Impacting communities through children

That 12 year old boy who gets so angry that he picks up a glass bottle to throw at a boy who disrespected him.

That 14 year old girl who tells you plainly, "My fadder not working anywhere he now come out of jail."

That 8 year old boy whose name you learn within the first half an hour of meeting him because he is constantly getting into trouble.

What do these children have in common? They all attend Vacation Bible Schools in their communities. They may or may not attend the Sunday School or the youth groups attached to the churches which host their VBS, but once the holidays come around they are drawn by the fun, snacks and prizes offered as incentives for those who can learn their memory verses or answer questions based on the Bible lessons shared.

Doing an activity to illustration the Romans 3:23 memory verse

It has been years since I taught VBS at a church. My July/August holidays are normally filled with camp preparations, camps, mission trips or spending time by family and friends on the way to mission trips. This year I committed to serve 1 1/2 weeks of VBS before I left Trinidad with two churches from Christian Brethren Assemblies, one in Morne Diablo and one in Los Bajos. I was grateful for the reminder of the powerful impact of this ministry to children in communities.

Closing program item

The theme we used was Amazing Grace. We focused on the fact that we were all sinners, deserving of the judgement of death, but thanks to God's amazing grace displayed through Jesus Christ, He provided a way for us to escape that judgement and be justified. The children were encouraged to accept Jesus' sacrifice of love, and tell others how they too could be partakers in His amazing grace.

Craft on display

The children in Morne Diablo came out in their numbers, and it was very encouraging to see the number of parents who came out to the Closing Program (more than 40) and were exposed to a clear presentation of the gospel through the items put on by the various classes. I was also very heartened to see seven boys enter the memory verse competition at the end of the week - four of them who were from my class :)

Craft depicting Noah's ark - one of the Bible lessons teaching salvation

At Los Bajos, we really saw the unity of believers as teachers came from all over south Trinidad to provide support to the VBS there. The children were very well behaved and very eager to participate in all the activities. Unfortunately I was unable to stay up until the end of that VBS, but I enjoyed the opportunity to build relationships with the children in my class. I hope to be able to stay in contact with them.

Youths asking God to help them turn away from sin in their lives

The 12 year old boy continued to attend the rest of the days of VBS and although he was a challenge to the teachers, we trust that the seeds which were sown would fall on good soil.

The 14 year old girl attended VBS faithfully even though some of her friends had chosen to go to another activity in the community.

The 8 year old boy received a prize at the end of the week for showing the most improvement in behaviour in His class.

Some of the Los Bajos posse

We pray that the impact of not just these VBSes, but all the efforts of evangelism among all Christian groups over the July/August period would minister not just to the children who attend, but would impact their families positively as well.