Living Waters for the World - Clean Water for All God's Children VBS

Water All Around the World
Vacation Bible School Curriculum

REVIEWS

	We used the VBS curriculum at the end of June with about 70 students aged 4 through 5th grade (most of the kids were at the younger end of that window). Everyone loved it and our volunteers couldn’t rave enough about it. We thought the mission stories were fantastic and heard from the kids that they were able to connect deeply and remember the stories of the children/families that were highlighted. We loved the crafts and their tie-ins to the countries of the day. We appreciated the water magic and implemented those demonstrations during our snack time. All the groups have snack at the same time in our schedule, and in the past it has been a very chaotic time. Having something for children to look at and investigate helped us make that time flow much better. Our only criticism comes for the openings and closings. The quantity of information included in each of those sessions was more than the kids could connect to. We simplified those a lot and focused more on the Bible story point of the day than specific information about the country. We were happily surprised by how much quality content and how many great resources were included in the binder. Such a better cost/benefit payoff than any of the canned kits we have used in recent years. Thank you for the fantastic curriculum. I can see us repeating it in 5 years or so, as the children cycle through. We’ll look forward to updates and expansion!
		Amy Lisk Central Presbyterian Church Downingtown, PA


		Overall we were quite pleased with the curriculum. Having the focus on the children from the different countries, water images form the Bible AND safe water issues seemed at first like it would be too much, but it worked together well. The Bible teacher thought that the material was a little thin for 20 minutes, so we added questions and activities as needed. The crafts worked well for the K-5, but we had to adapt a lot and even replaced a few for the preschoolers. They enjoyed the songs, and we added "Spring Up Oh Well" - the words fit so well! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndNEBg8OGBc
			Kathi Bubb Mifflin Presbyterian Church Gahanna, OH


	We loved the Living Waters of the World VBS. We had our Mission Committee build a 'plant' to demonstrate how water is cleansed. We loved using the videos each night and decorating according to the country we visited. Our crafts were based on the country but we used items we had on hand. We taught the music in each language and we used the praise song, Thrive, as our theme song. Overall it went well. I think it probably took us more time to set up since it wasn't a VBS that came with lots of frills. But we have a lot of experience with putting on VBS and supplies from other years. We knew going into to it this would be about teaching our mission and we felt we were very successful with that.
		Eva Ruth First Presbyterian Church Lumberton,, NC

		We LOVED this VBS! We doubled our offering goal! Our goal was $200 - we ended up with $385! My "Craft ladies" always like to do their own crafts at VBS. We made: A Rain Chain - we used colored zip-ties, yogurt cups, cookie cutters, h2o bottles and other recyclables. God's Eyes - they worked on these for about 2-3 days - as a filler activity The kids decorated the backs of their t-shirts with a pattern and fabric paint. They made "Flags" on black card stock, glue, ionized salt. Sprinkle the salt on the glue/paper to make a pattern. Let dry - the next day - they painted the salt for color. They also made an "aquarium". This was made with a clear, plastic cups, tiny glass sea creature beads, strung with fishing line and glitter and pipe cleaners. They decorate the inside of the cup first - hot glue a paper plate upside down, cut around it - and voila! A fake aquarium. Picture a snow globe. We also used ALOT of resources from LWW site. Our music people wanted a little more"meat". We used "Once A Woman Seeking Water" and "Thirsty for Life.
			Jenni Whitford Worthington Presbyterian Church Worthington, OH


	I loved it! We used it for rotation church school.
		Darryl Ray Highland Presbyterian Church Winston Salem, NC


		It was a success! For our snacks, we had food from each of the countries. Who knew that kids would want seconds on beans and rice! Our video is up on the church's Facebook page and Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmZRGCaOth0&feature=share.
			Jenny Thagard First Presbyterian Church Tuscaloosa, AL


	Your program is outstanding! Our Vacation Bible Camp ran for five days (9 to 5) in a camp setting. We served 40 kids, ages 6 to 12, mostly low-income and not church-affiliated. We recruited through a direct mailing to parents. There was no charge for the program. (sanctuarycaswell.org for more info). Underlying themes were: an appreciation of God"s (and his people's) love for each of the kids, and an opening to the needs of others. We tried to give as many hands-on manifestations of these themes to the kids. Our catechists adapted the program to their own groups, and found your program very amenable to their adaptations. Without exception, they were very enthusiastic in their praise of the program and the program guides that you supplied. Since we have a pond and a swimming area, "water" was a great theme for us to use, and you tied it in so well to biblical themes and teachings. Many thanks to your authors. A part of the program was the awarding of "You're Good Stuff" cards to kids for positive behaviors and for contributions to the program. We converted them to a dollar amount, and will be sending you a donation of $250 for your work -- not much, but a real token of our appreciation for the program and our realization of the importance of your mission. Many blessings to all involved in your work.
		Rev. David Cote Sanctuary Caswell Caswell, ME


		We really enjoyed our week of VBS. We did some tweaking to adapt for our own set-up. For example, we didn't do a closing assembly, and instead built some of that information into the daily reflection time. I would like to see some more direction and content for the opening assembly time. We added in energizers, songs, etc., but an introduction to the Bible story during that time would be great. Overall, we loved the VBS. The mission focus is great, the theme was very relatable, it was easy to decorate for, and it was well received. I liked that there was room for us to get creative with it. Thanks!
			Jennie Sankey Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church Duluth, GA


	First, let me say that we loved the concepts presented in the curriculum. During the early planning, however, I realized that for our population, there was significant foundational information missing. (Our kids lacked the basic information about water itself and the global water crisis and why it exists.) I think if we had previously completed your first curriculum, we would have been able to build on that solid foundation. Although we did not use much of this packet, we are very pleased that you inspired us to bring these concepts to life with our children and the broader congregation. This was one of the most meaningful VBS's that I've been involved with and I believe the kids and our church experienced transformation of attitudes and awareness of this important issue. Let clean water flow!!
		Linda Black New Wilmington Presbyterian Church New Wilmington, PA


		We at Rivermont Presbyterian Church have actually been using the LWW VBS curriculum for a Monday morning program, so we've modified it quite a bit to suit our needs -- that is, we don't use opening and closing, and we've combined Mission storybook time with Bible. That said, I've been very impressed with the curriculum. I love that the curriculum makes water issues around the world personal -- it's so much more impactful for kids to meet Rosa instead of just talking about Honduran children in the abstract. I'm actually so enamored with the LWW mission (our church's Honduras team put in a LWW system in Pena Blanca, Honduras, a couple years ago) and with the curriculum, I'm pushing to use this curriculum as our VBS curriculum next year. I actually prefer an approach that's mission oriented and simple -- I think so many more mainstream curricula are so overworked and expensive, and I think the point gets lost on the children and on the volunteers.
			Jenny Snyder Rivermont Presbyterian Church Chattanooga, TN