VACATION BIBLE SCHOOLS IN FULL SWING IN CAPE GIRARDEAU

Now that schools are out for the summer, area churches are offering activities and religious training through Vacation Bible School.

VBS typically lasts a week, but there is probably an opportunity to attend at various churches every week in June, July and early August.

The Rev. Jim Sanderson, a retired United Methodist minister, said that Vacation Bible School used to be longer, at least two weeks. "Now," he said, "it's difficult to get that kind of commitment from families and teachers."

Most churches, Sanderson said, now have only one-week VBS, and many are going to evenings so that more people can be involved, both as teachers and participants. Some churches even have classes for adults in the evening, he said.

Steven MacDougall, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau, said that the purpose of VBS is to allow children to come together in the summer to learn about Jesus. It also supplies fellowship and promotes outreach, he said.

"We enjoy reaching out into the community to the non-Lutherans and sharing the Gospel with them," MacDougall said. "It's not so much to share Lutheran doctrine as to share Jesus."

MacDougall said Trinity VBS was for pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade age children. High school students participate by being helpers, he said.

"We also have a class for parents of the children," MacDougall said. "Each evening we start with a meal at 5 p.m. for parents and children. We find this is a great convenience for all members of the family, since VBS starts at 6 p.m."

Wendy Osburn, director of VBS at Grace United Methodist Church, had a similar view about the purpose of VBS. "Vacation Bible School introduces to children who have never been to church a foundation for their journey to faith in God," Osburn said. "It extends the journey for those children who already have a faith in God."

The VBS program at Grace UMC this year is for ages 18 months through fourth grade. "Normally, VBS goes through fifth and sixth grades," said Osburn, "but our fifth- and sixth-graders wanted to be in helper positions, so that's how we are utilizing them this year."

Osburn said that VBS competes with other camps, such as sports camps, and with summer school, which is why they don't go much beyond sixth grade.

The Rev. William Bird, pastor of Greater Dimension Church of God In Christ in Cape Girardeau, said his church has broadened the scope of VBS and changed the name to Camp CARE (Concerned About Reaching Everybody).

"When you think of Vacation Bible School," Bird said, "you think of a certain age -- kids around 6,7 or 8. At age 9 to 12, they begin to lose interest and feel they're a little too old for Vacation Bible School."

Bird said that much of what is traditionally done in VBS is done in Camp CARE. "We are based on Biblical principle," he said, "but we also teach life-coping skills, such as how to get along with people, personal hygiene and discipline."

Community leaders -- police officers, counselors, social-services and professional people -- came in and gave presentations last year, Bird said. Kids up to age 12 and even some teens attended last summer's camp. "Last year," Bird said, "we held the camp in the Salvation Army building and had as many as 150 kids daily for the entire week."

This year's Camp CARE will be held in early August.

Susan Means, director of VBS at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Cape Girardeau, said that their VBS accepted kids from 4 years old through next fall's fourth grade. "Children older than that," she said, "we utilize as youth helpers. The older children enjoy helping, and it gives them a chance to give something back to their church."

The program used by the St. Vincent VBS is a non-denominational program, used also by several Protestant churches. "We're all Christians," Means said. "We all believe in the same God. Thus, we can comfortably choose a non-denominational program. But we do reinforce it with Catholic teachings. We add particulars, such as stories about the Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints, that tailor it to fit a Catholic bible school."

Means said that St. Vincent's Bible School does have some non-Catholic children registered but the majority of participants are from parish Catholic families. "For us at St. Vincent's," she said, "VBS gives us a chance to pass down our Catholic faith and Catholic heritage."

First Baptist VBS co-director Cathy Matthews said the purpose of their VBS is to spread the word of Christ through the community. "It's a form of outreach to the community where we can bring those who have perhaps not been introduced to Jesus into the church and expose them to Christianity in a fun and meaningful environment," she said.

Bible school is focused on the children, said Matthews. "But we hope some of it filters back to the families and we hope to reach their parents," she said. "We are putting on a musical Sunday during worship service (after a week of VBS), and we hope some of the parents will want to attend, not only to watch their children, but also to participate in worship as well."

Children's pastor Tom Lucy of First Assembly of God in Cape Girardeau said, "The prime thing about VBS is to teach the kids about Jesus and how he died for us and that we can have life through him.

"That sounds serious, and it is, but we also have fun too."