By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer

 HELENA – With wooden fish greeting children at the doors and paper jellyfish floating through the halls, the Church at Cahaba Bend welcomed kids aged kindergarten through sixth grade for a week of fun at Vacation Bible School from June 3-6.

According to organizer Angela Sanders, the VBS theme this year, “Scuba,” was all about diving into friendship with God.

“Our four main points we learned this week are God is a friend who is real, God is a friend who loves, God is a friend forever and God is a friend for everyone,” Sanders said.

Each night, the children gathered in the main sanctuary for singing and dancing. After the nightly kick-off, different age groups would divide and attend activities such as story time, arts and crafts and outdoor games.

Sanders shared that her favorite memory of this year’s VBS came from the night the storytellers built a gigantic whale to bring the story of Jonah to life.

“The children went inside the whale just like Jonah did,” Sanders said. “They just thought that really brought everything to life. The children loved it, so that’s probably been my standout moment so far.”

Lead pastor at the Church at Cahaba Bend, Patrick Friday, wanted to thank all of the volunteers that donated their time to make VBS possible. He was also grateful that the church could arrange VBS for the evening, rather than the morning, because he believed that this was the most convenient for families.

“(Doing) it in the evening seems to be very helpful to families, and that’s our bottom line,” Friday said. “We’re all about faith and families of different shapes and sizes, and connecting them to the healing power of Jesus Christ. That’s our mission. So for us, this is just very much a commitment to be available to young families in particular with kids.”

For Sanders, VBS also provides an opportunity to open the doors of the church to the children of the community and show them that they are welcome at the Church at Cahaba Bend.

“I hope that the kids feel welcomed here,” Sanders said. “(I hope) that they feel comfortable here, that they have a good time, that they see this as a wonderful place to be and that they would not hesitate in the future to come join us and spend time with us and be with us. Because we love to have the kids here and we learn, but we also want to have fun and let them feel comfortable and welcome at all times.”