St. Luke’s VBS in NYC

“Whenever I’m afraid I will trust in God.” – Psalm 56:3

God is good! Joy and Laughter, Singing and Dancing, Sharing stories of God’s guidance, wisdom, and peace are making memories and building faith not only in the children we are serving, but the St. Luke’s Students, Adults, and friends who are leading.

Advent Lutheran and Trinity Lutheran on the Upper West Side of Manhattan are enjoying their first Vacation Bible Schools in years. Advent’s last vacation Bible school was when St. Luke’s and Prince of Peace in Roseville came to New York in 2019. Due to COVID they were unable to do it the following year, nor the years after. They are so excited to have us back this year.

We are sleeping at Advent where we lead vacation Bible school. The mornings come early with the students waking up at 7:15 AM, packing away all their personal items and the air sleeping mattresses that members of both churches shared with us. That is followed by a continental breakfast and preview of the day. The children start arriving at 8:30 AM with VBS kicking off with opening worship at 9 AM. This is followed by a rotation of Art, Science, Bible Story, Games, and Snack. We end VBS with a closing worship with the final prayer being a prayer of thanks for a good day and saying a table grace as we end the day with a community lunch.

After the children go home, the students and adult leaders review the day and plan the following day, including singing the songs for the next day. Thanks to the Cokesbury Music Videos we enjoy the worship songs karaoke style, including movements with all the songs. Then we can walk 9 blocks to Trinity Lutheran where we are able to take showers between 2-6 pm. The time constraint is due to the church hosting, Trinity Place Shelter, where the homeless can get a meal, shower, and a place to sleep for the night. We will be serving with them on Thursday after VBS, preparing the meal and joining them at their table. On Friday we will be serving with Advent’s Food program. They rotate a food pantry with a hot meal every other Saturday. This coming Saturday we will be serving the meal before we go out for our last evening adventure. 

Yes, we are working hard, but we are also playing hard exploring the city. We’ve enjoyed the subways, which took us to Brooklyn going under the East River, so we could walk back to Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge. Yesterday we went to The EDGE, the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere. One of the students in a statement of fear and trust said, “If this building were to collapse my first question to God would be, “Why did you make me fall so far, when I was already so close to you.”

Thank you, St. Luke’s and the St. Luke’s Foundation, for helping make this mission trip a possibility. Students and friends are already excited for the future summer mission trip rotations, as we will continue with Good Neighbors, a habitat organization in Kentucky that former member Jason Benedict leads. I understand that was a long-time tradition for St. Luke’s. Although geared toward youth, adults are invited to join us.

As for VBS in NYC five years from now, 2029, we hope we will have to find some new churches. The leaders of Advent and Trinity are making plans to have a vacation Bible school next summer. If so, mission accomplished, as we live out the Great Commission. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” These churches will be doing likewise, knowing that - Whenever their afraid, they just need to put their trust in God. Look forward to more stories of our mission and adventure, later this fall. Thank you for your prayers, know that you are in ours.