Playfully structured, incredibly versatile activities for summer children's ministry.
- Email mobile-friendly versions to families for remote VBS.
- Distribute pdf versions and craft supplies to families.
- Offer as a throwback activity for summer adult Bible Study. (Grown-up sized questions included in every lesson!)
- Integrate into a VBS hybrid experience.
- Replace summer Sunday School.
Three ways to participate:
1. Do it Yourself. As a ministry leader, you will have immediate access to mobile and pdf versions of lessons, sign-along worships, craft sheets, sticker charts, and logos. Get immediate access by clicking on the theme you'd like: Old Testament Favorites, Christmas in July, or She Believes: Female Bible Friends.
2. Done for You. Choose from our three themes, choose a start date, and we'll do the rest! We'll handle registration, weekly emails, and monitor a private Facebook group for your congregation. You can also post in the Facebook group as much or as little as you'd like! Get started by clicking here.
3. Ecumenically with other churches. Have individuals or families from your church register to participate in VBS alongside people from churches all over the place! This summer we're doing "She Believes: Female Bible Friends" July 5 - August 2. Participants receive weekly emails and access to a Facebook group with everyone else, where we can make friends, worship together, and share our crafts. Learn more and sign up.
VBS for Backyards is:
Efficient
There's no planning and no fuss because the weekly lessons are self-contained for use at home and are automatically delivered each week.
Fully optimized
Do the whole lesson on a mobile phone, or print out the pdf and coloring pages to have a screen-free experience.
Theologically sound
Written from an ELCA (Lutheran) point of view, but open to all who emphasize how God calls us to care for those around us.
Intergenerational or individual
Families can participate together, give it to the kids (some reading required), or adults can do it as a throwback activity.
A full experience
Everything you expect from VBS is here: stories, theological questions for every age, (including adults!), crafts for every skill level, music, and service projects.
Your congregation can choose between three sets of stories.
Old Testament Favorites includes:
- Creation
- Noah
- Joseph
- Miriam
- The Fiery Furnace
Christmas in July includes:
- The Angel Visits
- Mary and Elizabeth
- Jesus is Born
- Shepherds
- Following the Star
She Believes: Female Bible Friends includes:
- Naomi and Ruth
- Queen Esther
- Mary and Martha
- Women at the Tomb
- The Holy Spirit
Every lessons includes everything for you to customize your experience:
Story Time
We'll tell you where to find it in the Spark Story Bible, the full Bible, as a short cartoon, and also give you a pdf printout.
Reflection Section
Every lesson has theologically appropriate questions for adults, young disciples, and even younger disciples, making this perfect for ages 3-103.
Imagination Station
Choose between a coloring page, a digital photo scavenger hunt, or a traditional VBS craft project.
Outdoor Adventure
Vacation Bible School is about being outside! Every lesson has suggestions for all ages to engage with the natural world, no matter where you live.
Mission Moment
We've got options for families, individuals, and everyone in between to share part of what they learned with those around them in pandemic-friendly ways.
The program also comes with these resources.
- Craft Supply List which makes it easy to gather things at home, make your online order, or deliver supplies to families.
- Sticker Chart to hang on the refrigerator so you can track your progress.
- A dedicated Facebook group.
- Automated emails that make it easy to remember to do your weekly lesson.
- Craft options for each week that include creating something around the theme or coloring a page.
And we all know half the fun of VBS is the music!
Each week includes a short, high-quality worship that includes:
- Invocation
- Prayer
- Teaching
- Benediction
- At least 3 songs like the ones in this video
People use VBS for Backyards in a variety of situations and settings.
- An alternative VBS. Whether or not you live in an area where it's OK to gather, there will be some families who are not ready to do so. This is a great option to offer for individual households or for the whole congregation.
- Adult Education with a Childlike spin. The "Questions for Grown-ups" are robust enough for adults to use this to frame their own summer Bible study.
- Intergenerational activity. Families of different generations can do the activities the same week and share their experiences, no matter where they live around the country. Everything arrives electronically so that the whole family can get involved.
- Summer Sunday School. Need something that "runs itself" for remote summer Sunday School? Leaders can be as involved or not involved as they'd like.
- Have another idea? Let's talk. We're a very small company that can be nimble and responsive to your ideas.
How did this all start?
VBS for Grown-ups started in 2019 as a throw-back experience for adults to recapture the wonder of a childlike faith through Bible stories, music, crafts, outdoor activities, and adult-sized reflection questions.
It has been updated and redesigned for multi-generational families in the form of VBS for Backyards. It is available for individual or congregational use.
Hi! I'm Dawn Trautman and I'm the creator of VBS for Backyards. I first attended Vacation Bible School at Faith Lutheran Church in Massillon, Ohio and continued through being a small group helper and finally leader at churches in Minnesota and North Dakota.
I continued to hone my VBS skills at Sky Ranch Lutheran Camp, Youth Encounter, Luther Seminary (where I got a Masters in Youth and Family Ministry), and at rural, suburban, and urban churches over the years. I have now lead more than 50 weeks of VBS.
In between all that, I also earned a second Masters in Organizational Psychology from New York University, built a career as a professional actor, and became nationally board certified as a life coach. I am now the Creative Director of the MainStage team at the ELCA Extravaganza and run my own business as a Lutheran Life Coach, which I have done for sixteen years.
This life path has allowed me to train or lead the children, youth, and ministry leaders at these and other institutions.
Here's who's behind the scenes
Kelly Benz (Curriculum Writer for Young Disciples) is the Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministry at Messiah Lutheran Church in Burlington, Iowa. As the mother of four children under 12, she has the ultimate test market and quality control managers right there in her own backyard.
Mallory Topel (Tech Wizard and Organizational Guru) attended the VBS at her local Lutheran church as a child, and insisted that her family join the church. She recently graduated from Viterbo University in LaCrosse Wisconsin, earning a degree in Stage Management. She is still involved in VBS at her church, where her mother is now in charge of it.
Nathan Maxwell-Doherty (Worships and Sing-alongs) draws on years of experience as Camp Director at Lutheran Retreats, Camps and Conferences (LRCC) in Southern California. He creates the graphics, altar design, and other parts of the visual experience for the Main Stage at the annual ELCA Children Youth and Family Ministry Extravaganza.
Ready to go? Here are all the links to all the options.
- Download the complete materials, and use it with an unlimited number of families at your church on any of these themes: Old Testament Favorites, Christmas in July, or Female Bible Friends.
- Have us do the tech for you using your choice of theme and dates. Get started here or set up a conversation if you'd like to run a few ideas by us first (we're very flexible around the needs of your church.)
- Send people to register at this page to do the VBS theme "She Believes: Female Bible Friends" with people from other churches July 5 - August 2. (Best for churches with ten or fewer households involved.)
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