Kentucky's Christian history is neither a Black story nor a White story. It is not an Asian nor a Hispanic story. It is a God story filled with surprises and awkward mishaps perpetrated by people who default to sin. When we make Christians into people who can do no wrong we are as guilty of obstructing the way to faith for someone who has yet to encounter God as if we put stumbling blocks in front of a blind person. If we as ministers of Jesus Christ who are responsible for introducing kids and youth to the Christian message do not remain humble and mindful of our own inconsistencies and failures, we misrepresent the church and make it less likely for people to search and perhaps find faith for themselves.
At the Kentucky Faith & Public History Education Project we tell a complicated story. God is well able to defend His own reputation. We have chosen to be as realistic and honest about what has happened in and through Christians in Kentucky as the Bible is about the moral failures of such people as King David... a murderer, adulterer, father of an abuser but whom God declared was a man after His own heart.
Failure is not our portion but when it happens it needs to be identified, repudiated, and reconciled with truth and justice. So, when you bring your kids and youth groups to visit the Walking Trail & Arboretum in Paris, understand that they will be introduced to many different famous Kentuckians who gave public credit for their achievements to their Christian faith. These men and women come from all walks of life, from all ethnicities and from all points in Kentucky's history since the 1780's. Your group will also be introduced to people who took advantage of Christians and their beliefs to perpetrate abuses such as Hernando DeSoto, perhaps the earliest representative of the Christian faith to reach the indigenous peoples in Kentucky but who pillaged, raped and kidnapped them for his own benefit.
Of course, when you schedule your group's field trip to the Walking Trail in advance, we customize the activities you will experience so that they are memorable and fully appropriate to the age-group you represent. Call 859-987-5407 to schedule your visit. We are always open and always free during daylight hours. Ocassionally, when we need to purchase supplies for a particular program we charge a nominal fee for participating. For example, the Arbor Poetree Day program for first, second and third graders will cost $2/person but each child will receive a worksheet, supplies to make a bark rubbing, materials to make a necklace out of a piece of wood from a tree, and a cookie. If you are interested in that program, make a reservation to come between 10AM and 2PM on Friday, April 28, 2023.
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