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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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Our Communittee is doing this theme (6 churches joined together). I am in charge of the Nursery. Any thoughts about decorations or easy projects to do with them?
Laurie,
I completely agree with you. I reread my post, and I dont think that I made my point clear at all. Of course science and faith are interdependent, but what I mean is that I am not a fundamentalist interpretor of the bible. I think a lot of the old testament is symbolic and maybe not all mean tto be taken literally and at face value. What I meant about th bible “not being %100″ (which was a terrible way to put that) was that I also believe that we need to study the bible and really understand it, but also listen to other things such as conscience and theologians ect. I also agree that teaching children is imperative to all faiths. They are our future and I think this website is a wonderful oppurtunity for people of deferent churches and even denominations to get together and discuss it.
thank you for making me reread that and realizing that i certainly didn’t choose my words well
Russell,
Thanks for your comments. We used AIG last year and will again this year. But I’ve told our teachers not to make “earth age” a cardinal doctrine of the faith. There is room for Christians to disagree on some details – I’ve changed my mind on those issues several times. There are many things in the Bible that challenge even the most mature believers. That doesn’t mean everyone is right, we just all need to be humble and wait for God to clear it up when Christ returns.
The bottom line is that God did create us for a special relationship with him, and since the earliest people we’ve rejected Him and need a savior.
Russell, Wow, I think you really need to talk to your priest about faith and science. They are not independent of each other, rather interdependent. And the Bible is how we know Jesus IS the Savior… Teaching children is a huge responsibility for your church, Catholic or Protestant.
the creationism ruins this for me. Since we are a catholic church we are much more open to science. Also I agree that overly biblical is not the way to. To me the bible is a huge part of faith but certainly not 100%
Lily,
I hope that you are not teaching your children that baptism washes away their sins. At face value, that appears what is said, but in the context of Scripture, that would be a works based salvation which, the Bible does not teach.
I would refer you to 1 Pet 3:21
“And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you– not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience– through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,..” (NAS) Peter is not saying the act of water baptism saves, but is referring to the baptism of repentence and regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
Well we did end up keeping the AIG VBS program. I did not find the “new earth” vs “old earth” emphasis to be that great. In my opinion the music DVD lacks enthusiasm. Plus they voiced over little kid voices on top of big kids singing. It looks and sounds very strange. My kids picked up on it right away and kept asking me why those big kids are singing like little kids. We may opt out of most of the music video. However, overall, after reading through everything, I beleive it is a good program.
No theme is perfect, but I have always liked the apologetic content idea. Thanks for keeping this comment thread active!
I am very disappointed with the AIG VBS program after reading your review. I ordered the program but have not received it yet. My original concern was that AIG would focus on a “young earth”. I called AIG before ordering the program and the person I talked with looked through the curriculum and told me that she didn’t see any strong emphasis on “young earth” within the program. Our pastor is an “old earth” believer and was willing to look at the program, upon my information, but now I think I will be just sending it back.
Since baptism washes away our sins, Acts 22:16. It is very important that we teach this fact. One can have store bought VBS, and still add other scriptures than what is in the VBS package. Since you have a small congregation, have you ever thought about making your own material? We have done many VBS’s on our own, The Savior, The Sea, And Me, Whisper A Prayer, Let My People Go, and this year’s theme, In the Beginning. In the Beginning is doing creation, but also the first sin. If you are interested in making your own material, contact me. I can help you out.
Tony:
Thanks for the review on our 2009 VBS. You have and/or contribute to a great website here. I wonder if you could edit your page that indicates that our 2009 VBS is still in production?
It is here on your site http://ministry-to-children.com/vacation-bible-school-2009/. Just a thought, since it is finished! By the way our VBS website is http://www.answersvbs.com.
Contact me if you have any questions. And again, thanks for encouraging and equipping Children’s Ministry workers to commend God’s work and wondrous deed to the next generation! (Psalm 145:4)
I was also impressed with their V.B.S. curriculum-the only thing is the cost for a small church. We loved the whole set-up with the exception of not teaching about baptism. It’s in the bible-why do we avoid it?
I know this is old, but I would like to answer your question. We do not teach baptism, because it is not a requirement by God to be saved. After we are saved we are to be baptized as an example to others to follow Christ. Baptism does not save you, so there is no reason to mention it right now.
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