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Connection
LEADERSHIP
Vacation Bible Camp 2022 Dreams Come True
4 FALL 2022
PRESBYTERIAN
presbyterian.ca
  Submitted by the Rev. Trish Archibald, St. Andrew’s-Knox Presbyterian Church in
Fort Erie, Ont.
One of the highlights of summers gone by at St. Andrew’s-Knox Presbyterian Church in Fort Erie, Ont., was always Vacation Bible School—or “Camp” as we prefer to call it, as kids are usually tired of “school” come summertime!
It was always a lot of work, but a lot of fun, and always very re- warding to know that each sum- mer we had shared the good news of God’s love and welcome to those in our neighbourhood.
But, in recent years, our con- gregation found that it was be- coming more and more of a chal- lenge to find Vacation Bible Camp volunteers to help with games, sports or even crafts—although we’ve always had lots of offers to help in the kitchen! Finally, some- one said, “We’re just getting too old for this kind of...fun!” Every- one agreed. Our hearts were will- ing, but our other parts...not so much.
But we hated to give up on the idea of hosting VBC.
We knew we were likely not the only church facing this dilemma, and we soon discovered that most of the churches in the Pres- bytery of Niagara were in a very similar position. We all wished we could still do what we had once done, but it didn’t seem pos- sible—at least not without help. That got us thinking.
Inspired by the Kintail on the Road model, the Rev. Trish Ar- chibald of St. Andrew’s-Knox and the Rev. Cherie Inksetter of St. Giles Presbyterian Church in St. Catharines made a proposal to the Presbytery of Niagara in early 2022 for financial backing of the development of our own regional travelling summer VBC program. Presbytery enthusiasti- cally agreed to cover the training and development costs as well as half of the payroll anticipated for
three full-time summer staff posi- tions. The remaining payroll and material costs, such as for craft supplies, etc., would be assumed by the seven churches through- out the presbytery who had each committed to host the VBC pro- gram for a week.
For this pilot project, we de- cided to revamp an existing older curriculum we had available, with the creative guidance of Chris Viz- zari from Chippawa Presbyterian Church in Niagara Falls and Lisa Schmauder from St. Giles, St. Ca- tharines. The main challenge was to ensure that the curriculum ma- terial had enough flexibility built in to make it easily adaptable to each location’s needs and preferences. Some churches had 20 campers, while others had 60. Some sites had conventional Sunday School rooms and a gym for use in case of rain, others had less typical facilities, like the storefront prop- erty that is home to the Gather- ing Place Presbyterian Church in Port Colborne, where they prayed hard for good weather, but were prepared so that any day could be water day!
During the first week of July, the three summer staff mem- bers—Sadie, Jay and Ronin (uni- versity and high school students from the area)—were immersed in an intensive training program, where they worked on becoming well acquainted with the curricu- lum material by practicing on a test group and making site tours of all seven church locations that stretched from the shores of Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.
From July 11 to August 26, the VBC team travelled and spent a week at each host church, run- ning the camp with the support of local volunteers and site coordi- nators. As you can imagine, this task required the staff to be crea- tive, flexible and gracious in order to be able to adapt as needed to a new environment, a new group of volunteers, and a new group of children each week!
The Presbytery of Niagara’s investment made this project happen, and the hard work of the developers Chris and Lisa gave it shape, but it was the partnership between the staff and the host churches that made it work. Eve- ryone involved clearly had a heart for this rambunctious, and often life-changing ministry. In a time when we are frequently having to find new ways to do things, truly, it was collaboration that created Vacation Bible Camp 2022 and made dreams come true in the Presbytery of Niagara!
   















































































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