Concordia Supply VBS

[Hamalas]

Hi everyone!

A local church has invited us to partner with them in doing VBS this year. They typically use curriculum from Concordia Supply (https://www.concordiasupply.com/Vacation-Bible-School/VBS-2022-Themes) but I'm not really familiar with them as a publisher. Does anyone have experience with their VBS curriculum or know anything about their theological background/leanings?

 

[Polanus1561]

nothing to add brother to your topic but consider https://answersingenesis.org/vbs/ if there is a need.

 

[Jack K]

About 15 years ago, I was assigned some of their Sunday school materials to use, so I saw those for about a year. They seemed more evangelical-minded than the better-known Concordia that's the publishing arm of the Missouri Synod Lutherans. In that sense, it was safe enough. Theologically, the lessons didn't have anything terribly objectionable in them, but they weren't very deep either. The material was pretty engaging in a worldly way, but I didn't feel it did much to capture kids' attention by engaging them with the beauty of Christ. Like many evangelical-enough materials, it avoided heresy, focused on a few popular and perfectly good themes, but relied more on flash than substance to keep kids interested.

Again, that was 15 years ago, and was not a VBS course, but those observations might still be helpful. I beefed up the lessons when I taught from that material, and I was happy enough, but I also thought my church could do better. We switched to something more robust the next year.

I will also say this: VBS is a different animal than an hour-long Sunday school class. VBS is not just about the teaching content, but also about fun stuff like crafts, games, songs, skits, snacks, etc. Sometimes a set of VBS materials that comes with shallow lessons (like most of them do) can still be useful because the other elements work well for a particular church's needs. So, if you end up with VBS materials that aren't as theologically robust as you might like, focus on recruiting some really good Bible teachers and discussion/prayer leaders and ask them to take things deeper. Especially with VBS, recruiting the right staff tends to be more important than picking the right materials.

A theologically-sound teacher you trust can also review all the materials for the occasional problem spot. The biggest difficulties I've had in partnering with other churches for a VBS have come from disagreements over an element or two that I found problematic but the other church loved: A song I thought was too legalistic but the other church liked because the tune was catchy. Or a "sinner's prayer" included at the end of one of the lessons, which I wanted to forego but the other church felt was essential. Do get the materials in hand early and talk through such things well in advance.