From Saloon to Church Buildings

I grew up with Vacation Bible School (VBS). This is attributed to the fact that my dad was a preacher, and therefore I grew up in church. I have always been involved in some form of VBS, and so never really gave it much thought. I just assumed everyone did it as well, and that it had always been around! Seriously, I think there was time when I thought Jesus and The Twelve led the first VBS! Of course, that would bring on questions like, “What is the drop off policy for Levites? Who plays Jesus in the skit? And other very confusing questions.

If you hang around Farragut Church long enough, you will hear this phrase about VBS: “it’s for the kids”. And that is absolutely true. We do almost everything that we can to get the kid’s attention. We want them to walk away from the week with a solid foundation that Jesus loves them very much. But I find myself asking, “where does the CONCEPT of VBS come from?” It’s really an interesting story….

As the Christianity Today reported a few years back, VBS originated at the turn of the century in New York City’s East Side. Although Methodists offered “summer Sunday School institutes” as far back as the 1870s, the term VBS is attributed to Mrs. Walker Aylette Hawes, of the Epiphany Baptist Church. Mrs. Hawes was the wife of a doctor who specialized in medical ministry to children. During their initial stay in New York, Mrs. Hawes noted the numerous injuries from the children, and that they more than likely came from playing in the streets. She believed that they “needed something safe and fruitful to occupy their time.”

In 1898, after a near exhaustive search of places that would actually allow her to rent space for such a thing, a saloon (i.e. bar, a place that sells beer) agreed to rent her space for 6 weeks during the summer days. Mrs. Hawes designed her program around music, Bible stories, scripture memorization, games, crafts, drawing, and cooking. By the time of her retirement in 1901, Mrs. Hawes was overseeing seven separate schools in the New York City Area. An interesting fact about her original location, the bar: “Her pastor insisted that the school in 1900 move to the church, Epiphany Baptist Church, located about a mile from the East Side beer hall. After two weeks of meeting at the church, it became clear to Mrs. Hawes that children from the East Side would not attend at the church. She returned the school to a location near the beer hall for the rest of the summer”. It seems, even to this day, that location is everything!

After Mrs. Hawes retired, Dr. Robert Boville took over for her. By 1903, the movement had grown to 17 schools. Over the next four years, schools were opened in Philadelphia and Chicago. In 1911, Dr. Boville established the Daily Vacation Bible School Association as a national organization.

So now that you know where VBS comes from, does that change how you think about it? Do you drive across town to a church’s VBS? If they held it in a bar that was really convenient to you, would you take your kids? Do you participate in another denomination’s VBS? What do you look for in a VBS? Do you hang around, and get to know the staff that are working the VBS? In your opinion, what is the purpose of VBS?