Kingdom Rock

Say hello to Truman.  He was my introduction to the themed Vacation Bible School called Kingdom Rock, that my kids are taking part in at our church.  It has been great to see the joy, fun, and excitement the kids have shown over this week, and to hear them sing the "stand strong for God" theme song over and over.


That being said, this isn't a post about the development of VBS in the United States, nor even the ends that churches pursue (outreach, ministry, Christian instruction) by having a VBS in their congregation.  Rather, it is about something I discovered on one of the things the kids brought home:  The character tags the kids are bringing home are made in China.





What struck me about this was not, per se, that it was "made in China" (I often challenge my students to find items that they bring to class that AREN'T made some place other than the United States), but rather what it might mean from a religious perspective.  According to a story in the Washington Post (read it here), China is home to the world's largest concentration of atheists (around 47%).  While it has been awhile since I took a probability and statistics class, you need not be an expert to realize that chances are quite good that at least some of the people producing the Kingdom Rock material, material that is teaching the essence of Christianity, are atheists. 

I will save the potential commentary on what it all means for another day.  But it is something to ponder, not just in an international economic sense, but also for matters of faith.  How does this show the global nature of Christianity?  What does it mean for faith in China?  What does it say about the faith in the United States?  As I sit writing this on a beautiful summer day in Indiana, I am tempted to think that as the twenty-first century progresses, these kinds of questions are going to be just as important to the story of American Christianity as what individual denominations do or do not do as part of the Mainline.