Oklahoma City, USA - Youths planted flowers, recycled aluminum cans and picked up trash around their community as part of a conservation-conscious vacation Bible school at a south Oklahoma City church.
Bethesda Church recently conducted the "God Is Green: Taking Care of His Creation” vacation Bible school to give young people biblical knowledge about God’s creation and their responsibility in caring for it, said the Rev. Chris Daniel, children’s pastor.
"I told the kids, ‘Your parents gave you a room, and they want you to keep it clean. God gave us this world to live in, and He wants us to keep our world clean,” Daniel said.
Daniel said he created the curriculum and had the youths focus on a different aspect of the world each day: water, air, animals, people and Earth.
More than 100 young people attended the event at the Assemblies of God church.
Daniel said the Bible school was based on Psalm 24:1, "The Earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”
"God called us to be citizens of this world,” Daniel said.
Children participated in a contest to see who could bring the most aluminum cans for recycling. The group was divided into boys and girls for the contest, and the boys won, Daniel said.
A drama emphasizing the Bible school’s environmental focus was performed each night featuring a character named Recycle Bin. Participants were treated to green snacks each night — green Gummi Worms, M&Ms, green apple-flavored popcorn, gingerbread-shaped cookies with green icing and green sherbet punch.
Natalie Buettner, 11, of Moore said she enjoyed the games that made her more aware of her responsibility to care for the world. She said the green treats added to the fun atmosphere.
Vicki Adams of Moore brought her son Hunter, 4, to the Bible school.
She said Hunter was excited to take aluminum cans to the church every night for the contest. She said she liked the curriculum Daniel crafted because it was educational and fun at the same time.
"It’s good to get kids to open their eyes to see that we really need to start taking care of what God has given us,” Adams said.