The Daily Vacation Bible School is one of the primary outreaching and evangelising ministries of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in general and the Armenian Evangelical Emmanuel Church in particular. Why? Well, simply it's a unique ministry where we as a church can reach out beyond our neighbourhood of Amanos area and invite children who attend other schools during academic year.
In order to gain further knowledge about the DVBS, we had this quick interview with Ms. Liza Barsoumian who is leading this year's summer school for the third year now.
(Interview by Raffi)
Raffi - What will the children learn this year, regarding Christian principles?
Liza - Daily Vacation Bible School is one of the most successful forms of outreach for children. Every child needs to hear about God, not only once, but multiple times. This year Children will learn the basic concept of praising God for His power, providence, love, authority and greatness.
Raffi - How many children have registered in DVBS?
Liza - More than 150 Children
Raffi - The number of children registering has increased, what do you think are the reasons?
Liza - Children’s ministry is fun, rewarding and an opportunity to make a long-lasting impact on children and their families. Daily Vacation Bible School is simply fun and children love it. When children have fun, they are more likely to pay attention, learn and invite their friends. We make sure that our Vacation Bible School is worth attending through its organized and prepared activities.
Promotion is vital to any successful program, and it can turn a simple event into a significant outreach program. Vacation bible school needs special promotion, for that reason we used posters, fliers, announcements and reminders. Social media is significant as well in promoting an important program as Vacation Bible School, so we created facebook page dedicated to our DVBS to share lots of pictures of our fun and exciting activities and children being part of that excitement.
Raffi - How did you choose your teachers and helpers?
Liza - There are certain characteristics leaders of DVBS need to have, and they are chosen accordingly:
Raffi - Other institutions and NGOs are organizing DVBS programs, what do you think is the importance for the church to initiate a DVBS?
Liza - There are many institutions and NGOs organizing summer school activities for children and not DVBS programs. As the name and the title indicates ,the major difference between these institutions and our churches is on what they focus on, while other institutions focus on creating fun, recreational activities for children, our churches focus on biblical priorities. DVBS is an outreach ministry focusing on Jesus and helping children to have loving and good relationship with Him and eventually becoming mature adults of faith.
Raffi - What kind of difficulties are you facing this year?
Liza - This year we are facing two major difficulties:
Raffi - What are the various aspects that will help to have a successful DVBS?
Liza - Daily Vacation Bible School is one of the most important outreach programs for children as said earlier, it is designed to provide fun time of learning about God and enjoy stories from the Bible, singing, crafts, games, and making good relationship with friends and leaders. In order to make DVBS effective and successful, different aspects are needed:
In order to gain further knowledge about the DVBS, we had this quick interview with Ms. Liza Barsoumian who is leading this year's summer school for the third year now.
(Interview by Raffi)
 |
| Liza Barsoumian with the DVBS children |
Liza - Daily Vacation Bible School is one of the most successful forms of outreach for children. Every child needs to hear about God, not only once, but multiple times. This year Children will learn the basic concept of praising God for His power, providence, love, authority and greatness.
Raffi - How many children have registered in DVBS?
Liza - More than 150 Children
Raffi - The number of children registering has increased, what do you think are the reasons?
Liza - Children’s ministry is fun, rewarding and an opportunity to make a long-lasting impact on children and their families. Daily Vacation Bible School is simply fun and children love it. When children have fun, they are more likely to pay attention, learn and invite their friends. We make sure that our Vacation Bible School is worth attending through its organized and prepared activities.
Promotion is vital to any successful program, and it can turn a simple event into a significant outreach program. Vacation bible school needs special promotion, for that reason we used posters, fliers, announcements and reminders. Social media is significant as well in promoting an important program as Vacation Bible School, so we created facebook page dedicated to our DVBS to share lots of pictures of our fun and exciting activities and children being part of that excitement.
Raffi - How did you choose your teachers and helpers?
Liza - There are certain characteristics leaders of DVBS need to have, and they are chosen accordingly:
- Good relationship with God
- Biblical knowledge
- Loves Children
- Teachable
- Team player
- Cooperative
- Responsible
- Ready to learn
- Dependable
Raffi - Other institutions and NGOs are organizing DVBS programs, what do you think is the importance for the church to initiate a DVBS?
Liza - There are many institutions and NGOs organizing summer school activities for children and not DVBS programs. As the name and the title indicates ,the major difference between these institutions and our churches is on what they focus on, while other institutions focus on creating fun, recreational activities for children, our churches focus on biblical priorities. DVBS is an outreach ministry focusing on Jesus and helping children to have loving and good relationship with Him and eventually becoming mature adults of faith.
Raffi - What kind of difficulties are you facing this year?
Liza - This year we are facing two major difficulties:
- Transportation
More children are deprived from the opportunity of attending DVBS and be part of this great ministry. - Number of leaders
This year we are blessed with more than 150 children, and only 14 leaders. More work, dedication and readiness are expected from the leaders.
Raffi - What are the various aspects that will help to have a successful DVBS?
Liza - Daily Vacation Bible School is one of the most important outreach programs for children as said earlier, it is designed to provide fun time of learning about God and enjoy stories from the Bible, singing, crafts, games, and making good relationship with friends and leaders. In order to make DVBS effective and successful, different aspects are needed:
- Responsible Leaders and volunteers
- Enough budget to plan different activities
- Good advertisement
- Transportation
- Parents’ Support
- Church ( Pastor, Elders , Executive Committee ) Support