Monday, June 30, 2025

It is the 30th of June 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A very happy Monday to you- entering the middle part of the year, which I remember as hotter… Why is it hotter in October? That and other questions will not be broached on this show- but, you all send me emails at danv@1517.org and you ask me questions and I was waiting for the question that came a few days ago from Brenda in Milledgville, Georgia… it was once the capital of Georgia- way to go Georgia, by the way- we should all be updating our capitals to the city people have heard of- now it’s Atlanta… please take note Vermont… Montpellier? Make it Burlington.- Milledgeville was home to both Flannery O’Connor and Oliver Hardy from Laurel and Hardy fame.

Brenda asked, having heard that I was doing VBS at my church (tip for people who don’t know what to do- small children are entertained by almost anything) she asked what the history of VBS was and figured it was something I would know. And, Brenda, it’s funny that you asked that because I am incapable of doing anything church related (and most other things) without wondering “where did that come from” and “when did we start doing X”- it’s the way my brain has worked since I was young. And so I had been thinking about VBS- the ubiquitous American (or maybe Canadian) phenomenon where kids flood the church during the week, pastors are seen in shorts, maybe even doing skits, and we concoct new ways to make jewelry and other accoutrements using string and various sugar cereals.

Finding the answer to “who made it first” for VBS is not unlike the origins of my favorite food- the California Burrito- everyone seems to have a different claim.

Let’s go big picture first- the idea of “childhood” as a distinct and significant time of learning and development is not that old. The premodern world often saw children as deficient adults, and you would wait until they could be of use. It’s not that kids weren’t seen as important, but you didn’t cater to them. With the industrial revolution, we see fewer hours needed for manual labor and thus more free time, especially with the coming of artificial light. Robert Raikes is often credited with the birth of “sunday school”- this wasn’t the thing kids went to while parents went to “big church” it was after church and was a means of teaching kids who worked in factories and wouldn’t otherwise go to school (remember compulsory and free daily school is just over 100 years old).

Some trace a summer weekday bible camp from 1866 in Boston to 1877 and Montreal, Canada. Others to New York City’s Baptist Church of the Epiphany in 1898 when Eliza Hawes rented a beer hall on the East Side and held “Everyday Bible School”. A Methodist church in Hopedale, Illinois, goes back to 1894, but we start to get into the mess of asking questions about the genes of a thing and whether or not it has to be called “Vacation Bible School” to be the original or not.

 We see two trends- the first is general education in North America post Civil War, and it’s not surprising that we find parallel trends in church and state. The second trend was the general secularizing of the public square through the courts. 20th century America was wild, friends… and a lot of it because of a kind of legalism that believed courts and laws were the arbiters of the common good. As religious education was pushed out of the public schools, it became the job of the developing American denominational system. From 1920, I have a book called “The Vacation Religious Day School”: Teachers Manual of Principles and Programs. From 1922, Robert Boville had an organization: the World Association of Daily Vacation Bible School, and in 1923, Standard Publishing began printing yearly curricula with divisions for lower, middle, and upper grade elementary students.

So, a hundred years old? With maybe 50 years before that of general ideas about education, public and religious instruction, and playtime for children. The last number I saw had something like 65% of all Protestant churches in America having a VBS, down from a high of over 80% in the 1990s. I did come across a lot of interesting curricula- from treasure hunting to safaris to space themes- I read one, “The Golden Calf County Fair: 5 Days of Bad Choices,” but am pretty sure that the one with the Jephthah’s Daughter Skit was probably made up.

Thanks for the question, Brenda- you can send me yours at Danv@1517.org.

The Last word for today comes from 1 John 2.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 30th of June 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose VBS theme this year is Foxe’s Book of Martyrs; he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who is going to let you guess which denomination has, for reals, “A Mighty Fortress” themed VBS…  Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.