as God calls, grows, and equips His children to serve Him in powerful ways! While we’re still hauling around our tired, old trailer, well-used tents, tarps and totes, and singing many of the same songs, playing many of the same games, we stand in awe as we experience first-hand again and again the fulfillment of the promise “The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for
His compassions never fail. They are new every morning;great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22, 23
Written by Mary Kendall, NC4Y member and Kids’ Camp volunteer