08/18/2007

Fun With Faith

Programs aim to nurture spirituality in children

By Gretchen Murray
Local columnist
gmurray@
record-eagle.com

Read Gretchen's past columns here

Forget the hot summer week of scripture memorization, coloring books and the proverbial orange drink, Protestant churches have stepped into the 21st century by ramping up their summer Vacation Bible School offerings.

With the lure of names like "Avalanche Ranch: A Wild Ride Through God's World” and "Great Bible Reef: Dive Deep Into God's World,” they're getting kids' attention — and participation. Of the many that have taken place in northern Michigan this summer, the recent "Avalanche Ranch” program brought more than 100 children to the Traverse Bay United Methodist Church. "The Great Bible Reef” brought some 50 campers to Advent Lutheran Church, a small, start-up congregation in Lake Ann.

With more volunteer involvement and creative programming then ever before, the week-long Bible schools show that adults are paying close attention to what children think about spiritual matters and providing a comfort zone for children to develop spiritually.

According to Dan Smith, of Fairview, Mich., children need to be the focus of Protestant churches if they're going to remain healthy congregations. Smith is director of Living Water Ministry in Fairview. The ministry, an outreach of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, offers a talented group of young adults willing to lead child-based activities like vacation Bible schools for churches that don't have their own resources to do so. The ministry also offers a variety of religious-based summer camps for teens catering to their specialized interests with offerings such as rock and roll band camp and acting camp.

"Bible school is a trend in thriving churches that have a future,” Smith said.

The surveys that he has conducted with his campers in the five years that he has been director there correspond with research found on faithfactors.com, a Web site posting research findings of an ongoing project studying faith in youth and young adults.

"Ninety percent of children who are baptized in a church are still active at 14,” Smith said. "But by age 21, only 40 percent are still active.”

Smith said the 50 percent that are lost typically don't come back.

"By the time they reach 35, those adults are still not back to church, ” he said.

And the competition for those 30-somethings is becoming fierce between mainstream Protestant denominations and the new non-denominational mega churches. Whether its VBS programs, church camps, youth groups or contemporary worship services, mainstream denominations are making an all-out effort to retain their membership.

"The mainstream churches that are aging are not offering what the mega churches are in terms of programs that speak to those groups of kids,” Smith said. "When they're in their element, and they're included in worship service, those (services) are better attended.”

But with so much fun mixed in, are children still getting the rudiments of a Christian education in such a social setting?

"The week probably is not what adults would associate with their Bible school experience,” said Pastor Jeremy Williams of Traverse Bay United Methodist Church. "People will be surprised to see that children are not sitting in rows as teaching was done in an older model.”

The recent Avalanche Ranch VBS at Traverse Bay that attracted 110 area preschool through fifth grade children was staffed by 100 church volunteers and offered a hands-on approach to scripture, and today's volunteers are savvy to the cognitive learning skills in children.

"The same story is told in crafts, music, drama and a movie,” said Dawn Brown a yearly VBS volunteer at Traverse Bay and a pediatric occupational therapist at Munson Hospital. "Along with a chance to sample some of the foods of the day, children are using all their senses to learn about biblical times.

"The younger they are, the more influence you have on them,” Brown said explaining that each year the children attend the summer Bible school provides a broader foundation of information for use in building on their Christian education.

"We don't teach where a certain story is in the Bible, but the children know the story of what God did to change the lives of the people in those times,” Brown said.

"On a kid level, we teach them that God lives in our hearts,” said Devon Herrell, assistant pastor at Traverse Bay. "We teach that from age zero.”

But Herrell estimates that the concept that God loves them for whom they are doesn't really kick in until around junior high.

"Asking a child, 'Do you want to be saved?' That's very frightening. We try to love people to Christ because that's important. If a child's home life isn't good, at least they know God loves them unconditionally. It provides another source of strength for them,” Herrell said. "Our goal as a church is not to save souls in Bible school. We just love them and plant the seed that Christ is the way.”

Rev. Williams has noticed a growing need to pastor to the younger generation as he sees more children coping with tough issues in their lives.

"I don't know if children have changed, but we are acknowledging that we are seeing a lot of kids with serious hurt in their lives,” Williams said. "I think we're seeing kids with more emotional needs than in the last 10 years, whether that's from divorce or other family issues, but we try to provide a safe place to listen to and honor them and also hold them to stable expectations.”

That effort can involve the whole congregation. Rev. Williams explained that one of the church's core values is to be an intergenerational church. They select volunteers by looking at those who can enter into roles of older adults so that relationships can be built in multi-generational ways. He said one of Traverse Bay's VBS volunteers this summer was 92 years old.

"We want the church to be associated as a community of trust and interdependence,” Williams said. It's a counter approach to the state he coins "hyper individualism,” becoming inadvertently self-centered.

"The multi-generational concept exemplifies what it means to love one another,” he said. "And to kids who are isolated by TV or video gaming, this kind of relationship looks different.”

That generational seniority concept even trickles down to the children themselves.

Maddie Klingelsmith, 10, of Traverse City is going into sixth grade and was a crew leader for this year's VBS at Traverse Bay. She says she always wanted to be a crew leader.

”Even if parents just send their kids here to get rid of them, they should know that their kids are talking to people, and these people may have planted a seed in their mind,” Maddie said. She said her parents always took her to church. "I've already been baptized when I was 8. I really know about God and Jesus and that he died for me. After I got baptized, I felt a lot more — very loved by God, and I felt like I had a new self in me,” she said.

And Dillon Brown, 11, of Traverse City, a VBS alumnus also worked as a crew leader. He says he already got the message that God loves him and is ready to pass it on to the younger kids.

"Once you get it, it's really pretty cool, and it's really cool to teach other kids about God,” Dillon said. "You remember that you were that young once. I tell them if they have any questions, they can feel comfortable talking to me and asking about Jesus.”