By By BEN RAYMOND LODE / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- What better way to celebrate the opening of a new church than to have a week-long Vacation Bible Camp and fill it with playful children?
That is exactly what Hope Community Church, whose new location is on 2390 Lake St. in Niles, did this week.
Using the King James Version of Galatians 5:22-23, these attributes are: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.
Sheryl Blake is in charge of the Vacation Bible Camp, which catered to children from kindergarten through sixth grade
She said the children started their day together by singing and listening to stories.
The large morning group was then broken up into different age groups that heard Bible stories and memorize Bible verses.
After that, the children had time to play games and have fun.
Blake said the children also made crafts that in some way were related to a Bible story.
Nathan Stewart, 7, said he enjoyed the Vacation Bible Camp.
His favorite activity on Monday was bean sprouting, of which accounts can be found in the Bible's Book of Daniel.
He even sprouted some when he came home from the Bible camp.
Mike Nyhuis of Buchanan is one of Hope's youth group volunteers who helped out during the Vacation Bible Camp.
He said the youth group volunteers help out with the activities that go on through the day, but they also help out with worshipping.
Nyhuis, who is a long-time Bible camp volunteer, attended vacation Bible camps himself when he was younger.
Nyhuis, like so many others in the Hope congregation, however, is also glad to spend time in the church's new home.
And, unlike in the past, the church won't have to rent space at other churches for its annual vacation Bible camp.