Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School started as a specialised form of religious education training targeted at young children and adolescents. The programme was initially held during Easter, Long vacation, and Christmas holidays but was later shifted to only long vacation period, in a weeklong package of activities. The success story of the Vacation Bible School in Ikoyi Baptist Church can be traced to the second decade of its existence in 1991 at no 5 Bell Avenue. It was initiated by the stewardship group of the WMS with all the women assisting.

During one of the weekly women’s meetings, a topic on stewardship was discussed; the divine directive was given by the Holy Spirit through one of the women, saying that women were planted in the Church to affect their environment especially the younger children, by imparting in them the word of God. The wide exposure of the leadership (at the time) contributed greatly to the success of the Bible School. The women embraced and pursued the goal to reach out to children with all zeal and passion; every holiday was an opportunity to preach the word.

Hence, it was initially called Holiday Bible School and the theme was constantly changing as it was tailored towards the challenges in the society as they continued to surface. The first programme was themed ‘The Word of God’.The programme was geared at developing children both spiritually and physically. The programme has always been a great success. The first programme recorded an attendance of 360 children who were admitted free of charge to study the word of God. However, a fee of N100 was charged during subsequent Vacation Bible School programmes, even though the programme was mainly financed by the women of the Church for five (5) years. Every woman worked tirelessly.

In 1994, because the church had called a Pastor as minister in charge of music and education, he took over the organisation of the Vacation Bible School, as an evangelical programme. Vacation Bible school grew to become a culture in Lagos churches and beyond. The programme was held in the Church premises.
By 1995, it became necessary to seek an alternative venue due to the increasing number of attendees and participants. It was important to move to a more conducive environment. Through the assistance of a member of the Church who was then a teacher at the Air Force Primary School, permission was secured to use the School for hosting the programme and it remained so for years until 2017.
In 2003, the Church organised VBS for two weeks, in response to the pressure mounted by parents and students for more time to learn. At the end of the programme, most teachers and volunteer workers were highly exhausted, so the programme duration was reverted to a week.

The School has recorded a great measure of success and increase in number and testimonies over the years. The venue was the Air Force Primary School, Victoria Island with registered membership of one thousand, four hundred (1,400) children yearly. It has been highly subsidised by the Church, with personal donations and sponsorships from within and outside the Church; every child pays a token of N500, for workbooks, stationery and daily lunch. The VBS now holds its programmes in the Church premises of IBC. Planning the Vacation Bible School programme takes about a year with a lot of praying and planning in the background. By the grace of God and the devotion of committee members as well as other members of IBC, the programme always ends up a huge success. The total number of members who volunteer as teachers, workers, administrators and counsellors among others, is usually about 300 every year. The Church is also looking forward to obtaining a permanent venue for the VBS.

One positive impact of the VBS is that it has been adopted by the NBC by encouraging other Baptist Churches to also have their own Vacation Bible School during the long holidays. Not less than 1,000 children from different religious backgrounds, Churches/Denominations around the world (both in and outside Nigeria), participate in our VBS every year.  Vacation Bible School started in 1991. We had a major celebration to mark the 25th year anniversary (26th edition) in 2016. To God be the Glory