One of the most frustrating tasks in ministry to children or teens is finding a “decent” curriculum. I see the question in group after group and have been asked the question untold times. Eventually, every ministry eventually settles on something they either purchase or create. Since there is no perfect curriculum, everyone usually tolerates, adapts or begins lobbying for another change.
That process is frustrating enough, but it hides a much bigger issue missed because we are spending so much time trying to find something that is engaging and encourages real spiritual growth in students. The larger issue is that whether we realize it or not, we have often allowed whatever curriculum we use to drive our ministry goals rather than allowing the goals control what curriculum or pieces of a curriculum we use in our ministries.
What do I mean by that? It’s a problem that secular educators struggle with as well. There is an underlying assumption that curricula developers know not only what students need to learn, but the best time and best ways to teach it to them so they understand, remember and are able to use the skills in the real world. Unfortunately, they don’t necessarily make their decisions that way. Nor do they know the needs of your particular Bible class students. Rather, they aim for teaching some fictitious “average” Bible student and hope it helps the majority of those being taught the currriculum.
Because we assume the curriculum know what our Bible students need and the best ways for them to learn it, we rarely sit down and have meaningful discussions about what a young person who attends church and Bible classes regularly should know, understand and be able to do before reaching the age of eighteen. I know some have tried, but even then the goals often get lost in the confusion of whatever curriculum is being used.
Setting these goals requires prayer, Bible study, research and serious conversations. The process also requires children’s and youth ministers, parents, church leaders and students to put a quality spiritual education at their congregation as a top priority and agree upon which bits of knowledge, understanding and application are most important.
It all just seems like too much work. So we just accept that curriculum developers have figured it all out. Or that if we teach them most of the stories in the Bible, they will automatically know what they are supposed to do to live the Christian life. Yet surveys are finding that only 3-10% of children raised in Christian homes have a faith foundation strong enough to carry them into adulthood. If a school had those abysmal numbers the screams would be deafening.
Yet our ministries and parents are content to quietly lament and hope their kids are in that 3-10% by some sort of unspoken magic. We like complaining, but we aren’t willing to do the work to fix anything. Until that happens in both our churches and our homes, Christianity will continue to decline and our world will enter another Dark Age.
Not sure where to start? If your ministry is truly willing to commit to putting in the necessary effort, I’m here to help. If you are the only person in your ministry who seems to care, you can still make a positive difference. Develop that comprehensive list of what they need to learn, understand and be able to do to live a faithful, productive Christian life and start whittling away at it. You may only be able to accomplish a few items on the list, but it’s probably things that they aren’t getting at the moment. Every little bit helps. Let’s stop letting the curriculum we use drive our ministries and let God do it through our godly strategic faith foundation planning.