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Last summer our church took a chance on the first Vacation Bible School from Answers In Genesis. Overall, I was very impressed with the quality. That’s why I am excited about their 2009 VBS theme, “Operation Space: A Close Encounter With God’s Word.”
Here is my preview of the Operation Space VBS for 2009. Be sure to visit my Vacation Bible school resource page and my theme reviews for VBS 2009.
Please leave a comment below if you are using this theme. Everyone will benefit from your feedback.
2009 Operation Space Vacation Bible School
Here are my first impressions of the Operation Space VBS theme.
- Bible Content: AIG is setting the standard.
- Theme Appeal: Excellent, I’m already excited.
- Supporting Materials: Improving each year.
- VBS Music: Samples on their website, good quality but nothing remarkable.
- Overall grade:A-
Operation Space Theme
I can’t imagine a better direction than a space themed VBS. Disney’s movie WALL-E has really brought back science fiction, space and robots back into the popular imagination of children. The WALL-E DVD will be out by Christmas 2008, so many kids will have it memorized before Vacation Bible School time.
Operation Space Bible Lessons
These Vacation Bible School lessons present a basic introduction to Evangelical Christian teaching. The focus is on the Bible and its superiority for knowing truth. The lessons follow a traditional 5 day VBS with each day having its own mini-theme.
Last year the Answers In Genesis teaching was a mix of apologetic and Bible teaching. I expect this year will be similar. At times the transitions seemed a little forced to our teachers, but the variety made for a strong learning experience. Here are the 5 daily VBS themes.
- The Uniqueness of the Bible
- The Authority of the Bible
- The Gospel
- The Impact of the Bible
- Learn, Love, Live the Bible
Concerns About Operation Space
Very Focused On Young Earth Creationism:This may not be an issue for your church, but many protestant churches do not insist on a particular explanation of the creation beyond the fact that God make all things from nothing. Answers In Genesis works very hard to defend traditional Christian interpretations of the Bible by offering a form of Creation Science. Because their approach is apologetic, they do not leave much room for disagreements that exist in many churches over issues such as the age of the earth, the role of faith in science, and particular extra-biblical theories about the effects of Noah’s Flood.
Bible or Jesus – Where Should We Focus: You can guess from the Bible lessons above that AIG is very committed to teaching the Bible as God’s Word. While I agree with their theology, I sometimes wonder if overly focusing on the doctrine of scripture actually de-emphasizes the doctrine of Christ. Of course, we don’t know much about Jesus without the Bible, but we should never forget that Jesus is the focus of the Bible, not the Bible itself. This is even more of an issue if your church considers VBS an evangelistic event. The Gospel is about Jesus dying for our sins, rising again as the Lord, and reigning over God’s explanding Kingdom. We must remember that Jesus Christ is the Gospel, not the book.
What Do You Think?
Please share your opinions about Operation Space VBS in the comment selection below. My comments are just one opinion, so let me know what you think.
Need More Help? You can find even more practical ideas on my Vacation Bible School resource page and my Vacation Bible School crafts page.
Related posts:
- Answers In Genesis 2008 VBS Creation Theme Bible School
- LifeWay 2009 VBS Theme Announcements
- Studio GO: Standard Publishing’s 2009 VBS
- Crocodile Dock: Group’s 2009 VBS Theme
- Gospel Light’s VBS 2009: “Son Rock Kids Camp”
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Hi, we live in China and a friend is doing VBS here and has the 2009 Curriculum but not the song DVD. How can we get that? Any help is much appreciated!
Our church is in the fouth day of Operation Space!! When I was looking for material, I was looking for a VBS that would lay a lifetime foundation in a child’s life that would last a lifetime. I have seen the statistics about a great portion of young people who declare a faith in Jesus Christ, losing their faith when they reach collage age. I believe that we as churches have not laid that foundation. That is why I have chosen Operation space, as I think this is the first step in that foundation. The bible is the Word of God and is the Absolute Authority. Even though the gospel was presented on day 3, we as director’s and teachers should be emphasing this ourselves, every day. I thought that AIG did a good job! Most of the songs have good content and the kids really got into Blast Off and Absolute Authority. There are a couple that could be more enthusiastic and I don’t like the two parts on Blast Off, as I feel this confuses everyone. The kids loved the sound effects in the drama, but I would have liked it to be a little easier, than putting it on MP3. Just being on the CD would be better and easier. All in all I think this is a good 1st step in laying a good foundation. I will be looking for another good VBS to lay the second foundation. I had no problem with the creation account. The Bible and Science have no problem with each other. Evolution isn’t Science, but is just another part of the religion, Humanism. Don’t forget that Jesus Christ is mentioned in the whole Bible from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22. Jesus Christ is the center of the whole Bible. If the Bible isn’t the Absolute Authority of our lives, than Jesus Christ can’t be the Absolute Authority either. Jesus, himself declared the Bible to be God’s Word! So thumbs up to AIG for a great VBS.
Hi, am new at teaching Sunday school and find your website very valuable and informative, please assist me if you have a lesson on the 10 Commandments.
We just finished Day 3 and are on Day 4 tonight. Much of the curriculum and resources have been fantastic. I agree with Elizabeth, though, that the gospel is not exalted and emphasized as much as it should be. With that said, I was disappointed that AIG supports this “decisional” perspective on salvation. So much damage is done by talking kids (or even adults) into making a “decision” for Christ and getting them to repeat a prayer. This isn’t found in Scripture. We are called to repent and believe with all of our heart. This can only be accomplished by the aid of God’s Spirit when we are under conviction for sin. No man can tell us that we are saved. God alone is the One who will bear witness with our spirit that we are saved. This “decisional” salvation produces many false conversions, which just contributes to the spiritual decay of churches. I have been to the Creation Museum, subscribe to Answers Magazine, and appreciate all of the hard work done by AIG. I do disagree with Mr. Ken Ham though that the biggest problem with many churches is that they have not properly emphasized a literal interpretation of Scripture. That is a big problem, but the larger issue is that many churches are not truly churches because they are filled with unconverted people who do not truly know or love Jesus. How can they then know or love His Word as He intended? I hope anyone who reads this has more than a “decision” to lean on but instead have truly experienced a real conversion and has the tangible fruit of salvation as evidence in their life. If not, seek the Lord until you find Him. Seek Him until He forgives your sin and replaces the guilt of condemnation with the peace of the presence of His Spirit.
We may use AIG curriculum again, but will continue to adapt the curriculum toward a more Scriptural form of evangelism.
My church is using Operation Space this year (it’s cheaper to use it when it’s old). I’m the Bible Lesson teacher, and I wanted to express a concern.
At my church, we use our VBS as a prime evangelistic opportunity. Over half of the children who attend are without a gospel-preaching church home. For this reason, I was dismayed with the curriculum’s lack of emphasis on the gospel.
The Gospel message is presented in its full form only on day 3, and is allotted just 10 minutes – in the same lesson, I’m to spend 10 minutes explaining God’s “recipe” for earth. The gospel is not emphasized at any other place in the curriculum. It’s not that I’m against the apologetics and scientific information included – I think it’s great! It’s just that, for our purposes, the gospel needs to be central.
One of my coworkers is sending her 9-year old son to our VBS. When he gets home and his (unsaved) mother asks him what he learned, he’s likely to say “God made the world in just 7 days!” – that’s the point of the curriculum. How much more helpful would it be if the point – what he parroted back to his mother – was “Jesus died to pay for sin!”
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