How you and the church can PRAY for VBS

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How powerful the ministry of VBS can be in the lives of kids and families!

We have seen relationships with Jesus started, lives changed for the Kingdom, and tremendous growth in the faith happen all with VBS as the catalyst.

The key, however, is prayer.

If we spend all of our time on the decorations, supplies, and administrative details, we are missing out on the most important work of VBS — prayer!

Even if you can’t commit to volunteering for the week, or if you’re running VBS and know how important prayer is, use the ideas below to encourage you to pray and invite others to join you!

How you and the church can PRAY for VBS!

Prayer calendar :: Share a prayer calendar with your family, friends, and church to help everyone remember to pray specifically for VBS. You might create a daily prayer calendar for people to pray the entire month leading up to VBS, or you can do what we did and pray all year round! (Click here to grab our weekly prayer calendar for families and churches to pray for VBS throughout the year!)
Prayer Bands :: Put the first name of every child registered for VBS on a wristband. Hand out the wristbands to people in your church membership who will pray specifically for that child before, during, and after VBS.
Prayer walk :: Invite volunteers, families, the church prayer group, or the entire congregation to walk the church building and grounds. In each room and space that will be used, pray specifically for the activities that will happen there, the words that will be shared, and the people who will participate.
Prayer Dedication :: Ask your pastor to pray over the volunteer team and all the kids who will attend VBS in the service on the Sunday before VBS begins.
Prayer Launch :: Invite and schedule people to come and pray overtime you’ll have volunteers in the building decorating, prepping, and setting up for VBS. Provide your prayer warriors with a list of all volunteers and children attending so they can pray for each by name and have them mark off each name as they cover them in prayer.
Prayer Chain :: Set up a prayer chain for the week of VBS! As your collecting donations and registrations, invite people to sign up for a time slot to pray during the week of VBS. You may have one person per day, someone scheduled for different shifts, or enough to cover every hour of the week! However many or few, invite people to cover your VBS in prayer throughout it’s duration.
Prayer Kickstart :: Pray together as a volunteer team every morning and at the close of VBS every day.
Prayer reminders :: Invite people to sign up to receive prayer reminders through e-mail or on your social media channels. Every day of VBS send an e-mail or post an update with a specific way to pray that day.
Prayer Bookmarks :: Every Sunday in the weeks leading up to VBS, put a prayer bookmark in every bulletin or on every seat to invite and equip every person at church to pray for VBS.
Prayer Packets :: Put together and distribute prayer packets for your congregation with a weekly prayer focus, a list of daily themes for the week of VBS, and the first names of volunteers and leaders.