What In Tarnation?!?!? In the Classroom

VBS (aka Vacation Bible School) week is over and it was good. The kids seemed to have fun and things seemed to go really smoothly. Right now I am in the process of detoxing from the catchy but, in my opinion rather annoying songs (though I really like the song entitled “One” this year) from my system. I look forward to the day that I don’t spontaneously start singing about being a Game Day Central Hero in my mind. This is what it was like in my head during Sunday School this morning:

“Hmmm, that is a really good point that that person made. I need to remember that. I should probably write that down if I just had a piece of paper… I must have in this Bible… [singing] Game Day Central: Where heroes are made / Enduring what lies before us by keeping our eyes on Jesus / we become heroes who face each day like Game Day… [/singing] Ah a paper! Now what did he say? Think Christopher, think! [Singing] A - Admit to God that you are a sinner / B - Believe that Jesus is God’s Son / C - Confess the name and get in the game by confessing Jesus as your Savior and Lord… [/singing] Ah! Not that. Now I don’t even know what everyone is talking about! I am totally lost in this conversation. Oh, well, I give in… [Singing] Being of one mind / having the same love / Being of one accord / having the same heart…”

And basically, the rest of Sunday School was a mini-VBS concert in my head. This is really disruptive.

Like recent years, I was in charge of missions. While preparing for the next day’s missions activity, I was listening to the podcast of the Albert Mohler Radio program. Dr. Russell Moore was guest hosting an episode called “I Am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N: Reaching our Children with the Gospel of Christ” in which Dr. Moore asked the the question (my paraphrase) Are today’s modern methods of evangelizing children effective. Most of the time was actually spent talking about VeggieTale like entertainment programs being used in children’s ministries but Dr. Moore and his guest suggested that today’s typical VBS’s are more interested in entertaining students that telling the about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Got me thinking about the curriculum that my church uses from LifeWay (or as I like to call them the Evil Empire). Now admittedly, this year’s theme wasn’t my favorite but I tried to put that aside and think about the things going on in our church. Eventually I dismissed the conclusion. Sure there are more bells a whistles than when I attended VBS but the content still seemed to be there.

The next morning I overheard a discussion between one of our teachers and our pastor. She was saying that she thought that this year’s material wasn’t very good. She then went on to say that the material seems to be getting worse and worse with each passing year. She felt that the material was relying less and less on scripture and more and more on other things of far less importance. Now, this got my attention. This particular teacher is someone I highly respect. Like the highest respect. She has been teaching in VBS for 60 years. That is nothing to shake a stick at. My pastor responded that the material was just a guide and it was important for the teacher to use it as only that, a guide or a tool. My unvocalized question was about newer Christians stepping into that teacher’s position. People who didn’t have even 5 years of experience ministering to students in such a way. Of course in the perfect world, that wouldn’t happen. A new worker would work as a teacher’s assistance and gradually work into the position, but that isn’t true in many places and I would suggest that wasn’t quite true with our VBS this year. It got me thinking again.

Later in the week, I happened across a blog post at Internet Monk called Entertainment Tonight: VBS and What’s Really Going On. Similar concerns. This time though, as with most rants Spencer posts, I don’t think anything would make him happy (and that is probably an inaccurate perception but it is the one I have). Though I did enjoy a article that he links to from the very funny Lark News (think the Christian Onion, and just as caustic) called For VBS Addicts, It’s a Hard Fall.

There is one thing for sure: there is a huge problem when form trumps substance. I don’t think my church has reached that point with VBS. I’m also not convinced that LifeWay’s VBS curriculum is to that point yet but there do seem to be cracks on the surface that could get bigger. If I had any suggestion for LifeWay that would be to include two variations of each lesson in the upper grades. Let’s say grades 3-6. On version would be used for groups of students who aren’t Christians or new and need basic discipleship and then another version that would be more suited for a class of mostly Sunday School vets who are ready to go beyond the idea that we can share our faith with others and get a bit deeper. That way the teacher could get to know their class and use the version that would be most suitable to his or her class that year. Just a thought and it is definitely something churches need to keep their eye on.

I still wonder though, would there be any mixture of Gospel and gee whiz factor that would be acceptable to those who are crying foul? Or do we just need to sit down and read the Bible with nothing else? I honestly don’t think that there would be many people who would want that…

One thing I know, miracles do still happen at VBS.

Like normal with these kinds of posts, more questions than answers. If you have some answers, I would love to read them in the comments.

Pictures of the week can be found here and I have already posted short videos of the week.

Later taters!