Grace Lutheran Church in Oconto Falls hosted 67 students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade July 21-25 during its annual Vacation Bible School (VBS).
“Scuba-diving into friendship with God” was the name of the program the church used this year. The church building was transformed into an underwater world for the week.
With 36 volunteers helping, the kids began each evening with an opening talk from the church’s pastor, Gary Olson, where he discussed the Bible verse for the evening.
From there the kids went to different stations: Imagination Station taught them that science really does support God, there was a craft station where the kids made a different craft each night, a games station, and a Bible story station where the kids got to climb into a whale while learning the story of Jonah.
At the end of each night, Olson again talked with the kids about what they learned that evening. The five key points for the week were: God is real, God is someone you can trust, God is someone who loves you, God is a friend forever, and God is a friend for everyone. At the end of the week each child took home a T-shirt, cross necklace and a Bible verse book as well as other trinkets.
As part of this year’s program, the kids brought in their change each night to raise money for a missionary church in Japan to help that church to have a VBS program. By the end of the week, they raised $700.
VBS is an annual event held at Grace Lutheran Church. It is open to any child from pre-kindergarten through 6th grade. Many of the children attending VBS were from the community, but outside of the church’s congregation.
The event is always free and is supported financially by the members of the church, said Heidi Anderson, primary coordinator for the event.
“It was so wonderful to see the kids so engaged and really understanding the message that we were teaching. For some kids, this is the only church they get,” Anderson said. “I really want to express my appreciation to all of our volunteers. Without them, VBS would not be the success it is.”
Kids dive into God with Scuba VBS
