Magnified Moments: Seeing God’s Glory in VBS@MGS 2025

From 24–28 November 2025, our church family, in partnership with Methodist Girls’ School, gathered for our 9th consecutive Vacation Bible School—with the theme of “Magnified.” What a joy it was to witness God’s abundant provision as He brought together 194 campers, 61 adult volunteers, and 140 youth “trail guides” to journey through a week of worship, learning, and discovery.

Above all, we rejoice and give thanks for the 27 children who received salvation during the camp. Each testimony is a reminder that God continues to draw young hearts to Himself, magnifying His grace in ways far beyond what we could ask or imagine.

In this article, we share snapshots from the camp and two heartfelt reflections—one from an adult volunteer who served as Bible study teacher, and another from a youth volunteer who first attended VBS as a camper eight years ago and has now returned to serve. May their stories encourage us as we celebrate what God has done and be inspired to increase our confidence in our Faith in Jesus.

Serena Liau (Bible Study Teacher)

Teacher Serena in action!

It has been a while since I served in the church community. Ever since my twins (3^th and 4^th) were born, shuttling between work and family had left me and my husband, James, with little time and energy to actively contribute to church life. Late this year, I made a decision to step back from work for a while and be more intentional about my walk with God. This led me to spend part of the leave I was clearing to serve in CCMC’s VBS (my first time!), a week-long Bible camp which my older two benefited from last year’s run. When I informed James about it, unbeknownst to me, he signed up to serve too! What a privilege it was to serve God as a couple, knowing He is the reason for our unity.

Left: VBS games in full swing. Right: Beautiful decorations thoughtfully prepared at our VBS venue.

I found serving in VBS was actually mission work – amidst the teaching, crafts and games, the purpose of VBS was to share about Jesus to children who may not have heard or have questions about the Gospel. James and I were both assigned to be Bible study facilitators, so the responsibility felt a lot heavier. Through the experience, as with other outreach efforts I had been involved with, I know that nothing can be achieved without God’s mercies and protection over our planned activities.

As I looked back on my experience in VBS, I took away three reflections:

1.    God supplements our weaknesses. I was initially apprehensive about being assigned as a Bible study facilitator despite indicating it as one of the options for me. While I had some prior experience as a CK facilitator, that was firstly, 6 years ago, and secondly, to preschoolers unlike the P1s to whom I was assigned. 

      I also have a mild fear of public speaking and am somewhat soft-spoken (James even expressed concern that the kids may not be able to hear me!). Yet when it was my turn to lead, I found myself readily projecting my voice and energy. I think it was because sharing God’s word was not only always exciting but also a serious mission.

      More importantly, God was there alongside me, using me as His instrument to reach out to the children, equipping me in my areas of lack. Exodus 4:11-12: “¹¹The Lord said to him [Moses], “Who gave human beings their mouths?... Is it not I, the Lord? ¹²Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

2.    God is with us in times of spiritual warfare. Past experiences have shown me that each time we do mission work, the devil is not far, looking to thwart our outreach efforts. This happened to us as well during VBS. While the IT equipment worked perfectly when we trialled it the week before and on the first day, for some reason on subsequent days, random IT issues would crop up e.g. the HDMI failed to connect or the slides would not load properly. In such moments, apart from calling IT SOS, all we could do was to pray for God’s power to reign over these troubling issues, and we never failed to experience it. It was also a reminder to me that when we face spiritual resistance, that is when we know we are on the right track in doing God’s work.

Job 5:12: “¹²He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.”

The closing worship of VBS@MGS 2025.

3.    God’s presence at the closing rally. I found the closing rally to be the highlight of VBS where the children gathered together to sing worship songs with actions on stage. It was truly touching to witness God’s name being magnified by these young voices with such joy and gusto and as one community. And I know that these songs and actions will anchor the good news in their hearts and minds long after the camp is over, planting the precious seeds of the gospel in their lives.

Claire Lai (MGS Year 1)

VBS has given me the opportunity to be immersed in a God-centered environment for a week. And I thought how wonderful it would be if magnifying God each day was the norm instead of just a weekly occurrence or whenever it was convenient. How our lives would change. How the world would change. Taking time out from my busy schedule to do God’s work has helped me to refocus on what truly matters at the end of the day.

This is my eighth year attending VBS, and my second year volunteering as a youth trail guide. Every year I was present as a camper, I had an incredible time and had so much fun especially with the help of my own trail guides, so volunteering for me meant that I could bring my juniors the same joy I experienced when I was their age.

When I was a trail guide last year, I was assigned to take care of the Primary Four students, so it came as a little bit of a surprise to me when this year I was allocated to a group of Primary Twos. Interestingly enough, although we were five years apart, I recognised some familiar faces among my campers, and some of them even mentioned having seen me before at church.

If last year’s (2024's) camp was fun, this year’s was incredible. Helping to take care of the young ones was an enriching experience for me, given the different types of exposure I was having as well as how they reacted to the different activities. (My campers had lots of fun at games and snacks—I don’t blame them, I did too!)

Serving as a youth volunteer this year was quite different from last year. Through the kids’ curious questions as well as the teaching styles from various rotations, I found myself learning things about the Bible and God in ways I hadn’t both as a previous volunteer and a camper.  Being the target of some of said questions was also eye-opening as I was peppered with inquiries I honestly hadn’t thought about myself.

Another part of VBS that stuck with me was the reflections conducted after each day of camp, when all the campers had been dismissed. On the fourth day, my group’s guides accidentally made a (very large) oopsie, and quite a few of us were left with regrets and blaming ourselves for the incident. That day, the focus during reflections and the day’s theme was on God’s forgiveness, and we were asked to write or discuss what was one mistake we wanted God to forgive us for. We ended up talking about the incident, and how God would forgive us for our mistakes, no matter whose fault it was. The conclusion that day? We shouldn’t continually blame ourselves for unintentional mistakes when our Father has already pardoned us. 

2025’s VBS was an incredible volunteering experience for me, not just in a change of perspective with getting to help the younger ones, but getting the chance to understand God on a spiritual level a little more. I had so much fun as a trail guide at VBS, and I’m definitely looking forward to the next one!

(Photos courtesy of Tim Tham)

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Vacation Bible School (VBS) 2026 takes place on 23 - 27 Nov.

Calling all campers (P1–P5) and volunteers — be part of it.

Save the dates!

To find out more about CCMC’s Covenant Kids (our Children's Ministry), click here.