The Only Encounter

ROAR! If you haven't seen, heard, or read anything about the controversy over the VBS Roar Curriculum from Group yet, I am not going to direct you to it. 

I am not going to shame and guilt a company that is geared towards educating children in both Scripture and the world we live in, because the company decided to take up the challenge and wrestle with a difficult subject matter. 

When approaching and tackling what Holy Scripture teaches and reminds the people of God about, it is a difficult undertaking for adults. Now take that same difficult undertaking and try to teach that to children. It becomes even more difficult to teach in a way that is engaging and informative. 

Roar takes the scriptural history of the Israelite nation while they were still slaves in Africa (Egypt) and begins to teach and show children and adults alike how God is still good and still faithful through it all. Of a 5-day curriculum, there are 3-points that are being scrutinized and torn apart, because...well because it's the internet and it can be. For this posts-sake there are 2-points. Because "point" number 3 is not even a point, there was a grammatical oversite that was not caught by writers and publishers. People this happens ALL the time! I was a writing major in college and one of our favorite past times in class was reading through our textbooks and noting grammatical errors that occurred. Grammatical errors in publications, even professional publications, happen all the time! We are the Church, extend some grace! So for me, this "point" is a non-issue. Be able to understand that this was an editing mistake and fix it in your curriculum. 

To the issues at hand:

Point #1: Hands-on Learning and Using YOUR Brain

I don't know about you but I spent my childhood going to museums and educational facilities all the time. Through school field trips, family adventures, and even being a kid again and going to family museums with my college roommates. There are two instances I can recall that shaped my understandings of historical events. 

Going to a Holocaust museum and being issued a real personal identity from the Holocaust. Walking through the facility and experiencing what it was like to be packed into a train car for transport, rooms were temperature and humidity regulated to mimic the sleeping quarters, as we laid in our "bunks". And the end of our trip through the facility we scanned our given ID as we exited and found out if this person had lived or died in the concentration camps. Another time was going through an Underground Railroad center where, as kids, we were huddled in cramped spaces where slaves hid or climbed up into small "attic" rooms where slaves and slave families hid. We even experienced what it was like to pick cotton and drag around the heavy harvesting bags. 

These were VERY hands-on and real-life encounters that opened my eyes to just a small fraction of what occurred during these times in history. I have a more realistic approach to these aspects of history because someone somewhere thought it educational to turn history into an experience.

In regards to what this curriculum suggests for one of the day's activities, a ministry leader's discernment must play a role. For anyone to simply take something that has been written up and handed out to thousands of programs, and take this at face value and not modify it to one's own context, is being just plain lazy and that's on you. To think that a pre-schooler (3-4 y.o.) is going to be able to understand a role-playing exercise as outlined in the curriculum is farfetched, yes. Let's be good stewards with the amazing things we are provided, like back-pocket ministries like VBS's, camps, and mission trips, and realize that we might have to do some work ourselves in making these things fit our unique context's. 

The brick-making exercise is a great hands-on learning encounter. As a youth leader, I am well aware that youth and children learn better when they have something to do with their hands and are actively being engaged with the lessons they are learning. Any adult or ministry leader who takes "being a taskmaster" seriously, needs to question whether or not they really should be working with kids. When given an instruction, imagine you are an elephant. This does not mean you are an actual elephant, nor that you are going to turn into an elephant, nor that you should go to a zoo and jump into the elephant enclosure. It is a helpful illustration. When you work with kids (and youth) you WORK WITH with kids (and youth), you don't just tell them what you want to see them do; you join them in the doing. You also push kids to interact and engage in what you are teaching. In ministry, and especially with kids, everything is done with love. If you are not able to take a suggestion from a curriculum and either adapt or illustrate it within the confines of love...let's just leave that between you and Jesus.    

Point #2 Culture Appropriation vs. Education

Where is this line? This is an honest question from someone who really wants to know! When does educating cross that line in cultural appropriation? That is what is being called out throughout the criticism of this curriculum. In Spanish class, we are taught how to say our American names in Spanish-speaking countries. In middle school, we learned about Japan and were taught how to use chopsticks by picking up silly things and turning it into a contest. In the deaf community, which is its own rich and unique culture, you learn from others and are given your own sign name.

So where is this line between education and cultural appropriation? I don't think that this line can be clearly identified because it differs for each individual. However, I do think that this not knowing, not wanting to offend, and being scared; has created an isolated world. A World in which we do not take the time to get to know one another. A world where we do not take the time to understand one another and each other's cultures and identities. Maybe this is because we are scared, we are scared to offend someone. Concerned that our own curiosity to questions we have may unintentionally offend someone. Now I am talking about genuine curiosity, once again coming from a place of love and connectedness. For example, one of my biggest curiosities is about African hairdos. I am fascinated by the black communities and African culture's hair. It is beautiful when it is all-natural and free to be, it is beautiful when it is done up and contained in braids and twists and dreds. I have a desire to learn more about it, and actually, follow a Facebook show that talks about these kinds of hairstyles. I have a genuine curiosity and appreciation for this knowledge, who knows when a bit of that understanding may come in handy in my life!

But because we live in a world that wants to see the hate, wants to pinpoint the evil, and give in to the badness and sin of humanity. I am scared to even ask some of my closest friends about their hair for fear that admiration and healthy curiosity will be heard as racism and stereotyping. 

All of this really boils down to what are you choosing to see. Are you choosing to see the good, are you choosing to see God, are you choosing to see the light in the midst of  A LOT of darkness and then, then act out of that goodness, that light, and into God's heart?

Our Children's Minister said something in her introductory material for our VBS this year, that says this: 

"For some children, Vacation Bible School is a fun activity that they do every year, however, to others it can be the first occasion some children have to learn about our Lord." 

Through whatever problem you may, or may not have with a certain curriculum, can we try to remember that!? Can we try to embrace the hard conversations that may arise during the teaching of difficult scriptural studies? Can we try to remember that we are all working towards the end goal and to bring the kingdom of God a little closer to our hearts and our lives? And in doing so, we are going to get a little messy, and that the Gospel message and the message of God are not all rainbows and butterflies. And that when we dilute and water down the message of God we are rearing up Christians who are not full to the brim, whose cups cannot runneth over because we, as their leaders, chose to dilute the scripture truths.

So as a church who is utilizing ROAR: 'Life is Wild, God is good!' 

As always,

Be A Blessing!