I know no one asked, but I have seen several discussions about offering competition between boys and girls or classes. Is it right for us to teach children to try to outgive someone else? Our current church practiced that during VBS when we first came here. Each day the "winning" group would boast about their accomplishment and taunt the "losers." Just didn't seem like the Christian way.

Now, we find some way to measure the offering that also encourages participation. Last year for Game Day Central we asked the children to bring their daily offering in quarters (we converted everything into quarters). One of our men constructed a simple balance scale. We placed the offering on one side and a variety of sports balls on the other. We started with tennis, golf and ping pong balls. Every day, we used larger and heavier balls to balance the scale. The children's enthusiasm increased proportionately. Finally, on Family Night, we had a 10 pound bowling ball out that we had talked about all week. When the children's offering overwhelmingly outweighed the bowling ball, the kids went balistic. During the week the children had found ways to earn money to use for the offering and gladly gave it without competing against someone.

This year we will use coconuts and pineapples on the scale. Next year we may measure the offering by having a figure climb Ayers Rock. We are still working on that.

Anyway, please consider what children are learning when we make giving a competition. It is not hard to come up with alternatives that will spur their enthusiasm and participation.

I agree with you on this. We stopped doing the competition because the boys always lost and it made me feel bad. A few years ago we worked together toward a monetary goal. We created a chart that mapped out where we were and how far we still had to go. Last year for Game Day we did a competition between area teams. Texas A&M vs. Univ. of Texas, etc.

This year we did a kiss the pig contest between myself and our music leader. We collected over $1100 doing this. The kids got into the competition aspect, but it was all in fun and we were both good sports about it. I'm supposed to be kissing the pig in about 20 minutes. (I think our pastor is working things out so we'll BOTH win!)

I have to weigh in on this one. I am very opposed to any competition for offering. Any time we are working with children we have to consider what we are trying to teach. Are we teaching them to compete or to give as part of obedience and worship of God? I have found that children have a desire to give. We choose an offering recipient the students can relate to. A couple of years ago we gave our offering to a rodeo ministry in our area. We invited the founder of the ministry to visit with the kids and explain how he was using rodeoing to reach people with the gospel. Last year our offering went to a local mission and this year to aid a mission trip to New Orleans. The objective is not to raise money, but to teach giving.

Our competition is based on attendance, memorizing bible verses, bringing bible, guest and an offering. Any amount. Each team (K=blue, 1's&2's=yellow, 3&4's=red and 5&6's=green gets points in their class as well as one night a week it is their teams color night. Their team gets double points for each person who wears the team color. The registration table is where the points are assigned so the class teachers do not have to do this. During the worship the totals are added and the next day the team winners are announced. At the end of the week, the losing team teacher takes a whipped cream pie in the face from the winner teams teacher. We put lots of zeros in the point system cause the kids like the big numbers. We provide team t-shirts for every VBS student with the VBS logo screen printed on the front and the back a list of the church members businesses who sponsored the shirts - much like a little league team. Every teacher, helper or volunteer working with VBS gets a color coded one also. None bible study rotation men get a certain color and the women get a different color. The adults who teach a bible study rotation class get a color to match their team. It helps to know that each adult there has been an approved volunteer and not a wandering one that does not belong. Last year was the second year we did this and it was very beneficial as we had the largest number of volunteers ever and we knew if someone was in the building that did not belong.

I agree with the offering challenge issue - we are to be a cheerful giver not a challenged one!