Chapter Five – 2013 Stats – A Closer Look at VBS

Vacation Bible School (VBS) as a vehicle for Christian formation and mission outreach has been around for over one hundred years. While it is primarily a ministry with children, some churches have youth and adult components, and many churches have youth and adults who serve as teachers, assistant teachers, music leaders, craft leaders, food preparers, and so forth. 

This chapter takes a closer look at those congregations that have at least ten people participating in VBS. As in other chapters, all the churches referred to have at least five members. One word of reminder, correlation does not imply causation. For example, while it is true that churches with VBS of at least ten people accounted for 82% of all professions of faith, we cannot claim that VBS causes professions of faith. 

The first thing I noticed is that there is very nearly a 50-50 split between churches that have at least ten VBS participants and those that don't. Out of 32,154 congregations, 16,245 had a VBS attendance of less than ten and 15,909 had a VBS attendance of ten or more. One could say that the median VBS attendance for the denomination is 10. However, that would be misleading since it would include the approximately 50% of congregations that do not have VBS. It would be more accurate to say that the median number of participants for churches that have VBS is 45.

The 15,909 congregations with at least 10 VBS participants account for:
• 50% of all United Methodist congregations.
• 79% of all United Methodist members.
• 78% of those worshipping on an average Sunday in a United Methodist Church.
• 87% of those served by day care or other educational ministries.
• 89% of children in Christian formation.
• 88% of youth in Christian formation.
• 86% of all people in Christian formation.
• 73% of all Sunday school classes.
• 90% of all VIM participants
• 89% of all engaged in community mission
• 79% of all served by community ministries of outreach, justice, and mercy.

In doing a geographical breakdown:
• 43% of churches in the Northeastern Jurisdiction have at least 10 VBS participants.
• 46% of churches in the Western Jurisdiction  have at least 10 VBS participants.
• 51% of churches in the Southeastern Jurisdiction have at least 10 VBS participants.
• 52% of churches in the North Central Jurisdiction have at least 10 VBS participants.

• 53% of churches in the South Central Jurisdiction have at least 10 VBS participants.

Things I Noticed

• The 79% of United Methodists who belong to congregations that have at least 10 VBS participants account for 90% of VIM participants and 86% of all people in Christian formation.

• While there are some differences in frequency of VBS based on jurisdiction, there is not a huge difference. 

Things I Wonder About

• Is VBS perhaps an indicator of sustainability? When congregations no longer have the resources, energy, and commitment to provide VBS, does that signal that they may be in danger of not having the capacity to engage in ongoing Christian formation and outreach?