As I was perusing camps last Spring and trying to help my college student find a job, most everything had been cancelled due to COVID-19. Then, I came across a museum camp that said, “Camp isn’t cancelled. We restructuring and starting later! Deets coming soon!” That got me thinking about Vacation Bible School. At St John’s Lutheran Church in Lakeville, MN, we do the typical 9 am to 12 noon VBS from Monday to Friday. Normally, it’s the best week of the year but with COVID 19, nothing is normal including VBS! When the museum “deets” came out, VBS followed their example:

• Instead of a June camp, VBS is now in August!
• Instead of Monday to Friday, VBS is now Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday!
• Instead of 3 hours of camp, VBS is now 1 hour at 3 different times (9:30 am, 11 am, and 6:30 pm)!
• Instead of being placed in age groups, VBS is in-person in family groups!
• Instead of being indoors, VBS is all outdoors! That makes social distancing a breeze!
• Instead of being open to anyone, VBS has a limited sign up!
• Instead of it costing $25, VBS is free!

St John’s has a return team that approves all events at this time, and they have created the following Backyard VBS COVID Process and Procedures: Safety procedures for VBS 2020 and VBS Timeline.

VBS Overview

More information can be found here. Thank you to Amanda Boe, CYF Director and Elisa Brown, VBS Coordinator for working hard to make this happen!