Vacation Bible School has become a summer tradition for many people. In fact, many children attend VBS at multiple churches throughout the summer. Living in the Chattanooga area provides multiple opportunities for children to be a part of the exciting VBS experience. With VBS taking place at multiple churches almost every week of the summer, you may find it odd to learn that my wife and I do not, and will not, send our children to VBS at other churches, nor do we encourage the parents in our church to allow their children to attend VBS at other churches.
Why? There is one main reason. I have seen firsthand how salvation is often presented in the VBS setting…it is often tragic. Here are a few thoughts I have on VBS and how it often fails to do what is intended.
First, understand that there is a difference in trusting in a prayer and trusting in Jesus for salvation. More attention is often given to the child repeating a prayer than to them understanding what Christ did for them and what it really means.
Second, children can be easily manipulated into ‘making a decision’. I have heard VBS workers ask, “Who doesn’t want to go to Hell?” Many kids raise their hands (I would as well). They are then told that they need to pray a prayer to keep from going to Hell. I have even seen prizes given to those who “get saved”. This kind of manipulation is simply a poor substitute for the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, and does not lead to true salvation.
Third, children are eager to please. If they think that saying a prayer will make the adult happy, they will readily do it even if they do not understand what they are doing. This leads to a false assurance of salvation.
Fourth, I have seen very few VBS programs that are designed to follow-up with those making professions of faith in the weeks that follow the VBS. The command of the Great Commission is to make disciples; not just converts.
I realize that there are children who have been saved through VBS. I also realize that there are churches that are careful to avoid these dangers. But I am not going to take a chance on my children attending VBS where salvation is so wrongly presented. I do not want them to be confused and messed up for the next 25 years thinking they are saved because they were manipulated into repeating a meaningless prayer. It is simply not worth the risk.
June 26, 2012 at 9:34 am
All good points, Jeremy. I also like that you recognize there are churches that perform VBS programs that are effective and are consistent with good discipleship practices. Tragically, it seems that many manipulate children into a prayer just to have a good report at the end. Arguably, this may be done ignorantly in many cases as the current generation is just repeating what they have already witnessed in previous generations. I can hear workers saying, “This is how we did VBS 20 years ago, this must be the right way to do it.”
As someone who came to faith in Christ at an early age (seven), I know it can be done. I was even persuaded (perhaps even manipulated) to “pray the prayer” many times before coming to faith. For me, I feel a critical element in my experience was my parents. They worked together with church leaders and were always aware of the times I had “come forward”. I am thankful that while they were cautious, they also recognized the sincerity of the belief of a young boy who was heartbroken over the fact that someone would love him enough to die for him. Once children understand this, avoiding hell isn’t nearly as motivating as serving the One who died for them.
Keep up the posts!
June 26, 2012 at 10:28 am
Excellent comment. Thank You!
June 26, 2012 at 10:57 am
Perhaps some of the same things could be said about summer youth camps. I don’t get why the only focus of these summer youth events seems to be salvation. Most of those attending are kids from the church anyway.
I’m not big on VBS in general but last year I was a volunteer leader for our church’s Adventure Week (basically, VBS). At the end of the week each leader was given a paper with the contact info for all the kids who had been in their group throughout the week. The purpose of this was for us to call them in two weeks, see how they were doing, if they had any questions and see if they were going to a local church. I thought this was great but this form of follow-up is probably rare.
June 26, 2012 at 11:10 am
This same easy-believism and modern evangelistic methodology might have had a good start with Finney, but today, it is an artifact of bad exegesis and aggressive salesmanship. Just tell people that no-lordship theology is a heresy, and you’re a legalist, adding to grace. This got going strong with Lewis Sperry Chafer, whose theology, much of it good but some of it bad, is the real theology behind many of today’s non-Augustinian denominations.
June 26, 2012 at 11:19 am
Thanks for your thoughts. Having been a pastors family and currently missionaries, we have also seen ineffective and false teachings. I see value in participating in VBS in order to help the focus stay on a relationship rather than some moment of decision. Sometimes people just get caught up in numbers and lose the fact that Jesus never once made a decision the focus or guilted people into believing what he said. He built relationships and stuck to the truth and if Christ-followers would really follow that example, there would be a lot more people seeking and finding a healing relationship with God.
June 26, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Being a bus kid who was saved at the end of a VBS at a Baptist church, when “He reached way down for me” I would have to disagree. I understand what you are trying to say, but this August I will be celebrating 51 years of salvation as a result of learning the gospel at a VBS. My dad was saved three weeks later and our home went from an alcoholic nightmare to a Christian haven. I also learned the books of the Bible and memorized the entire 10th chapter of John through a VBS at a Christian Missionary Alliance Church before I was even saved. I have never forgot the compassionate hearts of the dear ladies who taught me these things- ladies who may not even have been saved themselves because not one time did they share with me the gospel. All of us make mistakes, and easy-believism is everywhere, but God’s Word will not return void no matter where or how it is preached, and whether in pretense or in truth (Phil 1). That is His promise. And I know that first hand………several times over the years I doubted my salvation, but thankfully, because of my “profession” (which was real as I have realized over the years) I ended up in a place where God could grow me.
July 2, 2012 at 2:46 am
I disagree with you Janet. Those are two different verses. The one you first quoted is from Isaiah 55 and it is taken out of its original context all too frequently. It is actually saying that GOD’S Word that HE sends out will accomplish what HE wants it to and that His purposes will not be thwarted. That’s all. Unfortunately, it isn’t some kind of blanket statement assuring that no matter how we use God’s Word, it will reach people. Example…Why isn’t the prosperity gospel a saving gospel? Proponents of it are using God’s Word. But they are misusing it contextually and exegetically.
June 26, 2012 at 6:34 pm
Very well written article and I agree with your main point. I do have a concern/question though: what do you say to a family that comes from a church that doesn’t have VBS or any type of summer kids program? Would you discourage that family from going ?
June 26, 2012 at 9:55 pm
I would encourage them to do their research to see how the church views salvation and how they present the gospel before allowing their children to attend.
July 17, 2012 at 11:54 am
Thank you so much for this short and honest article. To be honest, all I needed was a little tip in the direction of not sending my daughter to VBS for me to be 100% comfortable letting my mother know (who invited my daughter) that she would not be going. We go to different churches: she a Calvary Chapel and I a Baptist church. I suppose that’s besides the point.
Anyway, my children are in the Word every day and in every way like in Deuteronomy 11:19. We point everything (we’re human so obviously not 100% of the time) back to Christ and God’s word, and we also have lots of time in God’s written Word. My three year old daughter has an incredible understanding of the truth, and I believe that comes from God through an intimate, personal relationship He has with my daughter.
On example that blew me away was when we were reading about the Temple in Jerusalem, my daughter stopped me. “NOOOPE”, she said. So I repeated myself, “The Temple of the Lord is in Jerusalem…”… “NOOOPE”, she repeated, then continued, “the temple of the Lord is in my heart.” She’s THREE.
Another example was from a few days ago when she was struggling with lack of self-control, a specific sin issue. I spoke with her about listening to Satan vs. listening to God and being careful to know the difference between what God would encourage you to do vs. what Satan would and to not let Satan into your mind. My daughter said, “Yes, but satan can never, ever come into my heart because God is in my heart, and only God can be in my heart.”
Is it silly that I am concerned that something as “fun” and “cool” as a VBS experience will make a mockery out of the God that is so real to my daughter and cause her to see Him more as an act, a cartoon character and thus change her perspective on the Living God?