Using a church check-in system is an easy way to show your congregation and visitors that you value their children and want to provide a safe and secure environment for them. This is probably the number one reason why your church needs check-in for VBS. Guests will appreciate the care you take in making sure their children are protected. Moreover, organization is known to reduce stress, better manage time and boost morale. Aren’t those benefits that would behoove your church to extend to congregants and visitors alike with a children’s church check-in system? What a great first impression and confidence builder!
Here are 5 reasons why a volunteer managed vacation bible school check-in system will thrive in your church:
- Regular attenders already in the system are checked in quickly and the security/parent badges are provided.
- Guests are able to add/provide contact information along with any additional and pertinent notes such as medical/allergy information.
- Label options can include a parent badge and a child badge, both with a unique custom code for VBS.
- The child badge also contains any allergy or medical information. This is necessary to make the adult volunteers in the room aware of any risk to the child.
- Upon picking up the child, the parent presents their badge to the volunteer. Then, the volunteer will verify that the unique number on the parent badge matches the child badge. In addition, the larger the church, the more critical the need is to give your volunteers the tools(like this) to ensure that when they release a child, they are doing so to an authorized adult.
Having a vbs check in system helps churches reach new people and manage the life and operations of a church. At a glance, as an administrator, you will:
- Be able to access who is present or absent. For example, consider class rosters and the need for more volunteers in one classroom versus another. This can all be deciphered based on the check in process. This enables a shift in volunteers to be quickly made when necessary if one age group has more participants than expected, etc.
- Know who to contact in the event of an emergency. Unfortunately, not everything is under your control, and things will happen. However, diffuse the emergency as best as you can with knowledge and clarity to be able to calmly navigate the situation.
- Facilitate excellent communication between parents and children, the VBS teacher and the parents, yourself and the parents, and even establish a correspondence outside of the church walls about future events, etc.
Conclusion
Safety measures are something that must be highly regarded. Families will take great confidence in the fact that your church operates a tight system for bringing children into and safely out of Vacation Bible School. Children’s check-in services are an important part of the whole equation. Likewise, parents have connected the dots and will have peace about this children’s program. Because, if you do this much for properly registering their children, it implies that your building is clean and safe and your volunteers and staff are background checked and ready to teach. Above all, show them their perception is reality, and it will build their trust and forge meaningful relationships in the life of the church.
Cal joined the ACST team in 2004 and is currently the Market Strategy Manager serving denominational ministry partners. He received a degree in Secondary Education at Southeastern Bible College. Cal then pursued graduate work at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. He has served on various local nonprofit organizations. These include The King’s Academy, a Christian school in Florence, SC., and R.E.A.C.H., an educational resource group based in Florence.
