I have a new pet peeve. VBS at churches which don't teach children the true meaning of stewardship or giving or anything of the sort. We have devolved these "immersion" education experiences into competitions to see who can give the most money or whose family will buy the most things at a market or the such. By embracing secular "giving competitions" we have created a scenario which puts giving to the church on the same plane with college fraternity fundraisers or public school PTA games which dunk the teacher whose class gives the most. Is this what we want our children to learn about giving to the church and missions. As for me and my house, that is not the game and I am taking responsibility to teach my children why this is wrong. I wish I didn't have to use a church's ministry as an example of what NOT to do.
This AM, I actually had a conflict with a daughter who was concerned that money given to the boys wasn't as much as what was given to the girls. She wasn't thinking about what she was giving, or that I had given them every dollar in my wallet. It didn't occur to her in the moment of what the real goals or intentions were. What will she remember in 6 days, 6 months, or 6 years. There was no mention of the biblical imperative for a tithe or even for the real usage goal of the VBS offering.. "Watering Malawi". (BTW, if you are reading this, please consider giving to this cause and making a difference.) We wonder why we lose these kids when they grow up. Could it be because they are no longer being taught what the real meaning of worship, tithing and missions are? Could it be that they see through the veiled facade of ministry, and they see just another charity?
Church isn't just another charity. When we remove the reverence and the call, we are killing it.
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