From the WSJ Opinion Archives
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
Vacationing With Jesus
A refuge for frazzled parents, an opportunity for churches.
There comes a time in every mother's life when she has to make a decision to save herself and her loved ones, even if it means taking a leap of faith. There comes a time for Vacation Bible School.
The large signs beckon from every suburban church. Free baby-sitting, they whisper. All week! It is a seductive pitch, directed at frazzled parents desperate to entertain their bored offspring as the summer drags on.
Vacation Bible School, or VBS, differs by denomination, but churches that offer it share a common goal: to expose children to the Gospel, and maybe, just maybe, recruit their families into the church. For Southern Baptists, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., VBS is the most effective tool of evangelism, the impetus for 26% of baptisms in 2006. Nearly three million children and adults attended VBS at Southern Baptist churches last year, resulting in 94,980 "decisions to receive Christ as Savior" and 280,693 "Sunday School prospects discovered," according to Southern Baptist Convention statisticians. "Vacation Bible School is today's revival," said Jerry Wooley, the VBS specialist for LifeWay, the SBC's publishing agency.
Vacation Bible School was the brainchild of a Mrs. D.T. Miles, wife of a Methodist minister in Hopedale, Ill. Mrs. Miles, it is said, was concerned that the children of her husband's congregation weren't learning enough on Sundays and needed a monthlong course of study over the summer. The first session, in 1884, had 37 students. Like its modern-day counterparts, it included arts and crafts, singing, exercise, drama and Bible study.
Today, more than half of American churches offer VBS. Many provide a weeklong, half-day program during the summer, primarily for grade-schoolers. Increasingly, however, churches are switching to evening sessions, and offering classes for adults, as well, said the Rev. Mayra Castaneda, assistant director of education and leadership ministries for the National Council of Churches.
VBS is big business for the publishing houses of the major denominations, which develop an annual theme--ranging from ranching to hot-air ballooning--and sell workbooks, teacher manuals, decorations and computer games wrapped around it. More than 70% of the 35,000 United Methodist churches in the U.S. offer Vacation Bible School, and they learned next year's theme, "Beach Party: Surfin' Through the Scriptures," this July. The 2008 material will be available by December, allowing churches, if they choose, to conduct a summer-themed VBS over Christmas vacation.
Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, in Chapel Hill, Tenn., has 150 members, and for them, VBS was a budget-breaking expense. At $1,000, it "is one of our highest funded programs," said Jenny Youngman, the wife of the pastor. The investment paid off: Chapel Hill's program, held July 22 to 26, drew 55 children each evening and resulted in three new families attending church the next weekend.
VBS often begins or ends with a party--as simple as a family worship service with refreshments afterward, or as elaborate as a carnival with pony rides. During the course of the week, children may go on field trips, and they often take home T-shirts, CDs, hats, bracelets and videos.
Usually all of this is free, while a week at other camps can cost $250 or more. But the YMCA camp doesn't follow up with phone calls and postcards, urging you to come to Sunday School. The Frozen Ropes baseball camp doesn't ask your 7-year-old to dedicate his life to Christ.
"People love to claim that our whole goal is to trap these kids into making a decision they're not ready to make, but we're not forcing anything. Every church I know is very open about what they're going to do that week," LifeWay's Mr. Wooley said. "We're telling you right up front--we're going to be teaching God's word."
Churches are just one group competing for the hearts and minds of children, he said. "We know that once a child gets to about the age of 13, if they have not been exposed to the Gospel message of Christ, it's going to be really hard to reach that person after 13," Mr. Wooley added, citing research by The Barna Group, a Ventura, Calif., firm that studies cultural and religious trends.
Glynis Jaszewski, a Roman Catholic who lives in the suburbs of Richmond, Va., sent her two children to Vacation Bible Schools at Protestant churches without qualms. "When I was working, they would always go to two or three of them in the summer; it was day care," Mrs. Jaszewski said. She believes their generic Christian message doesn't vary much, even across denominational lines.
Indeed, the big publishing houses that provide VBS material--the SBC's LifeWay, the United Methodists' Cokesbury and the nondenominational Standard Publishing (which produced the first printed VBS curriculum, in 1923)--peddle their wares to any church, regardless of denomination. And the simple themes based on Bible verses, with an accompanying VBS cheer ("Run the race, keep the pace, keep your eyes on Jesus!"), rarely stray into Wittenberg-like territory.
Mrs. Youngman, the pastor's wife, said churches welcome any child to VBS, whatever the parents' intent. "If we can connect with just one family, it's worth it," she said.
Ms. Graham is a writer in the suburbs of Boston.
