Vacation Bible School

Among the growing student populations of the King of Kings and Prince of Peace schools, now numbering 800 children, with several hundred on waiting lists, the Gospel of Jesus is a daily presence in their school experience.  They are discipled naturally, as their schoolwork is conducted in an environment of Scripture, prayer, worship and testimony.  For the tens of thousands of other children on the Island of Rameswaram, BCM has for nearly a decade been hosting a one-week Vacation Bible School, during the brief time each Spring after April graduation and before classes begin again in Early June.

It began with just a few hundred children, gathered from the lanes and villages surrounding the Training Center, but has now grown into a huge child evangelism crusade, with three thousand attending in May of 2010.  It is a delightful but daunting marathon week for the entire BCM staff, involving mega-logistics of transportation, music, drama, organization, lunches, order, communication and lots of fervent prayer, as these children are introduced, most for the first time, to the Truth and Life of Jesus.  The cost of this one-time event is a lot, running into thousand of dollars.  This is especially because, each year, all the children are given a durable gift, such as a school backpack, lunchbox or hat,  which has Scriptures printed on it in the Tamil language.  These are then displayed all year long wherever they go, to keep the message of the Gospel travelling all around the district.  Very many of these young and tender hearts have been won to Jesus.  Their families end up hearing the Gospel from their own children, and many times will eventually become believers themselves.

This has become a great project possibility for American churches to sponsor, with the option of the church sending a team of young disciples to participate in a unforgettable week of children being brought to Jesus.  It is astonishing to see thousands of kids, singing in discovery of the Lord Jesus.