When young people take ownership of something they are almost automatically more engaged and take better care of the results – whether it’s cooking dinner or decorating their room. Ownership doesn’t mean there is no adult guidance or input, but rather the children or teens are expected to participate actively in the planning and execution of something. Participating means they have an investment in whatever it is. And usually a vested interest in seeing their hard work have some sort of positive result.
What would it look like to have elementary or teen Bible students take ownership for their Bible classes? If they have more of a voice might they become more engaged? And could that engagement encourage them to take ownership of their spiritual education, spending more time and energy outside of formal Bible classes learning what God wants them to know and focusing on putting into practice what they learn?
To know for sure would require crunching data from lots of ministries giving students some ownership and tracking the results over a long period of time. Until then, it can’t hurt them and may actually prove worthwhile. Here are five ways to get started.
- Choosing units of study. Adults still need to control the overall curriculum to make sure Bible students cover all of the basics during their time in your ministry. What if you provided small blocks of classes where the topics were determined by your students? More advanced groups of Bible students could get even more involved in planning. What if your curriculum included a unit on a particular topic or person in the Bible? Why not have the students or a small group of them research what they believe will be the Bible stories or scriptures that best meet the goals for the unit? Since adults are involved in the process and are still teaching the material, it should be fairly easy to include whatever students request.
- Pre-unit surveys. These can be in the form of large sheets of paper left up several weeks before the start of a new unit or through private anonymous surveys. What you want to ask are three basic questions. What do I already know about this? What do I think I know about this? What do I want to learn about this?
- Teaching younger students – with guidance. Think mini- teacher apprenticeships. Students can choose the lessons, but adults double check the content, approve plans for activities and provide some training and feedback. Turning them loose as many youth groups do during summer mission trips can cause (and often does) more problems than it solves. The benefits are that teens begin learning how to be effective Bible class teachers and they learn new Bible lessons and verses themselves while planning the lessons.
- Planning guest speakers and panels. Guest speakers and panels expose your Bible students to more members of your congregation. Talking about marriage? Which three or four couples in your congregation do your students think could teach them about marriage at different stages of life? Who would they like to come in and tell them about their mission trips? Because they are chosen by students, there is a better chance the students already know, respect and will listen to them. (Or their curiosity about the person will keep them engaged.)
- Question cards and boxes. It’s critical for your Bible students to be able to ask their questions in ways where they will get well thought out, biblical answers while also feeling safe and anonymous to do so if that is important to them. In ministries where students aren’t regularly encouraged to ask any and every spiritual question they may have, giving each student an index card weekly on which to jot their questions and turn them in for answers will often work best. If they’ve had a lot of opportunities, it can still be nice to have a question box into which they can place their questions. Carve out regular times when you address several questions at once. Be sure and be respectful even if the question seems somewhat silly to you. It may be more important to the questioner and his or her faith than you realize.
Helping young Bible students take ownership for their own spiritual growth and health is critical if we want them to remain faithful as adults. Giving them guided opportunities when they are young can encourage them to take more responsibility outside of class, too.