So many volunteers and organizing hours go into Vacation Bible School that fewer churches are offering VBS after the pandemic. For the week of June 16-20 however, five parishes in the Diocese of Atlanta will buck that trend by partnering to provide full-day programming for children entering kindergarten through rising fifth-graders.

Compassion Camp (motto:  “Be loved, be kind, be you”) starts at 9 am each day at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. The other partners are Holy Trinity Parish Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church, and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Registration is at capacity.

Everyone Has a Ministry

Regardless of faith, all are welcome to this intergenerational event. Middle schoolers (rising 6th graders through rising 8th graders) serve as junior counselors, and high schoolers (rising 9th graders through graduated high school seniors) serve as senior counselors.

Adult volunteers need only sign up for a shift; a longer commitment is not necessary, because of the combined parish resources.

“When we were doing our training session, Father Rhett was talking about the priesthood of all believers, telling our youth that by virtue of their baptism, they are called to be ministers in the Word and ministers to other kids,” said Taylor Irwin, Epiphany’s director of children, youth and family ministries. “And something that I think we as a church can sometimes miss out on is that we’re all called to minister in different ways.”

The return of one neurodivergent camper as a counselor represents the inclusivity of the multi-parish program, Solomon said.

“He keeps coming back because he knows he can be himself and that we will create space to love on him, to support him through all the feels that he’ll have,” Solomon said. “It’s that community aspect, that we’re in it together, from campers all the way up through counselors and volunteers and leadership. We’re all ministers together and it’s why I keep coming back, and I think it’s why our partnership has grown and will continue to grow.”

Compassion Camp represents five parishes making the most of strengths and covering one another’s missing elements. Epiphany, for instance, houses a year-round preschool, so hosting VBS would not be possible, Irwin said.

“You know, one church may have parents who are more able to volunteer,” she added. “Another church may have people with really deep pockets and big hearts. There’s something about all working together and getting to take the charism of each place, and having people contribute in their own unique ways, we get a very well rounded ministry that I think can sometimes be harder to have when you’re pulling from a smaller pool of people. If it were just our two parishes doing this, we might have to close it at noon each day because we wouldn’t have the volunteers.”

“We Can’t Do It Unless We Do It Together”

For three church partners, this marks the third year for a joint VBS. In 2023 and 2024 at St. Bart’s, the host church joined with Holy Trinity and Epiphany.

“We really wanted to open up to other parishes, because VBS is a need for ministry and we as individual parishes didn’t have the critical mass individually,” Solomon said. “So we said, ‘Hey, we can achieve it by working together.”

Participation grew from 12 in 2023 to 20 in 2024, providing proof of concept that helped attract St. Martin and St. Luke’s this year. More than 35 children are signed up for Compassion Camp.

“We’ve learned also, and it’s a helpful reminder, that ministry to kids is also ministry to parents,” Solomon said. “The first year, Vacation Bible School ended around 1:30 pm and that wasn’t conducive to a lot of our parents’ schedule. So the second year, we extended the day, and also began offering aftercare, so that folk who worked throughout the summer, as very many parents do, could come at 5:30 pm and know that their kids would be looked after.

“And we learned that sometimes what we want to do, we can’t do unless we do it together. And that’s the reason this partnership has grown.”

The idea was planted in 2022 as Holy Trinity and Epiphany were planning the first combined youth pilgrimage.

“We meet regularly for monthly fellowship dinners and other things throughout the course of the year, and Vacation Bible School seemed to be a natural outflow of our already vibrant partnership,” Solomon recalled. The Rev. Alex Sherrill, then-assistant to the rector at St. Bart’s, heard about the connection, and his parish was a welcome third partner, especially because of its large campus and ample parking.

The 2025 Compassion Camp curriculum features daily themes around compassion for self, one another, and the wider community. Each parish is in charge of one day of programming, and the camp will observe Juneteenth on Thu. June 19.

Clergy and lay leaders involved with Compassion Camp include:

• Christian Foster, Youth Minister at Holy Trinity Parish
• Stephen Frketic, Minister of Music at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church
• The Rev. Josh Hilton, Associate Rector at St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church
• Taylor Irwin, Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministries at The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany
• Stephanie Linz-Gould, parishioner at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church
• The Rev. Carmie McDonald, Associate Rector at The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany
• The Rev. Rhett Solomon, Associate Rector at Holy Trinity Parish
• The Rev. Megan Swett, Associate Rector at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church