When examining kids church curriculum, I ve found that there seems to be a consistent list of objectives. I ve narrowed it down to three primary objectives:
• Salvation The goal is to help children understand their need for salvation
• God s Word The objective is to teach kids that God s Word is the absolute truth
• Behavior The idea is to teach children how they should act according to the Bible stories they learn.
These objectives are very important for children to grasp, but I have to ask myself as I study what the main theme is. Is there some way to teach children the importance of these objectives in a specific way, without teaching the Bible s stories in a random, separated way? Many churches run bus ministries to bring kids from unbelieving families in to hear God s Word taught. For many of them, it may be the only time they hear the Truth, so it must be taught clearly. From the beginning they (this includes churched kids, too) must be taught about God, so they can get to know who He is. As they learn about Him, the helplessness of people s sin can be added, then the work of Jesus Christ as Substitute for sin s penalty, and from that they can make a decision of personal trust in Him.
As I look into kids church curriculum, I check to see if the focus is properly on God. As we get to know Him His character, how He connects with people, etc we know that we can trust Him, and we desire to do the things that please Him out of love and gratitude. Our desire as we teach kids is that they would really get to know God and respond to Him as the Bible says trust, obedience, service.
In my opinion, one of the best approaches to teaching kids, whether they re growing up in church or not, is to teach them chronologically through the Bible. Beginning in Genesis and traveling through the big events to the life of Christ will help them see and understand God s plan for people. This plan can be traced through the stories and hold all of them together with one theme. Here is what we hope for them to see:
• God is the Creator and is the center of everything that exists. Without Him nothing would be. He is a just God, but is loving and merciful.
• Sin came into the world because of one bad angel who sinned in heaven, so God kicked him out. God is holy and can t let anything bad in His heaven.
• This fallen angel and his followers hated God, so turned to destroying God s special creation people. The bad angel (Satan) convinced people that God didn t really know what was best.
• Since the first people decided that they knew better than God what was best for them, we now have sin and death in the world. Bad things happen because people turned their backs on God.
• Sin has been passed down to all people, so no one can be with God because He is perfect and can t stand sin in His presence. All sin must be separated from God forever.
• God didn t want for people to die and be separated from Him forever like the bad angels would be, so He gave His Son, Jesus, to take the punishment of sin from people onto Himself so they could live with God in heaven.
• Trusting in Jesus work to take our punishment is the only way any person can be saved. Being good isn t enough because the Bible says that only through the shedding of blood can there can be forgiveness, and Jesus is the One who gave His blood for us.
• When we understand what our holy God has done for people (His creation who turned their backs on Him) so they could be brought back to Him, we will want to obey and serve Him.
Even if you choose not to use the chronological approach in teaching, I d like to encourage you to find curriculum that keeps God at the center. Through every story His holy, just, loving character should be paramount, and from that we learn what man s response ought to be. We don t want the Bible s stories to turn into lists of do and don t do or children will get bogged down with keeping everything and will often give up altogether as they get older. The other thing that might develop is a good works based salvation. People must be taught that they are loved by an incredible God, and can show their love for Him by doing those things that please Him. Kids love to please those they love.
Please consider this as you look for and teach kid s church curriculum!
Author Resource:
Aleena Denison has a heart for seeing the message of the Bible presented in a clear way,and is dedicated to sharing Jesus with the lost and helping believers see their responsibilities in evangelism,discipleship,and Bible study. For more information and free downloads, see http://www.goodseed.com
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