Vacation Bible School isn't what it used to be, it's bigger

Walk through the doors of the sanctuary and enter the marketplace.

Designed to resemble the center of commerce in Jesus' time, the room -- which normally accommodates Sunday worship services -- holds a fisherman's hut and carpenter's workshop, among with other colorful tents.

The children -- about 200 of them, wearing tunics tied with sashes -- gather in small groups at different stations, pounding spices with rocks, weaving a wall hanging in the shape of a fish, and pausing to watch a drama unfold at the well, set up in the middle of the room.

"It's a beautiful thing to see," says Sharon Morrissey, director of vacation Bible school at Yakima's West Side Baptist Church. She's been planning the free, weeklong program since December -- with help from more than 100 other church volunteers.

"Our hope is that the Bible would really come off the pages, that (the children) would be able to see that Jesus was a real historical figure, and what it might have been like for Jesus and his disciples."

With the theme, "Holy Land Adventure: Galilee By-The-Sea," the program features, among other things, arts and crafts, singing and dancing, outdoor games, indoor dramatizations, costumes, Bible stories and the "Galilee Gazette," a colorful, informational booklet featuring the "top stories" of each day of the event.

Vacation Bible school isn't what it used to be.

At churches throughout the Yakima Valley and the rest of the country, the summer sessions have become more organized, more elaborate, more active and more hands-on than decades past.

These days, VBS is bigger and, organizers say, better.

"I think there's a lot more dialogue these days between the adults and the children, instead of being spoken at," Morrissey says. "That's what the whole thing is about: the blessing to minister with the kids and the growth that happens within us as we do so."

Modern VBS programs feature video screens, choreographed drama and dance routines, guest speakers, detailed guidebooks for leaders, glossy take-home materials for children and community service projects.

Children don't sit in one spot for too long. They move between activity stations and classrooms, typically decorated to reflect the theme of the program. And they're divided into small groups -- often led by more than one adult -- so they don't get lost in a crowd of 100 or 200 kids.

Some are even bigger. Children's ministries assistant director Susie Woodin reports 375 children attend VBS at First Presbyterian Church of Yakima, and it takes 230 volunteers to run the program.

And it's not unusual for several churches to team up to host VBS, like four churches recently did in Zillah. Christian Worship Center, Valley Covenant Community Church, Zillah Church of the Nazarene and Zillah Faith Community Church banded together to run "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A Veggie Tales VBS."

At West Side Baptist, 6901 Summitview Ave., children are given tunics, sewn by church volunteers from cloth donated by members of the congregation, and divided into groups named for the 12 tribes of Israel.

"I'm in the tribe of Issachar. The donkey is their symbol," says 9-year-old Elise Knudson, a fourth-grader.

"I like how you get to dress up," she says. "It helps you get in the feel of that era. It helps me learn. When I read the Bible at home, now I can have a picture of what it was like. As soon as I'm old enough, I want to help. It's a lot of fun."

It takes more than 100 volunteers -- from sixth-graders who are too old to attend as participants to retirees who want to give back -- to put on the program.

According to the church's Web site, it gives children a chance to "see, hear, touch and even taste what it was like to live in Bible times."

"We really try to hit all the senses," says Morrissey, who walks around the campus with a clipboard, answering questions and keeping things running on time.

"I just love all of it," says 15-year-old Amy Fletcher, a sophomore at West Valley High School and volunteer at West Side Baptist's VBS. "It's so much fun."

Fletcher, dressed in a blue tunic and veil made by her mom, passes a basket of fresh mint for children to smell during their visit to the marketplace. Then, she helps them pinch small amounts of herbs and spices -- lavender, salt, rose petals, coriander, bay leaf -- from clay pots into cloth pouches, which they pound with rocks, releasing their aromas.

As a child, "I went to VBS," Fletcher says, "but it was nothing like this. We watched videos and stuff. This is more hands-on. This is more crafts."

West Side Baptist's VBS, which ran from 9 a.m. until noon during the first week of August, welcomed children ages 4 through fifth-grade and culminated with a Family Night Friday for participants and their parents.

While many of the children attend West Side Baptist, youths from different denominations -- Catholic and Mormon among them -- also participated. And, Morrissey estimates, 25 percent to 33 percent are "nonchurched," or don't list any church on their registration forms.

The VBS movement dates back more than 100 years. A doctor's wife in New York City is largely credited with hosting the first VBS in the summer of 1898. She rented a saloon to hold classes, which included Scripture memorization, drawing and cooking.

Her classes caught on and spread. By 1911, the Daily Vacation Bible School Association was established. And just over a decade later, the World Association of Vacation Bible Schools started.

Around the same time, Christian publishers began printing -- and popularizing -- VBS-related items. By the 1980s and 1990s, they were printing comprehensive VBS materials, including CDs, DVDs, hands-on kits, and craft and other supplies.

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