A Little VBS History

A Little VBS History

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a special kind of religious education that focuses on teaching children the Bible during an intensive, action-packed, and fun-filled week during the summer. According to New Horizons in Vacation Bible School, compiled by Willie R. Beaty, Convention Press, 1993, VBS for Southern Baptists originated in New York in the late 1800s, thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Walker Aylett Hawes, a sister-in-law of John A. Broadus, a founder and later president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Initially, it was a plan of a compassionate doctor’s wife who sensed a need to get children off the streets of New York during the summertime. Mrs. Walker Aylett Hawes went to New York City from Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband who was specializing in a medical ministry to children. She noted that many of the children attended to at her husband’s clinic received injuries as they played in the streets of New York City. She surmised that they needed something safe and fruitful to occupy their time.

 In 1898 and 1899, Mrs. Hawes rented a beer hall in the city’s East Side to conduct her Everyday Bible School. Thus, Bible School began with an evangelistic thrust of taking the study to where the people were.

Within a few years the New York City Baptist Mission Society began conducting Bible Schools on the East Side. By 1903 seventeen schools were conducted. From there the movement spread to other cities and various denominations. By the early 1920s the Southern Baptist Convention was recommending “that pastors and Sunday School leaders give consideration to the values and possibilities of Vacation Bible School.” The Sunday School Board (known today as LifeWay Christian Resources) produced a manual containing instructions on how to conduct a VBS. By 1934, roughly 700 schools were reaching as many as 100 thousand children within Southern Baptist circles. Clearly the idea was catching on. By 1939 the numbers had grown to over 4,000, and by 1950 to more than 20,000 schools. In 1992 Southern Baptist Vacation Bible School hit an enrollment record of 3,709,174.

Today VBS reaches annually somewhere around 2.5 to 3 million children in Southern Baptist churches (not to mention other denominations). May God enable us to have a deep and lasting impact on the lives of the children who attend our VBS this year.