WTF Vacation Bible School

[aubrietta]

Did you do any investigation of the curriculum before you enrolled your child?

No, which I totally should have, and am kicking myself over. I made the judgement that it would be okay based off of the fact that my son attends the preschool run by the church and it is very chill and non-religious, and by the fact that I knew the pastor and liked him, and had made the assessment that the church was not fundie and seemed okay, and all his friends from preschool were signed up and had been in it the year before and parents said the kids loved it. I did ask his preschool teachers about what they do at the VBS and they said there is lots of games and crafts, and while I assumed there would be religious instruction because it was a VBS, I didn't think it would be anything along the lines of intense crucifixion imagery from a camp with a theme of trusting in God and aviation and cloud decorations.

I had no idea that it was a VBS in a can, because I haven't been around VBS before, so I really had no idea. I didn't realize it until I put up this topic and then went and got the colouring page an googled "Sky VBS" out of curiosity. Even if I had looked into the curriculum before hand, you can't see any of the pages from the work books and it all just seems really cheerful and bright, I never would have thought that would be potential content.

However, it is totally my fault for not asking more questions, and I've certainly learned my lesson.

[lilwriter85]

The game of taping thorns to a crown sounds creepy. As a kid I attended VBS at the Catholic parish my family attended and I also attended VBS at a friend's non-denominational church. I remember the topic of Christ's crucifixion coming up in one of the VBS classes at the Catholic VBS, but at the non-denominational church VBS it never came up. The Catholic VBS only discussed Christ's crucifixion, but never involved games or singing.

[tacky]

As creepy as it is, it sounds normal for VBS, the object of which is to win souls for Christ. Or at least it was in our church. I taught VBS every summer I was in high school and the crafts and the songs and the stories were all salvation related, though we were more Veggie Tales and less Passion of the Christ.

[SealFan1963]

Wow - my kids have never come home from VBS with anything close to a crucifixion. When my kids went to VBS there was usually some kind of fun theme like Pirates, Cowboys, The Jungle, etc. The crafts usually went along with the theme. My kids brought home tiles that they decorated (with a pasted on bible verse), plaques decorated with sand and shells (and a bible verse), cowboy hats and bandanas, wooden cross necklaces that they glued crap on, etc. etc. etc.

Stuff like this:

They also usually had a day where there was a water fight and another day that included a picnic with all the parents.

I've never understood the need some religions have to share the scarier stories in the Bible with little kids. What the hell ever happened to Noah? You can tell that story without ever revealing the fact that millions of people died.

[ceg045]

I don't remember my Catholic VBS being particularly traumatic, though we were forced to sing ridiculous Bible-y versions of classic songs. I actually have distinct memories of performing this at age 4 or 5:

bw8fVd6ql_I

:lol:

That said, I do public arts programming for a living, and constantly use sites like Oriental Trading Company to buy materials. I run across LOL-worthy religious craft projects for VBS and similar programs fairly often. For instance:

http://www.orientaltrading.com/jesusand ... ?Ntt=jesus

[Sumeri]

:lol: Oh man, now I want to make my own Jesus Ascension craft for my very own. Is he ascending from a dixie cup?

[lilwriter85]

I don't remember my Catholic VBS being particularly traumatic, though we were forced to sing ridiculous Bible-y versions of classic songs. I actually have distinct memories of performing this at age 4 or 5:

bw8fVd6ql_I

:lol:

That said, I do public arts programming for a living, and constantly use sites like Oriental Trading Company to buy materials. I run across LOL-worthy religious craft projects for VBS and similar programs fairly often. For instance:

http://www.orientaltrading.com/jesusand ... ?Ntt=jesus

My parents used to get Oriental Trading catalogs when I was growing up and I remember my catechism programs used a lot of those lol-worthy products. Oriental Trading gets a lot of business from churches and other Christian organizations like Young Life, LifeTeen etc.

[ceg045]

:lol: Oh man, now I want to make my own Jesus Ascension craft for my very own. Is he ascending from a dixie cup?

That he is, my child. That he is. Go out and spread the word to all nations.

[maybeizfundie]

oh man, memories. The little kid class I was a helper for in my teens did the Pharaoh song. Did a good job of it too. :p

[celestial]

Omg, that Pharaoh Pharaoh song brings back memories of the Wednesday night children's activities I used to attend at the local megachurch (because all the cool kids in my town did :roll: ). I had no idea other churches sang that too!

[SealFan1963]

:lol: Oh man, now I want to make my own Jesus Ascension craft for my very own. Is he ascending from a dixie cup?

Me too - that is so awesome! I bet we could even make them from scratch and save the $8.25.

[thoughtful]

Me too - that is so awesome! I bet we could even make them from scratch and save the $8.25.

It looks to me like he ascends into the paper cup -- even better!

Heaven is a Dixie Cup - there's a Country Western song title for ya!

[GenerationCedarchip]

First off: I totally brought this upon my self by sending my kid to free vacation bible school at the non-denomational church up the street, but he goes to the non-religious preschool run by the church, and I have met the pastor of the church and talked with him quite extensively, and he doesn't seem fundie or weird at all, but in fact, really down to earth and kind. So when all my son's friends from preschool signed up for this VBS, I decided to put him in too. Theme was trusting in God and they were doing a bunch of fund-raising to purchase mosquito nets for children for some organization in Africa, and it all seemed mellow and nice.

Until....my four year old came home with his craft on the third day - it was a tear-out page from colouring book, of Jesus carrying the cross and they had given the kids thorns to glue onto his crown.

That was their craft. Gluing thorns to Jesus' crown. :shock: My son was quite fascinated by this and kept telling me about Jesus's "ouchie" crown and the bad guys that beat him up.

The next day he came home with a crucifixion colouring page and told me in graphic detail about how Jesus got killed on the cross and they hammered nails into his hands and feet.

I just don't get how they can think that this is appropriate for little four year olds. :angry-steamingears:

I'm pretty mad that they sucked me in and there was't any warning that the crucifixion was going to be graphically discussed. I really thought this church was mainstream and normal. The preschool they run is fantastic, and there has never had any religious content aside from generic and IMO benign "thank you God for food" songs sung before snack-time. I guess the VBS is really an "outreach" so they want to get the salvation message in there loud and clear. But it really felt like a bait & switch and I was so pissed that I almost didn't let him go back for the last day, but the last day was just a party and a presentation to parents of the songs they learned and my son was so excited about it that it seemed mean to keep him from it. I sure as hell won't be sending him back next year.

This was my first experience with church-run summer day camps. Are they all like this?

Wow - even in fundie churches, they don't usually go this graphic at VBS for the little ones. I would second the suggestions about talking to the pastor. I've worked with VBS at my current PCUSA (totally non-fundie) church, and I know that while we usually use VBS kits, every now and again some volunteer teacher will get bright ideas about bringing in their own crafts. Some of these are great and some lead to special conversations with the pastor.

[Kitchen Princess]

For future reference--I've never seen a VBS that wasn't expressly outreach. That's one of the purposes, as far as I can tell. Never seen a Jesus and the cross coloring page, but the death/resurrection/salvation thing is a major theme of every VBS I've seen. Well, except the one time when they did an "Israel in the desert" theme.

This. I am always completely shocked when I read about someone who is taken by surprise by that.

[redcurls]

No, which I totally should have, and am kicking myself over. I made the judgement that it would be okay based off of the fact that my son attends the preschool run by the church and it is very chill and non-religious, and by the fact that I knew the pastor and liked him, and had made the assessment that the church was not fundie and seemed okay, and all his friends from preschool were signed up and had been in it the year before and parents said the kids loved it. I did ask his preschool teachers about what they do at the VBS and they said there is lots of games and crafts, and while I assumed there would be religious instruction because it was a VBS, I didn't think it would be anything along the lines of intense crucifixion imagery from a camp with a theme of trusting in God and aviation and cloud decorations.

I had no idea that it was a VBS in a can, because I haven't been around VBS before, so I really had no idea. I didn't realize it until I put up this topic and then went and got the colouring page an googled "Sky VBS" out of curiosity. Even if I had looked into the curriculum before hand, you can't see any of the pages from the work books and it all just seems really cheerful and bright, I never would have thought that would be potential content.

However, it is totally my fault for not asking more questions, and I've certainly learned my lesson.

Don't blame yourself for not knowing what to expect. It seems like every church uses VBS kits now, and the curriculum isn't easily accessible. They are sold as "Look at our cool theme! Our crafts! Yummy snacks!" and a curriculum isn't heavily emphasized. Honestly, sometimes you buy a kit and don't know what bible stories to expect. For example, if the VBS is a beach or water park theme, you can expect stories like the Ark, Red Sea crossing, Jesus walking on water, and such. For others, like the airplane themes that are so popular now, or Old West, or National Parks- you never can tell. Even the most diligent parent could have a hard time if they DID research ahead of time.

[DarkAnts]

Wow - my kids have never come home from VBS with anything close to a crucifixion. When my kids went to VBS there was usually some kind of fun theme like Pirates, Cowboys, The Jungle, etc. The crafts usually went along with the theme. My kids brought home tiles that they decorated (with a pasted on bible verse), plaques decorated with sand and shells (and a bible verse), cowboy hats and bandanas, wooden cross necklaces that they glued crap on, etc. etc. etc.

Stuff like this:

They also usually had a day where there was a water fight and another day that included a picnic with all the parents.

I've never understood the need some religions have to share the scarier stories in the Bible with little kids. What the hell ever happened to Noah? You can tell that story without ever revealing the fact that millions of people died.

Thats how I remember it being as a child (early 90's). It was not at a fundi church. The themes included biblical themes like fisher of men. We did a lot of fish related crafts. Another year it was about being a light in a world of darkness. We made candles that year and learned how to make a fire. The only time we talked about Jesus dying on the cross was easter. Then, we did not make a game out of it. It was a solemn occasion.

[constantgardener]

Thats how I remember it being as a child (early 90's). It was not at a fundi church. The themes included biblical themes like fisher of men. We did a lot of fish related crafts. Another year it was about being a light in a world of darkness. We made candles that year and learned how to make a fire. The only time we talked about Jesus dying on the cross was easter. Then, we did not make a game out of it. It was a solemn occasion.

The camp my kids are going to is billed as an 'activity week' - I don't there is going to be much emphasis on soul-saving, fortunately. I have the leaflet in front of me now, which says there will be 'stories, songs, drama, jokes, team games and challenges and crafts'. In fact the whole leaflet only mentions Jesus once! I will report back in due course!

[Kitchen Princess]

They lie for Jesus all the time. If your kid escapes without an "invitation to Jesus", you will be lucky.

[RachelB]

VBS is all over the map.

I've been to (and worked at) some that were slightly Jesus-flavored day camps. Lots of diorama-making and some lanyards, and a lot of singing. Oh, and snacks that go along with the theme of the camp. (I think my introduction to hummus and tabouli was the year the theme was "Jerusalem 30 AD.")

But the year I went to Catholic VBS with my best friend, they showed us "The Silent Scream." I did not go back after that; my very pro-choice mother was pissed that someone thought that was a suitable film for 8-year-olds. (Or, you know, an accurate documentary.)

The year the UCC church (the liberal protestant congregation where my parents worked) and the Covenant church (the conservative protestant church in town) did a VBS together, I had a teacher who was reading one of the stories of creation from Genesis, who paused, then said, "Some people will try to tell you that you came from monkeys. But you know that you are a child of God." I was about 10 at the time and thought, "Mom would think less of S if she knew that S is a creationist. I'm going to keep this bit of information to myself." Some time later, I did tell Mom. She laughed and said, "Yeah, if I had known she was feeding you creationism, I probably would have said something really rude and set the ecumenical movement in town back a few years."

[O Latin]

I volunteered for VBS at my very liberal mainstream Methodist church in high school, and they always used the VBS in a can (I don't know which one). Each day had a Bible verse or a lesson or a theme or something and there was always one day that was ultra heavy on the "Blood of Jesus, He died for your sins, etc." The staff hated it and thought it was way too intense for elementary school and younger kids, so they always told us to tone it down and basically just sort of gloss over it and get back to making popsicle stick picture frames or whatever. I guess those VBS curriculums are probably the best option if your VBS is attracting 100+ kids (which ours was), but they don't really offer a lot of leeway or room for creativity.

[Linnea]

Eww. Just eww. Even if you don't deliberately expose your kids to this kind of stuff, the kids spread it around among themselves. When my daughter was 4, she came home from her completely secular pre-school and told me what the other kids had told her about Easter: "They hammered nails through Jesus' hands." That was one of the things that made me decide to start attending a UU church, to give them some other input about religion.

On another note (no pun intended), when I was in elementary school, the schoolbus I rode also picked kids up at the local Catholic school. They would get on the bus singing a song that literally said "Eat His body, drink His blood . . ." I thought it was an intentional gross-you-out song, like "Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts" or something.

[Anxious Girl]

Is it bad that I misread the title as Vatican Bible School?

[constantgardener]

Whoops - double post.

[constantgardener]

Just thought I'd report that my kids have now finished their week at church camp and - praise the Lord! - it was all OK. They had a well-known Bible story as a theme each day and did crafts and activities that linked in - e.g. Daniel in the Lion's Den, they brought home lion masks and biscuits decorated as lions. They were allowed to take money to buy sweets each day from a little tuck shop, which they loved, and they also got to throw some slimy concoction at the leaders at the end of each day! The only slightly startling bit was that the vicar (I'd say in his 60's) was wearing bermuda shorts.

[Sumeri]

The only slightly startling bit was that the vicar (I'd say in his 60's) was wearing bermuda shorts.

:lol:

I was just thinking about this thread because my daughter was invited to VBS at a friends' church this week so I decided to go with her on Monday and check it out. It was one of those VBS in a cans -- adorable, all cute fuzzy animals and trees and cartoons and dinosaurs and a theme park! And then they started talking about the "real truth" - creationism. Not that pesky science! So we went home.

She cracked me up in the car, though, and said, "Do they ever sing any songs that don't say, God God God Jesus?" Afraid not, honey.