I did not grow up going to church. Not even a few times. My church attendance can be count on one hand, and that includes a backyard Bible club once. This irreligious upbringing means that everything I know about Christian work I learned as an adult Christian preparing for the ministry. It gives me a perspective that is sometimes in conflict with some of the “norms” of the average pastor. Vacation Bible School is one of them.
First, I was taught to call it something other than VBS.
“Kids just got out of school. They don’t want to go back to school.” But, I was taught, they are getting bored during the summer. Hold your children’s outreach, I was taught, toward the end of summer and call it “Bible Time!” Children are looking for a good time. Vacation Bible School is “something Protestants do.”
Then I was taught to operate it differently than Vacation Bible School
Incorporated in this mentality was concepts such as craft time is “of the devil”[1]and no “age divided classes.” I was taught to emphasize Bible memory, reward heavily for bringing visitors and auditorium preaching.
I used to have an evangelist come to our church and hold our Bible Time. Boy was he good at it! He could get the kids excited, get them to bring visitors every day and get them to memorize hundreds of verses. He had them yelling loud and had them hyped up for everything but the preaching time.[2]I spent the whole week in knots. I didn’t know why I was uneasy; I just know I had to spend all afternoon praying to get back in a spiritual frame of mind after the morning with the kids. Apparently the evangelist was as uneasy about it as I was. After about 5 years of his coming, I told him I wanted him to come for Bible Time, but I did not want to conduct an evening revival with him at the same time. He confided that the only reason he did the morning Bible Time ministry was for the opportunity to preach to adults in the evenings. He stopped coming and I continued conducting Bible Times, imitating his style.
I am now into my 36th year in the ministry. I have witnessed trends that concern me terribly. One of them is that so many young people quit coming to church when they leave their parent’s homes. The other is that so many of them who do continue in church opt for more progressive ones. Even those who enter the ministry, and call themselves independent Baptists, seem to gravitate to what I consider progressive and sometimes Protestant, styles. It occurs to me that they may be looking for some way to imitate a children’s program in adult church.
I just witnessed a well known Independent Baptist preacher of this generation dress himself up like a shirtless movie monster hero for his Vacation Bible School program.[3]A man who would preach against worldliness. A man who would preach that Christians ought to be separated, holy, modest and temperate but, for VBS, and to get the kids all excited, he made himself look like a shirtless movie monster hero.
I am sure it was fun
I am sure the kids got excited
I am sure it helped attract a greater number of children to VBS
What I question, however, is the long term consequences of hosting a yearly children’s program in the church that consists of 75% or more hype, with 25% or less real preaching of the Word of God.
Marvin McKenzie
In the fields.
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