Using Your Backyard for DVBS

You can't find a suitable building in your neighborhood to have a week or two of kids meetings. You would like to have a Daily Vacation Bible School this summer but all the facilities in your community are either booked or too expensive. You can't afford to rent a tent for a week so you think you will just have to scrap the idea. Don't give up yet. Do you have a backyard or a front-lawn? Or maybe you know someone who does. All you need is some lawn space, a few chairs and tables and the rest will all come together.

Recently at the home of Irving and Sheryl Payne in Oak Ridges (Toronto, ON) a week of kids' meetings was held. No rental fees were paid, no permits were required and no big tent was erected. Simply, they used their own yard.

The registration desk was set up in their driveway. Some came on their bikes. Others were dropped off by parents or walked.

The chairs were set up in the most shaded part of the yard. It had been predetermined that 40 children was the max that could be handled in this setting. So no incentives or awards were given for bringing friends. Instead, rewards were given for those who could say not only the memory verse of the day but the memory verses from the preceding days. 

The first hour was the Bible class where songs were sung, verses were learned and Biblical stories and truths were taught. A small sun-shelter tent was erected to provide sufficient shade for the songs to be visible on the screen. (By the way, this is Bryan Joyce doing a great job of the singing and teaching the verse.)

Peter Lansing provided a five minute 'Discovery' lesson each morning - as Dr. Discovery. In the picture above he is teaching from a model of the heart. You can see Payne's house in the background.

At break time, refreshments were served in the parking lot and people stored their empty styrofoam cups in the spruce tree - rather than getting a new cup each time they needed a drink.

After the 60 minute Bible Class was over and the refreshment break had ended, another hour was spent on crafts and activities.

At the closing, every student had painted their own t-shirt.

It was a great week. Teaching Bible verses, Bible songs and Bible stories to the young is an activity of eternal significance!