In some ways it's really no different from taking our kids to sit on Santa's lap, or to Disneyland to "meet" their favourite character.   I'm a few decades off my undergrad studies in developmental psych. but I believe that children exist for some time in a world that is essentially magical, and also concrete.  You need to speak their language and honour the experience of what it means to be a child and live in a child's world.

BUT that being said,  I am amazed and confused at the number of adults who - having outgrown Santa and the Easter Bunny - still conceive of God as an invisible person with super powers....and some believe they still have a direct line to him and his will for the rest of us,even if his number is unlisted.

I wonder if it's because (most) parents guide their children carefully through the stages where they realize that Santa - or whomever -  may not be real, whereas many churches appear to drop the ball.  Some churches of course have a vested interest in keeping people believing in the "superman" model of God, but others just don't seem to challenge people to evolve their God-concept.

I mean, every Sunday in church we sing hymns to the Almighty, the King, the Father, and send prayers up asking for interventions in our lives.  Over and over we reinforce the anthropomorphized God.  And then people expect this God to answer their prayers - when he doesn't, they decide he doesn't exist and walk away.  I wonder how we can do a better job of helping people evolve their God-concept, rather than tossing it away like the Tooth Fairy when they realize there's no one there at the other end of the phone?

Oh gosh - sorry chansen - I think I strayed off topic in that post.  I'll leave it there for what it's worth, but you are wondering about the phone calls themselves, of course.  I'll just say that it's not something I would do, but it doesn't cause me huge concerns, as long as someone is there to help the kids move on when they  start to realize that phone call wasn't actually God.

 Diana....I concur with both of your posts. 

Whole books have been written by people pretending to be the actual voice of God.

I wouldn't be in favour of anything like a phone call from God, and I have never even heard it suggested at any of the many VBS programs I've been associated with.  Other than that, the program seemed to cover pretty ordinary things.  Touching on the story of Abraham, and Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan.  I think a lot would have to do with how they were handled. 

Even the phone call from God - I'd be concerned about how it was handled.  Did they discuss it before hand?  Did they discuss it afterwards?  Were the children told that it was somebody pretending to be God's voice? 

I always made a point to discuss what my children were doing and learning with them each day and I was careful what programs I enrolled them in.  I usually was involved myself.  Only when he was a teenager did I agree for my son to attend a youth group with a different denomination.  He liked the kids and companionship - he was their 'devil's advocate' in discussion groups.  I think the only reason they didn't throw him out for his beliefs was because they hoped to convert him.  They didn't.  In fact, recently he ran into the boy that he considered to be the most intelligent in the group.  They talked for hours - this boy (now middle-aged) now has a theology close to that of my son's. 

Phone calls from "God" trouble me.

Why do people who believe in the wonder and glory of God  have to pretend to be God. Let God speak to these children-in a flower in anature, a hug from an adult, in a thunderstorm.

Who are we to have to pretend to be God?

Very good point. Even just handing out bits of scripture, Bible stories with a message for them, that would be cool.

I spent 2 years in Nigeria when I was young.  We followed a lorry (truck) down a "road" for miles with the following phrase painted (brilliantly and with much flourish) across the back:

No Telephone To Heaven