This past week we conducted our Vacation Bible School. As always, it was hectic but oh so rewarding. We had an average of nearly 70 kids each night--from toddlers to Jr. High.
This year we added the Jr. High (grades 6-8) to our program and had 18 kids show up. We had expected 6 to 8, so getting a handle on a herd of kids that age was an adventure for the three of us teaching the group. Many of the kids do not regularly attend our church, but came because their home church does not have a VBS.
As I have experienced before when teaching Jr and Sr High Sunday School classes, it was a little daunting to be invited into their strange little world for a couple of hours, and I was happy to get out each night. What we found is good news--they are clearly products of today's society, but when offered a chance to study God's holy Word, to think about what it means, and to try to apply it to their daily lives, they seize on the opportunity.
One of the nightly topics was "Jesus gives us the power to tell others about Him." That led to a discussion about a local public school that does not allow students to mention the name of Jesus because it might be offensive to other students, although they may discuss Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and wicca (and, believe me, they know what wicca is!!!). That led to ideas which included, witness through behavior, one-on-one witness, texting, im-ing, and even something as "old fashioned" as e-mail. Ouch!
We start planning next year's VBS in September. I can't wait.
2 comments:
Good work Mac!
(Although it sounds as if the public school needs a visit from an attorney!)
Rich
Kudos to you, Mac, for your leadership here.
I think that too often the church "dumbs down" its approach to youth and clearly y'all didn't do that!
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