Reachout Adventures VBS: An Unforgettable Experience With Lasting Impact

Vacation Bible School is one of the most rewarding and hectic weeks of the year! Add in the months of planning, hours of meetings, and the moment-by-moment prayer to the God we long to introduce to these precious children, and it’s a full-time endeavor.

Our church is preparing for VBS this very minute, and it’s my third to plan and direct. During my first year as Children’s Ministry Director, we started a brand-new curriculum for our church: ReachOut Adventures. It was an easy “yes” as I read its vision and mission behind the biblical approach to every part of VBS. On one of the first pages of the Director’s Guide, this quote from George Masden’s book, Jonathan Edwards: A Life.

The universe is an explosion of God’s Glory. Perfect goodness, beauty, and love radiate from God and draw creatures to ever increasingly share in the Godhead’s joy and delight. . . . The ultimate end of creation, then, is union in love between God and loving creatures.

That quote excites me every year. The writers of ReachOut Adventures quote godly men such as J. C. Ryle and Jonathan Edwards in the early steps of VBS planning. The curriculum also encourages VBS participants to sing truth-saturated hymns such as “This Is My Father’s World” and “All Creatures of Our God and King,” and most importantly, to give Jesus first place in their hearts (Colossians 1:18).

Just as the PCA’s Children’s Ministry Certification Program encourages students to build our ministries on the foundation of Covenantal theology, so Reachout Adventures is founded on Covenant theology. Prayer  is central to the VBS as directors and teachers are invited to pray, to ask others to pray, and to rely upon the Lord’s guidance as they prepare, plan, and implement the week of VBS. The foundation of Christ-centeredness, reliant dependence upon the Lord, and attention to the whole counsel of God in each section of this VBS curriculum is clearly communicated and wonderfully executed.

A unique portion of ReachOut Adventures each year is the “Log Book.” Students have activities to complete and stickers to earn as they memorize Scripture, recall truths from the Bible Storyteller, and engage in the activities that relate to each day’s lesson. Students are encouraged to take the log book home and share its contents with their families. Spreading the good news of the gospel of Christ begins Day 1 with ReachOut Adventures as the students simply share what God is teaching them at VBS!

While ReachOut Adventures provides decoration and craft ideas, VBS directors are given creative liberty to dream big when it comes to the layout of each room and station. With crafts, the leader can use the Bible Storyteller’s lesson plan or the Opening and Closing Assemblies’ theme. This year, “Space Mission” is highlighting Genesis’s account of Creation, the fall of Adam and Eve, the promised Messiah through Abraham’s descendant, and the hope of glory in the story of Noah during Bible Storyteller time. Meanwhile, the Opening and Closing Assemblies are chock-full of adventure and fun as two astronauts compete in a Space Mission. Churches have endless avenues for decorating and crafting ideas to choose what works best in their context

Our church’s experience with ReachOut Adventures has been wonderful. Whenever we have had a question, the PCA Bookstore provided a quick and thorough response. . The four rotating themes are helpful because as the years go by, we can save and repeat many props and ideas. Even with the rotation, the writers often update and refresh materials as needed. I can trust the curriculum to always be written with prayer and the intention to keep Christ preeminent in every lesson.