Advice from the experts – Using Teenagers as Workers, Part 1

The best VBS leaders are learners, and the best learners enjoy sharing with others what they have learned through trial and error. Following are words of advice that have been collected through the years from great leader-learners just like you.

• Require teenagers to submit an application that includes their testimony, a statement of what they liked best about VBS when they were kids, and a statement of why they wish to work in VBS. Use this information to help you assign appropriate positions of responsibility.
• Some teens are more responsible than others. Assign jobs appropriately.
• Train teens and give them specific responsibilities. When they feel they have no responsibility they do not take the work seriously and become a burden instead of a blessing.
• Provide VBS for younger teens and use only older teens as workers.
• Require teen workers to attend at least one training session that includes the dos and don’ts of working with kids, conduct and dress expectations, and how to lead a child to Christ.
• Limit the number of teens helping in each room to one or two.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: What advice do you have concerning utilizing teenagers as VBS workers?