Lifelong Learning at Virginia Theological Seminary has a long history of providing Vacation Bible School Reviews to equip Christian Formation practitioners in making informed decisions for their ministry contexts. Given the highly competitive market, many publishing houses no longer provide us with review copies of new curricula. As a result, we do our best to research and review materials online because purchasing each resource would be prohibitively expensive and wasteful.
It has come to our attention that the Roar! curriculum published by Group contains content that is culturally insensitive. Without access to the full curriculum, we were unable to catch the offensive content. We regret that our review did not provide appropriate warnings. If your congregation or ministry team is using this VBS, Group has created modifications and revisions to the curriculum in response to feedback that they have received. A PDF can be accessed here. Please accept our sincerest apologies for not making you aware of this issue when our reviews were first published.
The 2019 review of Roar! is being appropriately updated. Going forward, we intend to continue to review a broad spectrum of VBS materials, recognizing that our readers span a wide theological spectrum. At the same time, we will not be silent when materials perpetuate white supremacy, are explicitly racist, homophobic, or in any other way objectify human beings and cultures. We give thanks for your commitment to lifelong, life-wide, and life-deep Christian formation. We welcome your feedback, and ask for your prayers as we work hard to provide resources for Christian formation leaders across the church.
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