It’s the time of year when local churches host vacation Bible schools. These are typically one-week affairs, held for a few hours each day, in which kids learn more about their Christian faith.
For more than 20 summers, three churches in Anderson Township have held a joint vacation Bible school: St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection and Anderson Hills Christian Church.
For its school last month, the organizers invited the local chapter of Kids4Peace to make a short presentation.
Like local churches, Kids4Peace, a Jerusalem-based nonprofit, organizes summer events about religion for children. But kids at its camps don’t just learn about Christianity. They also learn about the other Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Islam.
The Cincinnati chapter is one of only a handful in the United States, said chapter lead Judy Chamberlain, and was one of the first to offer a day camp.
The local chapter was invited to vacation Bible school to give the youngsters “a peak into other religions,” said Judy Gardner, the director of children’s spiritual formation at St. Timothy’s.