Summer vacation brings Bible schools

Cyndy Stevenson knew she couldn’t do it alone.

When her kids were in preschool, the Spokane woman wanted them to begin learning about faith and morality. But a good religious education, she concluded, required more than what she taught them at home.

So like many parents, Stevenson started going to church again.

“I needed to get them exposed to the word and learn about Jesus’ life,” said Stevenson, a Presbyterian. “Jesus is the best role model. I wanted them to follow His example.”

Beginning this month, thousands of Inland Northwest parents are looking to churches and other faith groups to help connect their children to God.

For many, the answer will be vacation Bible school, a summer fixture at many Christian congregations for decades. Sometime after school gets out and before Labor Day, churches host weeklong gatherings where children learn about the Christian faith by singing songs, playing games and hanging out with other kids.

“One of the biggest doorways into the church is through family ministries and VBS is our largest outreach,” said the Rev. Mark McIlraith, pastor of families, youth and children for Whitworth Community Presbyterian Church.

At the end of June every year, about 300 kids gather at the north Spokane church for its annual VBS offering. While many regularly attend church with their parents, some of the children who come have no religious background.

At some point during their early years, kids start asking those meaning-of-life questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Why do people die? For some parents, church might be the obvious place to begin.

“Parents want their kids to have a sense of spirituality, but they sometimes don’t know how to articulate that,” said McIlraith.

Faith also takes on a new dimension when people start raising a family. “When you have kids, you realize that life is far more significant than just living for yourself,” said McIlraith, the father of a 7- and a 5-year-old and another child due in October. “You want to carve a space for your children in this world and provide them with safety, community and depth.”

While religious leaders are often considered the experts on morality and spiritual matters, it’s really the parents who play a key role in passing faith on to their kids, he said. The church simply supplements the learning that starts at home.

As a mom and the interim director of children’s ministries at Whitworth Presbyterian, Stevenson views religious education as a partnership between families and faith communities. “Developmentally, spiritually and educationally, we are continuing this fluid effort to raise the best kids,” she said. “As a parent, it’s hard to do well without support or foundation so I turn to the church for fellowship.”

For the last few months, Stevenson, along with other church staff and dozens of volunteers, has been getting ready for Whitworth Presbyterian’s vacation Bible school, which starts Monday. For nearly three hours each day, children will be involved in games, skits and crafts, all based around the theme: “Fiesta! Where Kids Are Fired Up About Jesus.” This year, so many families have registered their children that classes, with the exception of pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade, are full.

Parents don’t necessarily need to bring their children to a church, synagogue or other place of worship in order to teach values and spirituality, but many involved in religious education say the worship experience and the relationships children forge with others help enhance their understanding of God.

“We believe the Bible is the foundation to raising kids and to living,” said Aaron Clow, the pastor for elementary-age kids at Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, a nondenominational congregation that includes 1,800 kids under 12. “Parents need to seek the truth and look for a Biblical world view to ground their child at an early age.”

In order to grow in faith, children – like everyone else – benefit from being part of a larger community, said Shaun Stone, children’s ministries pastor at Life Center Foursquare Church in Spokane. “When parents are making the effort to go to church, it sends a message to their kids,” he said. “It shows them how much Jesus and their faith means to them. It helps to be around people who believe what you believe.”

Every week, about 800 kids in the fifth grade and younger flock to Life Center’s AdventureLand, a more creative and modern-day version of traditional Sunday school. Instead of vacation Bible school, the church brings some of the children to Riverview Bible Camp near Cusick, where they spend a week in June learning about Christianity along with other kids from area Foursquare churches.

At Whitworth Presbyterian and other churches, the lessons during VBS and Sunday school always go beyond Bible literacy. Teachers also try to find ways to apply Scripture to everyday life.

“Instead of just memorizing the Bible verse, we try to have them exemplify it,” said Stevenson. “All our curriculum is focused on making good choices.”

For Stevenson, whose kids are now 14 and 16, the decision to bring her family to church not only taught her children about living a moral, ethical life; it also has deepened her own spirituality.

“It has helped me reconnect and be accountable,” she said. “It’s brought me closer to God.”