Youth-Camp and VBS

In the third and fourth week of our internship in MN, things slowly but surely got practical. In this blog you can find out why we enjoyed the Youth Camp so much and what the abbreviation VBS stands for.

During the internship, we have the opportunity to look into every area of a church. The general leadership team meeting takes place every Monday. These meetings usually last between 1.5 - 3 hours. On Wednesdays, the ministry offers MTC (Ministry Training Center - training for serving in churches) in the evening. The main focus of the MTC is to shed light on the individual areas of a church. The respective leaders give a 50-minute presentation on how they operate and what is important. Afterwards, we have the opportunity to ask questions. This gives us a good insight into each area.

A week before the youth camp, we were asked if we wanted to go for the full four days. Since we had been involved in youth ministry in the past and love working with young people, we said yes. Youth-Group here includes ages 12-17.

Youth-Camp

We drove three hours to the north of Minnesota to stay from June 20 to June 23. The camp is located by a lake that offers many cool opportunities for free time. The youth camp is structured like most camps we have attended.

Every day there is a set schedule. In addition to plenty of free time, daily games were organized and an input was given in the morning and evening. After lunch, there was an obligatory 1 to 1.5 hours of quiet time, and the young people were encouraged to use this to spend time with God.

Our task as volunteers was to help out wherever help was needed. From tidying up to helping in the kitchen and playing in tournaments to ministry, everything was covered.

The almost 30 young people who took part in the camp were hungry for the word of God. During the free time, they often sought to talk to the leadership team and the interns. Especially after the inputs, Johann and the two other interns were available for questions and prayer. During the four days, Johann was able to experience how some of the young people were set free and empowered.

The first evening was about the topic - water baptism and baptism in the Holy Spirit and Johann shared his testimony in 5min. That evening 6 young people received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

On the last day, just before departure, the opportunity for water baptism was given and three young people signed up for it. After they were baptized, two more young women spontaneously accepted water baptism. The option was always emphasized and so they simply took off their shoes and valuables and got into the water dressed as they were. The baptism is an underwater baptism, where what you believe is briefly confirmed beforehand. The joy among the young people afterwards was great.

We were particularly struck by the unity among the young people during the camp. It was impressive to see and experience how much the young people prayed for and served each other.

VBS – Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a fun program that many churches offer during the summer months to connect with the children and families in their congregations. Vacation Bible School is designed to appeal to children who do not normally attend church and to introduce them to the Gospel.

A VBS week usually includes games, snacks, crafts, sketches and short inputs or stories from the Bible. There is always a connection between God and the theme, which enables the children to experience God in a creative way.

The last VBS was held over 20 years ago. Now that the ministry has 13 interns for the summer, they have given us the task of putting together a VBS for all participating churches. Our project is to plan the activities, promote and evangelize.

So we got to work as a group to gather creative ideas. As the churches hadn't held a VBS for a while and no one else had any real ideas, we were given free hand here. In weeks three and four, we mainly put together and rehearsed the program for the VBS. We also created flyers for public and digital advertising. Concepts for advertising in the cities were also developed and checked. During these two weeks, we ran from one meeting to the next and shared our results and suggestions with the pastors.

The first VBSs were to be held from July. Every week the location and the advertising for the respective churches changes. The VBS goes weekly from Monday to Wednesday from 1-2:30pm and is for kids ages 5-11. Most VBS are held in public parks.

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You can find out how we experienced the first VBS and what else has been happening in the meantime in the next blog post, where we will report on weeks 5 and 6.

See you in the next blog.😉