Zoe Eckstein, 12, of Iowa City, right, and Molly Hamilton, 10, of Mount Pleasant receive copies of the "Daily Prophet" in Diagon Alley during Trinity Episcopal Church's Harry Potter-themed vacation Bible school. (Brian Ray/SourceMedia Group News)

IOWA CITY – Shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday, a little more than 40 elementary school-aged kids were donning colored sashes and preparing for their first Quidditch match.

Though Quidditch, a game played in the “Harry Potter” series, is typically played in the air and on broomsticks, these particular players were grounded, swatting at playground balls rather than quaffles and badmitton birdies rather than the golden snitch.

And instead of taking place at Hogwarts, a mythical school of wizardry, this game was being played in the grand hall at Trinity Episcopal Church in Iowa City. In place of young witches and warlocks, the players were all area vacation Bible school students.

Meg Wagner

“There’s a huge debate about the ‘Harry Potter’ books and Christianity,” said Meg Wagner, director of Christian formation at the church. “The author has even said that the Christian theme are pretty obvious.”

In the series young Harry Potter and his friends learn magical life skills to protect themselves from the Dark Lord, or Lord Voldemort. At “Wizards and Wonders: A Hero’s Journey with Harry Potter,” vacation Bible school students learn Christian life skills with parallels drawn between the Bible and “Harry Potter.”

“It’s captured a generation of readers, and I’d rather they read it as a Christian and see the similarities,” Wagner said.

When Jenna Friederich first learned that the two 7-year-0ld charges for whom she would be nannying were going to a Harry Potter vacation Bible school, she initially thought she had heard it wrong.

“I have read the books and seen the movies, but I never considered it as a religious subject,” said Friederich, 19, a sophomore nursing student at the University of Iowa. “I think if you can get kids interested and paying attention, then it’s a good thing.”

Students at the Harry Potter-themed vacation Bible school at Trinity Episcopal Church in Iowa City got to select their own "wand" at Ollivander's in Diagon Alley. (Brian Ray/SourceMedia Group News)

Friederich helps out with the school, portraying Professor Trelawney, the professor of divination. She gets to see what the kids are learning, and then takes the boys home and watches them carry it forward.

“My two boys love it, they can’t wait to go back each day,” she said. By incorporating a popular book and movie series into the curriculum, she said, the Christian lessons aren’t as obvious.

“It’s like they’re doing it without the kids really noticing,” she said.

Wagner, 40, agrees. The quidditch game, which required everyone to play their roles in order for it all to work, was a lead-in to the 1 Corinthians lesson of one body, many parts, teaching cooperation.

Other lessons included the call to worship, linking Moses’ call from the burning bush to the letters Hogwarts students received, calling them to learn the skills they need to be protected against the evil Voldemort, and the differences between magic and miracles.