connecting

My mother asked me a specific question the other day that I would like to write about. I'll write another post soon about Week 8 and the summer coming to a close, but, for now, you get to read my response to my mother.

She wanted to know how the themes and skits that program did every week aligned with the Bible teaching the kids got that same week. Every day, our kids go to something called Bible Adventure where they sing and dance about how amazing God is (one of my favorite songs is "Jesus, You're my Superhero") and get some small teaching before splitting off into their sections and doing a small activity to really hit the point home. Our two Bible Adventure leaders this summer were Sucre and Vyve, and they did an absolutely amazing job. There were two weeks of Bible Adventure that alternated: All Aboard! (about everyone using their specific gifts together to bring glory to God) and Little People Big Things (as it sounds, it was about little or seemingly insignificant people in the Bible who did really big, incredible things). Throughout the summer, our program themes aligned in some ways with the Bible Adventure topics. All Aboard and Shipwrecked were together and Little People Big Things was always with A Bug's Life.

For the skits of Shipwrecked, the plot usually progressed so that we were stranded on an island, we each came up with our own ideas of how to get off the island and then argued and fell apart or some villain incited dissension so we fell apart, then we would be reunited by the captain talking sense into us or having to come together against the villain, we would put our gifts together and manage fix the boat and get off the island! For a Bug's Life, there was usually a small, misfit bug who wasn't really accepted or listened to, there would be some imminent danger or a villain mucking up the scene, the little bug would come up with a big plan or unite everyone against the villain and end up saving the day.

At the end of every week, either in their separate villages or all together, the campers would have something called a Say So Campfire. It is a time to reflect on the week, debrief Bible Adventure and all the true stories, and debrief theme. It often becomes a discussion of how the stories in the Bible are true, and, even though the story of theme isn't true, it holds a truth in it. So, the kids are able to see the parallel between the story of how God gave Moses, Aaron and Miriam special gifts that they used together to lead their people out of Egypt and how each one of the ship's crew had special gifts (navigation, ship repair, strength, etc.) and they could only succeed and get off the island if they put those gifts together.

Though it was tricky at times to make sure that everything was aligned and made sense, it was super rewarding when it worked well. It was a lot easier for the kids to see the continuity and make connections between what they were learning about God and what they were seeing in our skits. Learning things that are immediately applicable is the best kind of learning.