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Overview: “Imagine what it was like to live and work in the dusty town of Nazareth, just as Jesus was beginning his ministry around Galilee. You’d hear whisperings about Mary’s son, Jesus – the local carpenter’s kid who says he’s the Son of God. Maybe the boy Jesus even had dinner at your house or played tag with your kids. As you tend your sheep or bake your bread, perhaps you secretly wonder if it’s really possible that Jesus – the boy down the street – could be the Messiah.”
Format: Kids and adults are divided in groups of no more then 10 individuals called the Tribes of Israel. These family-like groups travel together – worshipping, learning about Jewish culture, exploring the Marketplace, visiting Mary’s House, and digging into scripture.
Week at A Glance:
- Day 1 – Luke 1:26-38 – Jesus had a family… we do too! – “For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke1:37
- Day 2 – Luke 2:1-40 – Jesus had a name… we do to. – “I have called you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1
- Day 3 – John 14:2 – Jesus had a home… we do too. – “There is more than enough room in my father’s home. John 14:2
- Day 4 – Luke 2: 41-52 – Jesus went to church… we do too. – “Let us go to the House of the Lord.” Psalm 122:1
- Day 5 – John 2 1-12 – Jesus served others… we do to. – “Serve on another in Love.” Galatians 5:13
Decorating: This set is gorgeous! It brings flashbacks of High Seas, lots and Lots of foam core! Really seems worth the effort if you can afford it. As I looked at it, I realized that the “back” of the walls could be made of a less expensive material and the rocks on the walls with scraps of foam core, saving on some of the expense. Bruce Barry and the Group Decorating Team do an excellent job leading you step by step through the whole process. I greatly appreciate all of the effort that Group goes to making all of their sets so inviting and the support they give us to make ours look just like the real thing!
Stations: Everyone begins the day at the Opening Celebration, a brief worship time. Then, they divide into their small groups or their “tribe”, plan their day, and gear up in their tribal bandanas. Groups will also learn to watch for evidence of God in their everyday life – called God Sightings. The tribes then begin to rotate between stations. In Mary’s house, Tribes meet Mary and hear her perspective-what it is like to be Jesus’ mom! Then, there are Bible-times games. The Marketplace, consists of 10 shops that stay open and consist of the same projects for the whole VBS. After which, groups return for a closing hometown huddle where hands on activities help cement the Bible truth and get everyone involved. They discuss how they see God’s hand today, what God’s love means to them, and how they can share that love with others.
Missions: Operation Kid-to-Kid is an international mission program that allows hundreds of thousands of kids in North America to serve children around the world. The director’s manual states, “You may be used to having children bring money as a missions offering. However, most children don’t understand the value of money — it’s not a tangible “need” for them. That makes it difficult for them to make a concrete connection between their money and really making a difference in the life of another child. On the other hand, children are familiar with the excitement of having a colorful new backpack for school. This year kids will be creating a colorful backpack and Bible bookmarks for children in Latin America.” Group is teaming with Biblica (formerly IBS) and an optional part of Operation kid-to-kid you can collect $2.00 for Spanish New Testaments that will be dropped into each backpack that the kid’s tye dye. Kid’s learn about Operation-Kid-to-Kid on Day One and “meet” a real child from Latin America on the Operation Kid-to-Kid posters. This makes missions very tangible and real for the kid’s. The posters are beautiful and a must have resource to truly have kid’s understand how God is working through their giving and service. Operation Kid-to-Kid has a true impact in the world. “In 2009, Kids at Group VBS programs sent more than 1 million snuggly Comfort Critters to children who’ve survived disasters in North America.” I am a fan of Group’s missions project and especially like when they include the same items as a take home craft for VBS kids. My boys still pull out their Comfort Critters and talk about children that may be scared or suffering that they can pray for. If you can, I would recommend purchasing 2 backpacks for each child in VBS, one to send away, and one to send home with your kids to keep missions in their hearts and minds in the future. Group really imprints the reality of what they are doing through missions on kids brains and tucks it into their hearts and when a kid pulls that backpack out of his closet to pack for sleepover in 6 months he will remember the children he has helped through this project. The cost of 2 backpacks is only $3.00
Music: I am really pleased to see a DVD this year, and true to Group, it is well done! There are some old hymns like, Fairest Lord Jesus and some contemporary hits like Jesus Messiah and several really fun kids songs like Big House. Just like Group’s Easy VBS there are hand motions and lyrics on the screen. This is a nice addition to the Holy Land Adventure.
Student Materials: The hometown huddle kit seems to be a necessity for the program. Only one per tribe need be purchased and includes many of the objective lessons to help solidify each Bible truth. Each kit comes with a well written leader’s manual as well as the visual and hands on aids needed for the huddles. There are also the Bible Memory maker. I am a big fan of these – as I have seen my 10 year old son pull his old Memory Makers from years past and read the scripture over and over. They are costly at $3.09 per child, and I’m sure with some creativity you could come up with something just as effective for a fraction of the price, but do utilize them somehow! Finally, there are the crafts for the Marketplace. It makes it very easy to do crafts by just purchasing the kit from Group, but again, as the shops are open all week, careful planning would need to guide your purchasing here. Also, there are the Tribal Banduras, that are needed for each member of the tribe. Again, I am sure you could come up with an economical alternative. Finally, there are the iGrow Charts. They really are a growth chart that can be used at home to record a child’s growth over time, but is spattered with wonderful “Did you know” conversation starters to help parents begin faith conversations at home. Group does a remarkable job making available everything you could need for a quick easy VBS – but you’ll have to weigh the convenience with the price.
Personal thoughts: This program really screams “family VBS” to me. It it set up to allow families to stay together and learn together. This format allows for preschoolers to fit right into the family tribe. But, this program can be used for a “kids only” VBS and be just as successful. It could even be adapted to a once a week format for Sunday School with a little work. I love how kids can “time travel” through Group’s Holy Land Adventures. It could be fun to lose yourself and pretend to be in bible times, but I do feel this is a very tough sell for the older kids who are practicing to be “too cool” for such whimsy. I think it would be a good fit in a church that is very theatrical, or a large church where there is a huge pool of “talent” to recruit. Don’t get me wrong, this can be done by small churches, but risks losing its momentum if the “characters” aren’t in character. I would hate to see a well written curriculum fizzle because the volunteers weren’t comfortable dressing up and being a character. I would advise that you pray and think hard before choosing this curriculum, to make sure you and your volunteers have the energy, and theatrics it takes to do it justice. Available through Group Publishing, the starter kit runs $199.99.
For more information about this VBS curriculum, visit Group’s official website. They have also posted some music samples from the theme. Lynda Freeman has also written a good review of this material on her website ranking #2 among all 2011 VBS themes. Our readers voted this theme among the four most appealing for VBS 2011.
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- Hometown Nazareth Music Video Samples
- VBS Curriculum Review: Group’s PandaMania
- Beach Blast VBS Curriculum Review
- Mission to MARS (Meet a Risen Savior) VBS Curriculum Review
- Review: VeggieTales DVD Library Curriculum
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I’ve actually found that the older kids (by older I mean 4th – 6th grade) seem to respond to this just as well as the little kids. We put a real emphasis on the historical. With the younger kids I play fairly light on the “gritty” historical details, but with older kids I let some of the details out. This year, during the tax collector drama (where the Roman tax collector came around and collected taxes) I talked to the kids about how the town of Sepphoris had rebelled during a census because they didn’t like the Roman’s taxing them, and how the town had been destroyed and many of the people had been sold as slaves. That type of detail you may want to cushion with younger kids, but can bring out with older kids…and I found that those types of historic information really resonated with the older kids especially. A lot of older kids were interested that the petals of the flowers we were planting in Farmer’s Field could be used to make dye, and things like that. A lot of that was stuff I researched on my own, but I find that the older kids respond to that historic stuff, and the material lends to adding in that extra research.
We also talked with the older kids about helping the younger kids (something that was suggested in the materials), and many of older kids really responded to that as well.