The theme of the week next week at St. Paul Lutheran Church’s Vacation Bible School, 400 S. 13th St., is victory.

“We’re going to be talking about how God is the big win and we want to be on his team and we can win when we are on his team,” said Lynn Meyer, VBS program coordinator. “And so kids are going to be studying lots of Bible stories about people who were young and small and weak and unpopular people and how God took them and used them and created a win with them.”

The Vacation Bible School is open to children 4 years old to fifth grade. It runs from 9 a.m. to noon, June 20-24 and there is no cost to participate.

After seeing plenty of success last year, St. Paul is bringing back its afternoon camp for the week as well.

The afternoon camps are open to kids in first through fifth grades and run from noon to 3 p.m. The cost for the afternoon camps are $10 per child for the entire week.

“We really wanted to provide a service for our community that is something that would be fun for the kids and is inexpensive, something that everyone can participate in and come in out of the heat,” Meyer said.

Kids will have different options during the camp.

St. Paul is partnering with several community organizations to host camp activities for the kids.

Adventures in Social Drumming will teach kids about drumming and rhythm and the Blanden Memorial Art Museum will do art projects with the campers. A master gardener from Becker Florist will teach the kids about plants and insects, and Britta McCollum, of 8th Avenue Honey, will talk about beekeeping.

For a second year, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and Webster County 4-H will come in to teach cooking to the campers.

Last year, the St. Paul VBS and afternoon camp had about 104 kids, Meyer said. This year they’re expecting as many as 150.

“We’ve got tons of excited volunteers that are going to be on hand that week, from our church and from our community,” Meyer said.

Participants do not need to be members of the St. Paul congregation.

“Everyone is welcome,” Meyer said.

Campers who will be staying for the afternoon camp are asked to bring a sack lunch each day — a morning and an afternoon snack will be provided.

“We want to make sure the kids get what they’re used to eating,” Meyer said.

Registration is available online at www.stpaulfd.org, though pre-registration is not required.