We have written our own Vacation Bible School programs for several years, because we find that the issues our children raise often lead to ideas which are more exciting to develop than to use packaged programs. I recall a couple of years back when one of the teenagers said, "I like those stories where Jesus hung out with people that other people didn't like." Our theme for that year picked up his idea, and we called it "Hang'n with Jesus". We noted that if one wants to hang out with Jesus, they might find themselves around people whom others rejected! So, we looked at people like Zacchaeus, the woman who anointed Jesus with oil, the blind beggar who was told to leave him alone, and the children whom even the disciples tried to discourage. T-shirts for volunteers that year showed Zacchaeus in a tree peering out toward Jesus who was approaching in the distance. A teenager drew the design.
Another year a teenager suggested David and Goliath, and we settled on the theme, "Faith Faces Incredible Odds". Jonah had to go and talk to people he did not like, Noah remained faithful despite what others were doing, the women who visited the tomb of Jesus had to deal with people not believing their report. T-shirts that year showed the feet of the fallen Goliath with young David picking a piece of chewing gum from the sole of his sandals, before shipping him home to mom! We got into hieroglyphics that year, as the Joseph story also led to the notion of saving for hard times. In crafts we created Egyptian Obelisks from milk cartons, covered them with sand, and had the children cut out hieroglyphic characters to spell their names, and paste their names into a cartouche to identify their "savings obelisk".
For July 17-21, 2000 our theme is Headline News: "Jesus Comes Home" and deals with issues our children face in their homes. We want to show that God cares about children's concerns, and that Jesus comes to our homes to care about us. We have selected stories which will deal with parental priorities taking precedence over those of the children (Abraham/Isaac), sibling rivalry (Joseph), foster homes (Moses), facing up to one's mistakes (Prodigal Son), and balancing the belief that your ideas are important, but still obeying one's parents (Jesus found in the temple).
We are inviting people to bring laptop computers to assist our children in making front page headline stories, complete with pictures. Teacher books are hand created, using masterpieces of Christian artworks, not just cartoons or children oriented drawings. They will serve as models for the children to use as they create their own stories. We also plan to make a video showing our children reporting the stories as "Headline News".
Feature picture being prepared for volunteer T-shirts: "Jesus Comes Home!"
Gary