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Three to Six Months Before Your Rome VBS
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Two to Three Months Before Your Rome VBS
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Eight Weeks Before Your Rome VBS
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Four Weeks Before Your Rome VBS
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Two Weeks Before Your Rome VBS
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One Week Before Your Rome VBS
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During Rome VBS
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After Your Rome VBS
3 to 6 Months Before Your Rome VBS
Begin praying for your church’s Rome program.
Ask God to prepare the hearts of church members, workers, and children who will attend.
Choose a format for Rome.
• Will you meet in the morning, afternoon, or evening?
• Will you meet every day for a week or once a week for several weeks?
• Will your program be for children only, or will entire families be invited to attend?
• Will you meet at your church or another location?
Set dates.
As you’re considering dates, you may want to find out about other summer programs offered by your church or your community so you can avoid conflicts.
Choose a Director.
If you’re reading this, that’s you! The Director is responsible for planning, recruiting staff, and overseeing all details to ensure that Rome works smoothly. Consider recruiting a team of leaders to head up areas such as publicity, registration, shops, Family Leaders, and drama. Delegation allows church members to use their gifts and passions in exciting ways!
Set a budget.
Look through the entire Rome catalog to get an idea of what you’ll need for your program. Write down the cost of each item you’ll need, and then tally the total cost to set your budget. Your church may already include VBS in its budget. If so, find out what funds are available. If your church doesn’t have a budget in place, don’t worry! Money for a quality program needn’t be a stumbling block. There are countless ways you can easily (and painlessly) raise the funds you need. Consider the following ideas.
- Collect an offering to cover expenses.
- Charge a per-family registration fee. Give discounts to families who volunteer for your staff.
- Invite congregation members to sponsor children by contributing a per-child amount. (See the Registration section of the Director’s Manual for more specifics on this idea.)
- Hold a creative fundraiser! Send a “Roman guard” (a hammy volunteer in costume) through the congregation, demanding payment for protection. Or have your church staff practice their pottery skills by making clay bowls. Set out the bowls, and have church members vote for their favorite design by adding coins each Sunday.
- You’ll have plenty of additional funds in no time!
Start collecting decorations.
Round up things like baskets, burlap sacks, colorful pieces of fabric, terra-cotta pottery, rugs, and blankets. Let members of your congregation know what you’re looking for so they can keep their eyes and ears open for potential Bible-times decorations.
