Faith Matters | What do you mean no vacation bible school? Who is going to babysit my kids – for free?

I’ll never forget the exact moment when I knew that our church would never do a regular Vacation Bible School (VBS) again. I was sitting in a restaurant with a bunch of my mom friends having breakfast a few days before school let out a few summers ago. Several of them started talking about all of the VBS schedules for all of the different churches in Bradenton. And then one of them said it out loud. A deep, dark truth that everyone knows, but no one wants to admit. She said, “It is the best free babysitting in town!”

As a mom of three, I totally get it. Summer is tough stuff. As a side note: we definitely need to pay teachers more. But, as a pastor, it breaks my heart to hear that the volunteers of churches who put in hours and hours and hours are seen as nothing more than glorified babysitters. Don’t even get me started on how much money it costs churches to put on events like that. And then, if we dare to charge even a nominal fee for it, we have to listen to how the church shouldn’t be charging people.

There are so many levels of misunderstanding going on here. For starters, the church is about relationships. It starts with our relationship to Jesus Christ, our Savior. And out of that relationship, we are called to be in relationship with one another. When people use churches as a babysitting service, there is no opportunity for relationship. My mom friends are super honest about this point. They have no plans to actively engage with any of these churches outside of VBS.

Then, let’s talk about money. The church was never a place of free stuff. In fact, the Book of Acts reveals that the believers came together and gave all that they had. Not take. Of course, there were the widows. There were people who had genuine needs that needed to be met and those needs were made known through ongoing relationships. Churches should be faithful in meeting genuine needs. But, let’s be honest here — if you can afford even a day at Disney World, are you really someone with a genuine need? It’s hard to hear that it’s “highway robbery” for a church to charge $25 for 15 hours worth of care, when some of those people who are first to complain won’t be around next week because they’ll be on a $5,000 family vacation to the Keys.

So, no my church doesn’t do a traditional VBS. Instead, we have just completed an entire week of full-day (eight hour) Mission Adventure Camp. And yes, we charged for it because 40 hours worth of care, food, activities and supplies costs something. Nowhere near what we charged the families who attended. We also provided scholarships for families that, through our vetted mission partners, we knew were in a place of genuine need because we truly do believe that every child should be able to attend camp.

We’ve also learned over the years that eight hours is a long time every day. And those who are looking for free babysitting typically don’t come to camp with us. Instead, we find that most of the families that attend are looking for relationship. This week, I, as the lead pastor of our congregation, became a lead counselor, spending a full 40 hours, with six soon-to-be kindergartners. I spent so much time with them that I not only know them by name, but by heart. I spent time with their parents. I heard their stories. We created new memories. These are the building blocks of relationships. Those six little ones know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I love them, the church loves them, and that God loves them. In the years to come, they will see me around town, the grocery store, or the ball fields and know that I’m an adult that they can count on. Some of them might even end up in our church permanently. I hope they do.

Summer programs with churches are a great gift to the community. But, the next time that you are sitting in Starbucks with your $7 latte, planning out your next weekend getaway to wherever, before you consider using VBS as your free babysitting service or complaining about the $25 registration fee, ask yourself ... who is really taking advantage of who?

This story was originally published June 23, 2017 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Faith Matters | What do you mean no vacation bible school? Who is going to babysit my kids – for free?."