The 2024 Vacation Bible School (VBS) started on Saturday, 16th March at the Holy Trinity Church, Dubai, with around 180 students attending this year. The theme for this year is 'Under His Wings' (Ps. 91:4). Mr. Jacob Elias (Director, CEF, New Delhi) is the Director of our VBS this year.
Rev. Raju Jacob, our vicar, in his opening message, mentioned the relevance of VBS ministry for children and how we as a parish have been prayerfully conducting the VBS over the years. He ended his message by blessing the gathering by quoting the lyrics of a song from his Sunday School days :
"Keep Me Jesus As The Apple Of Thine Eye;
Hide Me Under The Shadow Of Thy Wing.
Thou Alone Can Save Me Lest I Die;
Keep Me Jesus As The Apple Of Thine Eye."
Mr. Jacob Elias led the common session on the day of inauguration, where he gave an introduction to the theme 'Under His Wings'. In his message, he shared his life changing experience of when he started believing that Jesus died for him, after he attended a convention meeting. The testimony of how, once a sixth grade child who fared badly in Math, was transformed by God to become a First class Post Graduate degree holder in the same subject, moved the listeners. Being a choirmaster for four decades and an ardent music lover, he mentioned that the call to follow Jesus came from a song (അത്ഭുതവാൻ ആശ്ചര്യവാൻ യേശുപരൻ) sung by a group of children which said "If I am yours, will you follow me by taking up my cross?". Once he heeded to the call, there was no looking back. A small boy once labelled as a bad example for other children in academics, ended up heading CEF, a children's ministry organisation, based in Delhi, by the guidance of God.
Through the analogy of the mother and baby giraffe where the latter gets kicked by the mother as soon as it is born, he taught 3 principles to children based on the VBS theme :
1) GET UP - Once you are born into God's family, we are not supposed to stay idle, but be prepared and vigilant in the battle field of Christian life.
2) REMEMBER - How you got up, with God's help. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there.... (Deuteronomy 5:15). We shouldn't forget how we got up, as we are prone to go back to (Egypt) the land of slavery.
3) FOLLOW ME - When we are under God's wings, we are called to follow His instructions.
Sharing his touching personal experience, he reminded the children that "Ending well is more important than beginning well". He concluded that, under His wings, we are safe, as we decide to be faithful to Him till the very end.
The children had a blessed time learning new songs taught by the singing team.
Mr. Saji K. George (VBS Convenor) supported by around 50 teachers, 15 singing team members and 40 volunteers are working together to make the VBS 2024, a real blessing for our kids.
Sunday, 17th March was observed as VBS Sunday with VBS students leading various parts of the service. Mr. Jacob Elias delivered the sermon. Rev. Raju Jacob led the Holy Communion.
Highlights of VBS 2024 are available in the Photo Gallery : http://www.csidubai.com/gallery/64/vbs-2024