In ministry, and in life, it is incredibly important to be flexible. To meet people where they are, and to be able to live life among people with grace and humility.
Last week we embarked on a great experiment, Vacation Bible School. Since we have only been here for 1 year, and since last summer was filled with cleaning, painting, and more cleaning, we didn't have time to even think about trying something like VBS.
When deciding when or if we should do a VBS, we opted to schedule it while a missions team was here. This would give us added hands. During the day we could do the prep work and work on other projects, and in the evening we could run VBS.
We had no idea what to expect.
As I was preparing all of the plans for VBS, I also was planning for our last teen group of the summer from North Heartland Community Church in Kansas City. It's always an adventure planning for a group, because everyone is different, and I was full aware that I was asking them to embark on a huge adventure with us.
They were a great fit for our adventure. I told them when they arrived that we had never hosted VBS before. That while we had sent out lots of invitations, and had told people about it, we could still end up with no one, or we could end up with 100... but we prepared supplies for 25.
We had great conversations about being open to whatever would happen, and being open to the ways the Holy Spirit was moving in our neighborhood.
So Monday we set up for VBS not knowing what to expect. The teens set up crafts, games, and decorated. We also worked on a variety of projects around the church grounds.
When time came for VBS we waited. No kids arrived. It was disappointing, but I was impressed when the teens and leaders said "we'll just think of another plan." So they went out flyers in hand to invite kids to VBS for the rest of the week.
Tuesday arrived, and some of the leaders were able to accomplish one of our projects that's been on our list since day one (thanks to some help from our friends at Fairmeadow community Church of the Nazarene in Munster). We removed the last sign from the old non-profit!!! It made us feel like we now are fully able to have our own identity and to start completely fresh. Over the past few months there has been some confusion from people on whether or not we are new, and this has already helped us to redefine ourselves!
Then VBS time arrived again. We had no idea what to expect, and we waited hoping to see some kids arrive. The teens made some bigger signs, and we attached some balloons to them, hoping that we'd be more visible.
After a half hour of waiting 2 kids showed up, but they were nervous to come inside. That's the reality of redefining church to culture, starting over in an old building, and urban ministry. So I looked at the Northheartland group and said "If they won't come in, we'll go out. We are going to scrap everything we have planned, build a bonfire, play games, and have s'mores and snacks outside."
That's exactly what we did, and it was a great night. A few more kids showed up, and as the night went on, they started to warm up to us.
(Another project the teens accomplished was painting our walkway ceiling. It was a big project and it looks AMAZING now)
Wednesday we switched up our schedule. We had the great opportunity to serve at Free the Girls in Chesterton, Indiana. Free the Girls is a great organization that helps women who are survivors of human trafficking by creating micro-economic businesses using gently used and new bras.
Since we were already in Chesterton, and the kids had worked so hard all week, we took some hours off and explored Indiana Dunes State Park. We climbed sand dunes, swam, played marco polo, it was a great way to celebrate all that God was doing, and take a break.
Instead of planning out all of VBS on Wednesday night, we decided to start with games and snacks outside. The kids that were there on Tuesday night showed up again, but this time, they came with friends, so we had twice as many. Towards the end of the evening they approached me and said "Pastor Robbie, we heard there is a skit, can we see it?" Despite what we thought, they were approaching us about doing more with VBS.
Night 1's skit was performed, and I told the bible story about Joseph, and even had an opportunity to pray with the boys who were there. It was awesome to see how the Holy Spirit was at work.
Thursday was the teens free day in Chicago. While they were gone our first ever missions team stopped by to say hi and sing some songs for me, since they were in the area (I'll make a post about that later this week). The teens came back in time for VBS, and we are so glad they did, because kids came from everywhere.
We had 16 kids come to VBS on Thursday night! We went from 0 monday to 16 on Thursday!
We did a craft, we heard a bible story, we had a snack, we sang songs, and we played games. It was a really great night, and everyone had a great time! It was so amazing to see how when we meet people where they are, on their terms, and allow the Holy Spirit to work, things happen.
Friday it was time to say goodbye to our new friends from North Heartland. Group hugs were given, and promises to stay in touch. We are so grateful for all of the work they have done and the seeds they helped sow here in Hammond. They helped us to reach our neighbors, and were humble and gracious while doing so. We learned a lot together about being people who are flexible and grace filled, and on Friday night (our last night of VBS) despite the teens already gone, we still had 8 kids for VBS (a few of whom were new).
As we were playing games Friday night with the neighbor kids, they said "this is the greatest church ever", and I couldn't agree more. But what was illustrated this week, is that the Church is more than just this local place, in this neighborhood, it's all of us together. 4 local church congregations were a part of our week, The Mission (us), North Heartland (who came to serve), Fairmeadow Community (who let us borrow their ladders), and Duneland Community (who hosted us as we served with Free the Girls). Together we can do great things, and we did great things.
Ministry rarely goes as planned, but the Holy Spirit is at work, and if we are open and willing to listen... the unplanned is usually better than what we ever could have planned or imagined.
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