What is church?

Earlier this summer we held Vacation Bible School at our church. We had a morning program mostly for the children at our preschool, a few of their older sisters and brothers, and a few of our congregation's children as well.

But this year, we added something new: we offered two family evenings where we ate supper, learned to pray and share together, sang some Bible songs, and did some crafts. The theme of the week was "Jesus is the Light of the World," so some creative church members had created a scary cave that the children could walk through (but they had to do it with their parents). There were glow-in-the-dark necklaces and candles to carry. The children made pillowcases with a Bible verse. They made glow-in-the-dark bracelets. We sang "This Little Light of Mine" and a jazzed-up version of "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" and learned some sign language.

Both nights were wildly successful. The first night we had 83 people. The second night was not as large, but we had so many opportunities to get to know each other that evening. Everyone had fun both nights.