wfn.org | VBS program promotes faith, community and heritage

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

July 2, 2003  News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.	ALL-AA-AF-YE-P-I{348}

NOTE: Photographs are available with this story.

A UMNS Feature
By Kathy L. Gilbert*

The squirming circle of energetic 5-year-olds fell out of their chairs
laughing every time their vacation Bible school teacher tried to get them to
recite their memory verse.

"Wisdom is like a baobab tree: no one person can encircle it," Earline Clark
says, trying again.

Every time she says "baobab" it comes out a little more mangled than the last
time. 

"It's bowbob tree!" the children shout in unison after every
mispronunciation. 

The kids had it down. Clark, like most of the grown-ups, was still having
trouble with the word at the end of four days of teaching and learning the
new VBS program, "Under the Baobab Tree," at Edgehill United Methodist Church
in Nashville, Tenn.

Baobab (which is pronounced bow - as in "wow" - bob) is just one of the
African words children learn in the program written and produced by the
United Methodist Publishing House.

The new resource combines the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with
African, Caribbean and African-American traditions.

"In years past, we have had to adapt VBS curriculum because it didn't reach
our children," said the Rev. Diane Luton Blum, pastor at Edgehill.

"The children really responded in ways that were far more peaceful and joyful
than in years past."

Blum said the curriculum gave the adult leaders, African American and white
alike, the chance to learn about the culture and experiences of
African-American Christians.

"It was enriching for all of us," she says.

The concept for the new curriculum came after two years of research and a
renewed commitment by the Publishing House to produce "quality, scholarly
resources that are relevant for the African-American community," says Fred
Allen, communications director for the agency.

Marilyn Thornton has been living "Under the Baobab Tree" since she came on
board at the Publishing House last year. As one of the primary writers, she
has overseen the production and conducted most of the training for the
program. She was also on hand at Edgehill to "beat the drum," teach the
songs, direct the skits and hug the kids.

"As a person who has come out of the black church all my life and one who has
used a whole realm of different materials, I just did not see the heritage
perspective in any of the materials being produced," she says. She has
combined the concept of "standing on the shoulders of our ancestors" with
theology in a way that is fun and exciting for children as well as adults,
she says.

"In so many vacation Bible school programs, the adults are separate from the
children or the adults are not there at all," she says. She has found
churches have wanted to pull the two groups together, but the thought of
writing and figuring out how to do that on their own was just too daunting a
task.

"When they see it all here in this resource, they are finding that really
exciting."

The genesis of "Under the Baobab Tree" came as a result of partner
relationship with a local church in Kansas City, Mo., Allen says.

St. James United Methodist Church developed and has been conducting a
variation of the traditional VBS called Vacation Liberation School. 

"Our contention at St. James is that Christianity is a liberation movement,"
says the Rev. Emmanuel Cleavor, church pastor. "Jesus introduced his earthly
ministry with the words of Isaiah: 'The spirit of the Lord is upon me. ... He
has sent me to proclaim freedom for the captives ... to release the oppressed
(Luke 4:18-19).'"

"Rev. Cleavor really spurred the development of our program," says Susan
Salley, director of New Ventures for the publishing house. "He told us to
focus on liberation. He said it goes back to history but it all goes back to
Jesus Christ." 

As research was done for the project it became clear that the baobab tree was
the perfect image to use for the new curriculum, Thornton said.

In Africa, the baobab is a large tree that grows in the grassland, which
covers about 65 percent of the continent. For three-fourths of the year, it
is leafless and stores water. Animals and sometimes people live in its large
branches. In villages, it is a place of community gathering.

"I remember the first time I went to Africa and actually witnessed the baobab
tree as the center for gathering," Allen says. "I saw children and elders,
men and women, all gathering around the tree during the midday hour to share
a meal.

"When you see the richness of how a culture has taken a part of God's
creation and placed it in the center of poverty and despair and great
anguish, it becomes more than a metaphor," he says. 

In the VBS curriculum, spiritual songs are combined with contemporary music
to build on the heritage theme. Children play traditional African-American
games such as "Little Sally Walker and Little Johnnie Brown" as well as learn
new games like the "Underground Railroad."

"Underground Railroad" is a version of tag that gets the players from slavery
to freedom.

"You have your stoppers and your helpers," Thornton says. "Somebody will get
free but somebody else is not going to be free because that is reality."

More than 750 churches have already reviewed the project, Salley says. The
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, which has never before endorsed a VBS
program, has endorsed "Under the Baobab Tree," she says. The Disciples of
Christ Church as well as the Presbyterian Church (USA) have also endorsed the
program.

Allen says it is important to note that the program is not exclusively for
African Americans.

"It is broad in its information and will help the whole church see how
connected we are in these common human realities."

More information is available by calling (800) 672-1789 or visiting
www.cokesbury.com.

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*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer in Nashville, Tenn.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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