The Best Vacation Bible School Online Lessons and Strategies

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Use these Sunday school lessons, tactics, and strategies to help prepare for or make a current Vacation Bible School even more effective! God bless!
 

Vacation Bible School Online Lessons and Strategies

• Free VBS Material: The Fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:16-26 – Tara Tegard shares a full VBS curriculum. Use it for vacation Bible school, or break it down into individual lessons for Sundays.
• Bible Boot Camp Free VBS Curriculum – Use this complete VBS curriculum by Tara Tegard to teach children about the armor of God.
• 6 Practical Ways to Find Workers for Vacation Bible School – Tony Kummer shares 6 ways to get workers for VBS.
• 9 Steps for Planning Vacation Bible School – Follow these 9 steps from Tony Kummer to start and finish your VBS strong.
• How to Do Vacation Bible School on a Tiny Budget – Tony Kummer shares 7 ways you can do more with less in terms of VBS.
• 4 Ways to Promote Your Church's VBS – Follow these 4 steps from Jenny Funderburke to make sure that everyone in your community has at least heard about your vacation Bible school!
• Vacation Bible School: Getting Your Team Spiritually Ready – Amy Brown discusses 3 ways to prepare your team specifically for VBS, though the principles can be used for any kind of class or service.
• Policies and Training for Teenage VBS Helpers – Follow these steps from Amy Fenton Lee to help prepare teens and keep them accountable to their help at vacation Bible school.
• 8 Simple VBS Games for Preschoolers – Use these games from Wayne Stocks to educate and entertain preschoolers at vacation Bible school.
• Vacation Bible School Invitation Flyers Coloring Page
• How to Maximize the Long-Term Effect of VBS – This article by Amy Brown shares some ways you can capitalize on the work you put into vacation Bible school months down the road.
• 10 Reasons to Still Do Vacation Bible School – Wayne Stocks shares 10 reasons why VBS outreaches are still useful and effective.
• Four Tasks to Do After Vacation Bible School – Lauren Foster shares the 4 steps you should take post-VBS.
• Night or Day Vacation Bible School Schedule? - Tony Kummer discusses the pros and cons of hosting VBS during the day and in the evening.
• How to Do VBS Follow-Up – Tony Kummer shares a link to free training for finishing a vacation Bible school session and getting kids into church.
• My VBS Follow Up Letter to the Children – This sample letter by Tony Kummer can help you discover the best way to follow up after a vacation Bible school.
• Ideas for a Vacation Bible School Follow-Up – Use one or all four of these tips from Tony Kummer to have a great follow up to your VBS.
• 10 Tips for VBS Directors and Leaders – Use these 10 tips from Mimi Bullock to help make your vacation Bible school more effective than it has been.
• Popular Ideas for VBS Themes – Mimi Bullock shares 3 common and exciting themes to help you plan your vacation Bible school.
• More VBS Ideas Kids Will Love – Mimi Bullock shares 3 more ideas for vacation Bible school themes that children will enjoy.
• Army Themed VBS Ideas – These ideas from Mimi Bullock for an army-themed vacation Bible school are simple enough to implement quickly and won't break the bank.
• Three Cutting Edge VBS Theme Ideas – Use these 3 ideas from Mimi Bullock to push the envelope on what can and can't be done in vacation Bible school.
• Ideas for a Baseball Themed VBS – These ideas from Mimi Bullock will equip you to do a full baseball vacation Bible school session.
• Chick-Fil-A and VBS – Tony Kummer encourages you to investigate how your local Chick-Fil-A might support your vacation Bible school.
• High Energy Game Idea for Children's Ministry or VBS – Use this video from Tony Kummer to learn about a fun, high-intensity game for vacation Bible school.
• VBS Game Ideas that Won't Break Your Budget – Use these 4 games from Mimi Bullock to help make your vacation Bible school fun and affordable!
• VBS Crafts – Use these craft ideas from Tony Kummer to make your vacation Bible school pop!
• How to Choose the Right Vacation Bible School Curriculum – Tony Kummer weighs in on the 8 factors that should determine how you choose your VBS curriculum.
• Example Vacation Bible School Report – Use this sample VBS report by Tony Kummer to help direct you as your write a letter to all your supporters and parents.
  

  

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The Best Nursery Tips, Tricks, and Advice for Sunday School

Use these Sunday school lesson tips, tactics, and strategies to help prepare for or make a current nursery even more effective! God bless!

Nursery Tips, Tricks, and Advice

• New Moms: What Scares Them About Your Church Nursery? - These 5 things are common issues Jenny Funderburke has heard mothers fret about.
• Creating a Peaceful Nursery at Church – Mimi Bullock shares 7 ideas for making your church nursery the best it can be.
• Greeting Visitors and Making Them Feel Welcome in the Church Nursery - These 7 ideas from Mimi Bullock can help make new parents and children more comfortable in your church.
• Who is God Calling to the Church Nursery? - Looking for people to work in nursery? Jenny Funderburke reminds you of some pools of people you can draw from.
• How to Decorate a Church Nursery – Mimi Bullock outlines how you can decorate your church nursery space.
• What Are Some Good Activities for Church Nursery Kids? - Use these 4 activities from Mimi Bullock to help entertain and educate children in your nursery.
• What to Do When Head Lice are Found in the Church Nursery? - Follow these steps from Mimi Bullock to help deal with a lice outbreak in your church nursery.
• What Supplies Do I Need in a Church Nursery? - Mimi Bullock shares the essentials you need to have stocked in your church nursery.
• How to Keep the Church Nursery Clean – Use these 3 guidelines from Mimi Bullock to help keep your nursery safe and clean for everyone to play in.
• Seriously??? Making Disciples in the Church Nursery? - Wanda Parker shares the importance of being intentional with relationships and activities, even in the nursery.
• Does Your Church Nursery Make a Good First Impression? - Amy Brown helps you evaluate your nursery to help make it the best it can be.
• Strategies for Separation Anxiety at Church – Use these 16 strategies from Kristin Charles to help children move past their separation anxiety.
• Does Teaching Babies and Toddlers at Church Matter? - Lauren Foster discusses why it seems futile to be teaching tiny children the truths of the Bible.
• Church Nursery Can be Real Ministry! - Tony Kummer shares why the nursery is more than just a babysitting hour, and how you can impact others.
• Understanding Children's Development from Age 0-3 – Use this article by Kristin Charles to help plan your lesson plans to be age-appropriate.
• Baby Dedication: What Does Your Church Do? - Tony Kummer asks children's ministers how they celebrate baby dedications in their church.
• How to Make a Church Nursery Schedule – Follow these 6 steps from Tony Kummer to see how he makes his church nursery's schedule in 6 week allotments.
• 7 Reasons to Serve in the Church Nursery – The church nursery is admittedly one of the more difficult areas to serve in, but Tony Kummer reminds you of 7 potent reasons to do it anyways.
• Writing a Church Nursery Manual in a Small Church – Tony Kummer shares 4 suggestions to help you write a nursery manual if your church doesn't have very many members.
• Church Nursery Volunteer Worker Guidelines – This sample job description from Tony Kummer outlines some of the most important points to cover in a job description for the title of nursery worker.
• Baby Dedication Service: Some Ideas for the Service – Tony Kummer gives you some ideas on how to make the ceremony of baby dedication meaningful and lovely.
• Baby Dedication Ideas – Use this article from Tony Kummer to help guide you as you plan your baby dedications.
• God is in the Church Nursery – Tony Kummer shares how and why God is in the nursery and why their work is important.

The Best Teacher Acquisition and Appreciation Tips for Sunday School

Use these Sunday school lesson tips, tactics, and strategies to help recruit and promote ministry volunteers! God bless!

Teacher Appreciation and Acquisition Ideas

• Surprising Things that Turn off Ministry Volunteers - Mimi Bullock shares 4 things that tend to rub volunteers the wrong way.
• 7 Things That Drive Ministry Volunteers Crazy - Remember to keep these 7 things that Mimi Bullock brings up, and you're sure to have volunteers that respect and help you.
• Celebrating Kids' Ministry Leaders on Pastor Appreciation Day - This article by Mimi Bullock outlines some ways you can show your volunteers and teachers that you appreciate the hard work they do!
• Are You Sabotaging Your Ministry Volunteers? - These 4 mistakes that Mimi Bullock made can hopefully help you avoid those same mistakes in your ministry.
• Fun Ways to Find New Ministry Volunteers - Use one or all of these 6 ideas from Mimi Bullock to help replenish or increase your ministry volunteers!
• Volunteer Gifts: 4 Easter Baskets - Say thanks to your volunteers at Easter with these basket ideas from Mimi Bullock.
• 10 Things You Should Never Say to a Children's Ministry Volunteer - Beware these 10 statements Mimi Bullock brings up, and don't say them if you want to keep a healthy relationship with your volunteers.
• When Volunteers Don't Show Up - These 3 tips by Mimi Bullock can help you troubleshoot any issues you might have with volunteers who aren't showing up.
• 5 Recruiting Mistakes Kids Ministry Leaders Make - Avoid these 5 mistakes compiled by Mimi Bullock and you'll be that much more successful in recruiting and keeping volunteers.
• Fall and Winter Volunteer Appreciation Ideas - Use one or all of these 3 ideas by Mimi Bullock to show your volunteers that you care about them and value their contribution.
• 7 Great Summer Things to Do With Ministry Volunteers - Mimi Bullock shares some summer suggestions for building relationships with your volunteers.
• Should Parents Volunteer in Children's Ministry? - Use these suggestions by Mimi Bullock to help guide your decision as to whether or not you should let parents help your children's ministry.
• 10 Things Children's Ministry Volunteers Expect and Deserve! - Mimi Bullock believes these 10 things are crucial for any volunteer, and has evidence to back up her claims.
• Yes, You Can Have too Many Volunteers! - It's not a common issue, but if you're dealing with the same problem as Mimi Bullock where you have more volunteers than kiddos, you might find her 5 tips useful.
• Flyer: Show Appreciation to Church Nursery Workers – Tony Kummer prepared a flyer you can hang around the church to help members remember to be grateful to volunteers.
• 15 Volunteer Gifts for Under $5 – Help show your volunteers that they matter by getting them one of these gifts compiled by Mimi Bullock.
• Fun Ways to Thank Volunteers – Use these 4 suggestions from Mimi Bullock to thank your volunteer workers.
• 3 Ideas for a Summer Volunteer Drive – You're going to need volunteers if you plan on doing any fun events over the summer, so stock up with these 3 ideas from Mimi Bullock.
• Spring Volunteer Recruitment Drive Ideas – Use these 6 ideas from Mimi Bullock to help plan your recruitment for the Spring.
• 10 Christmas Gifts that Teachers Actually Want – These 10 gift ideas from Mimi Bullock are guaranteed to show how much you appreciate your teachers and volunteers.
• Potlucks: The Meeting Idea Volunteers Will Love – Lauren Foster shares the potluck tip: use 'em for meetings, use 'em for recruitment; use potlucks to you advantage on a host of playing fields.
• Helping Ministry Volunteers Connect – Jenny Funderburke shares 7 ways you can help volunteers stay connected with “big church” even if they serve in kids ministry.
• Volunteer Recruitment: Why Easy Is the Wrong Motivation – Wayne Stocks gives 7 compelling reasons not to water down your expectations during volunteer recruitment.
• 7 School Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas – Use these 7 gift ideas from Mimi Bullock for teachers to help show your volunteers that you value their service.
• Craft Idea for Teacher Appreciation – Tony Kummer shares a video describing a fun craft idea to show teachers that their kids appreciate their work.
• 5 Tips for Volunteer Recruitment in Children's Ministry – Follow these 5 tips from Lauren Foster to help prep and implement volunteer recruitment.
• How to Hire Staff for Children's Ministry – This video from Tony Kummer helps walk you through the process of hiring someone for your kid's ministry.
• Funny Video to Encourage Church Nursery Workers – Show this video during the service or forward it to kid's workers, because it's hilarious and is sure to put a smile on their faces!
• 7 Christmas Gift Ideas for Ministry Volunteers – Use these 7 ideas from Mimi Bullock to show your volunteers that you appreciate their hard work.
• 5 Reasons Ministry Volunteers Quit – Mimi Bullock shares 5 of the most common reasons why volunteers stop volunteering.
• 3 Ways to Fill Volunteer Gaps in Kids Ministry – If you absolutely cannot get volunteers, try these 3 tips from Mimi Bullock.
• So Where's the Volunteers? - Mimi Bullock challenges you to think outside the box when finding volunteers.
• 10 Tips for Finding and Keeping Children's Ministry Volunteers – Nicole VanderMeulen shares 10 ways to acquire and maintain volunteers.
• Children's Workers Need Big Church! - Jeri Tanner discusses why you need to give your volunteers (and yourself) time with other adults.
• Sunday School Teacher Appreciation – Charlie Wallace shares 4 ways you can appreciate your teachers and volunteers.
• Teacher Appreciation Coloring Pages

The Best Teacher Training Tips for Sunday School

Use these Sunday school lesson tips, tactics, and strategies to help train helpers and teachers! God bless!

Teacher Training Tips

• Instant Training - These 9 ideas from Bob D'Ambrosio can help you cut down on the time you spend training your volunteers.
• Teacher Training: Choosing the Best Time - Use these tips from Children's Ministry Magazine to help get your teachers to come in for meetings.
• Training Events No Volunteer Can Resist - These 4 ideas from Mikal Keefer help make your volunteer and teacher meetings engaging, and worth coming to!
• Guerrilla Training - These 15+ ideas from Cynthia Crane and Carolyn Teague can help you sneak in training for your volunteers without them realizing that they're being prepared!
• Negative Volunteer Behaviors and How to Change Them - Mimi Bullock compiled 3 of the most common negative behaviors she's seen in volunteers and offers some ways of dealing with them before they grow out of proportion.
• Negative Volunteer Behaviors: What's Happening and What Should You Do? - Use these 3 troubleshooting questions by Mimi Bullock to help you figure out what's really happening with your volunteers, and if it's something you're doing or not.
• How to Create an Object Lesson for Kids Church - This article by Mimi Bullock breaks down the process of coming up with object lessons.
• Helping the Substitute Kids Minister - Mimi Bullock has prepared some tips you can use to help a substitute teacher teach your Sunday school class.
• Training Session Tips for New Kids Ministry Volunteers - These 4 tips from Mimi Bullock can help you prepare an awesome and useful training session for your new volunteers.
• Survival Kit for Children's Ministry Volunteers - This .pdf compiled by Bethany Tapp contains a plethora of resources to help volunteers in "emergency" situations.
• How to Use Young Adult Helpers in Sunday School - This article by Felicia Mollohan will equip you to equip volunteers who might be children themselves.
• Illuminate: A Conference for Volunteers – Jenny Funderburke shares about one of the most affordable volunteer training conferences she's known about. (Note: Currently it's known as “Live to Serve,” but the conference still runs a great training.
• Ideas for Training Kids Ministry Leaders – Use these 4 tips from Mimi Bullock to help train your volunteers well before they ever get firsthand experience.
• Helping Volunteers Learn to Teach – Mimi Bullock explains the methods she uses to teach volunteers how to teach.
• 10 Things Christian Teachers Should Expect – If you're going to step into a teaching role, Mimi Bullock shares 10 things and situations you should expect to find.
• Managing Paid Childcare Workers – Jenny Funderburke shares 7 tips for managing childcare workers that your church hires.
• Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Volunteers? - Amy Brown helps you take a reality check to make sure that you're treating your volunteers well so they can serve at their best.
• Helping Volunteers Become True Ministry Partners – Jenny Funderburke discusses 6 ways you can equip your volunteers to be more than just helpers.
• Free Training Videos: Responsible Evangelism with Children – Tony Kummer shares a video series that trains teachers how to evangelize well.
• Children's Ministry Training Videos from Willow Creek – Use these 30 videos compiled by Tony Kummer to help train your volunteers.
• What Volunteers Really Learn When You Don't Train Them – Tony Kummer shares the lessons that a lack of training teaches.
• Developing a Vision for Your Children's Ministry – Follow these 3 steps from Mimi Bullock with your volunteers to create and share the same vision for your ministry.
• Learning to Trust Your Children's Ministry Volunteers – Tony Kummer shares 4 steps you can take to trust one another in ministry.
• Do Kids Ministry Pros Need Training Too? (Video)
• What To Do When Your Volunteers Are Worn Out? - Tony Kummer shares 6 things you can do to help your volunteers avoid burnout.