VBS has a way of producing extra projects. A publisher includes an optional resource. Someone sees an attractive idea in a Facebook group. A tradition has been part of VBS for years, so everyone assumes it must continue. Each idea sounds good by itself, but each one must be designed, printed, organized, communicated, or supervised. That responsibility often falls on the director or the same small group already carrying most of the week. Over time, pleasant extras can contribute to the exhaustion described in our article about what VBS directors carry and why burnout develops.

Not everything that sounds wonderful is necessary. Some parts of VBS can be simplified, digitized, or removed without weakening the ministry. Removing low-value work may give directors and volunteers more energy for children, Scripture, and the relationships that matter most.

Stop Printing Information That Can Be Sent Digitally

Some churches still print flyers to send home with children. The paper may explain the mission project, announce a special activity, tell families what children need the next morning, or invite parents to a closing event.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a printed flyer, but it creates more work than we sometimes recognize. Someone must write, format, print, count, and distribute the copies. Then the church must hope the papers make it home rather than being buried in backpacks or left under car seats. Children are not always reliable mail carriers.

If parents registered their children online, the church already has the contact information needed to communicate with them. VBS Registration Pro for Kids and Volunteers allows a church to email registered families directly from its WordPress VBS system. The plugin includes confirmation messages, scheduled reminders, post-event follow-up, and bulk email for families and volunteers. One household does not need to receive the same message once for every child.

Instead of printing another flyer, the director can send a concise email about the mission project, a water day, sunscreen, towels, a schedule change, or an invitation. A reminder sent the evening before an activity is more practical than a paper placed in a child’s hand several days earlier. Not every parent will read every email, but not every parent reads every flyer either. More paper does not guarantee better communication.

For churches still deciding whether to move away from paper forms and scattered spreadsheets, our guide to using a digital VBS registration system explains how online registration can reduce repetitive administrative work before the first child arrives.

Use Church Screens to Reinforce Important Reminders

If your church has screens near the entrance, check-in area, worship center, or pickup location, use them to communicate with parents.

That is what we did during VBS, and it worked well. As parents brought their children into the building, they saw reminders about our mission project and parent night. The information appeared again when they returned for pickup.

Parents are already present and thinking about VBS during those moments. A slide with a clear title, one short instruction, and the appropriate date or time can remind them what children need for the following day or when a special event begins. The same message can appear in an email and on the screen, giving parents more than one opportunity to receive it without requiring another stack of paper.

Screens are especially useful when they become part of a larger arrival and dismissal plan. Our practical guide to managing VBS drop-off and pickup includes additional ways to prepare parents, organize information, and reduce confusion before the week begins.

Digital communication will not eliminate every misunderstanding. It can eliminate a surprising amount of printing, sorting, and last-minute rushing.

Completion Certificates Are Probably Unnecessary

I regularly see VBS directors in Facebook groups asking for help creating certificates to give children at the end of the week. Publishers sometimes include certificate templates in their VBS materials, which can make certificates feel like an expected part of the program.

The idea sounds meaningful. A certificate recognizes attendance and creates a pleasant moment at the end of the week. For many families, however, it will travel home, remain on a counter for a few days, and eventually be thrown away. Meanwhile, someone had to design it, enter every name, check the spelling, print the copies, sort them by group, and distribute them correctly. Late registrations and misspelled names can create another round of work. That is a considerable investment for something with little lasting value.

If certificates carry special meaning in your church or community, you may decide to keep them. Directors should not, however, feel obligated to produce certificates simply because a publisher supplied a template or another church posted attractive examples online.

Your Church May Not Need a Parent Night

This suggestion may be more difficult because parent night or family night is often treated as an essential part of VBS. Children sing their songs, parents see some of what happened during the week, the church shows a slideshow, and everyone enjoys ice cream afterward.

There is nothing wrong with that kind of evening. We have done it, and families enjoyed it. Even an enjoyable tradition should be evaluated honestly. Parent night adds another event during an already demanding week. Volunteers may return after serving during the day, while someone coordinates the children, music, presentation, technology, refreshments, setup, and cleanup. Parents must also add another commitment to crowded family schedules. Attendance by itself does not demonstrate that the event accomplishes enough to justify all the additional work.

Before scheduling a parent night, a church should identify the purpose of the evening. Is the goal to explain what children learned, help parents meet church leaders, invite families into the congregation, or give children an opportunity to perform? Does the event accomplish that purpose? Is the result worth what it requires from staff, volunteers, and families?

A church may answer those questions and decide that parent night remains valuable. That is reasonable. The point is not that every church must eliminate it, but that every church should feel free to evaluate it.

If the primary purpose is to help parents understand what their children learned, the church may not need another evening program. Parents could receive an email summarizing the daily Bible lessons, Bible Points, and verses. A short recap could appear on the church screens during normal pickup. Families could receive a brief video after the week. The church might invite parents to observe the final few minutes of the last VBS day or welcome them to the regular Sunday gathering.

Traditions Should Serve the Ministry

Some traditions have served families well for years. Others continue because no one has stopped to ask whether they are still necessary. “That is what we always do” explains a tradition, but it does not justify the work.

VBS leaders should ask what purpose the tradition originally served, whether it still serves that purpose, whether a simpler method is now available, and what would actually be lost if the church stopped doing it. Sometimes the honest answer to that final question will be, “Very little.”

Cutting an unnecessary project is not the same as cutting ministry. Bible teaching, child safety, the gospel, relationships, and clear parent communication matter. Certificates, printed flyers, and additional evening programs are optional. When optional parts consume energy needed for essential ministry, simplifying becomes an act of wise leadership.

Luke tells us that “Martha was distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40, ESV). Serving was not wrong. The problem was that the work pulled her attention away from the person in front of her. VBS can create a similar danger. A church can become so busy producing a wonderful week for children that its leaders have less energy left to notice the children themselves.

VBS does not have to include every resource supplied by the publisher, every idea shared online, or every inherited tradition. Directors should be allowed to say that a reminder can become an email, a flyer can become a screen slide, a certificate is unnecessary, or a parent night no longer justifies another event. That is not laziness. It is stewardship of volunteer time, church resources, family schedules, and the director’s limited attention.

Not everything that sounds wonderful is necessary. Sometimes the wisest decision a VBS director can make is to leave something out.