Madelaine Methot
Shawville August 14 – 17, 2023
This year’s Vacation Bible School (VBS) for children in the Shawville-Clarendon area was held at the Grace Community Bible Church last week.
The annual week-long event is a collaborative effort by three local churches: Grace, New Hope Christian Fellowship and Bethel Pentecostal.
This year, VBS provided children with a space-themed adventure under the title “Stellar – Shine Jesus’ Light”. Planets hung from the ceiling in the church entrance, the walls were lined with galaxy backdrops and starry lights, the stage in the chapel was decked out with a fully-lit UFO, and there were even space-themed snacks.
“The idea is that we are on the moon and talking about how we can shine for Jesus in different situations in life,” said organizer Joy Moquin.
The planning committee recruited more than 40 volunteer leaders for the week, with close to 130 children ranging in ages from 3 to 11 registered. Events ran daily from 9 a.m. to noon, beginning with a sing and play blast off ceremony, where the kids were introduced to the theme of the day. Each day’s activities focused on specific scenarios in which the children could “Shine Jesus’ Light” in their lives.
After each morning’s opening ceremony, the children would split off into groups to rotate through various activity stations. This year, the stations included a cinema playing videos of real-life stories of children around the world, outdoor games, a Bible adventure station and a space-themed craft and science experiment station. The morning sessions would wrap up with the cosmic closing ceremony, where kids and leaders would recap the day’s lesson with songs and a surprise experiment.
