Is your weekly lesson like a firework known as the “popper”? It comes in with a bang, and, while entertaining, is only a momentary experience. Or is your lesson like finding the missing piece of a greater puzzle? I remember walking into my theology class during my sophomore year of Bible college. As a preacher’s kid brought up in church, I thought I had a good grasp of the Bible. However, it was not until one of my professors introduced his theology class with a visual map from Genesis to the Advent that I realized how much I did not know.

We would all agree that our goal in student ministry is to lead each child into a lifelong relationship with Christ. In order for that to happen, students must not only have a genuine encounter with God, but they must also learn how biblical knowledge plays a vital role in informing and transforming their daily lives. In order to do this, according to Gary Burge, Professor of Theology at Wheaton College, “churches need to take a curricular approach that tells the story… [for] without such an approach, young people won’t be able to assess the Bible and apply it to their lives.” 

Taking a Curricular Approach

Taking a curricular approach requires the following:

1. Map It Out: Be intentional about planning and defining your objectives. Ask yourself what your students should know. Make sure they are able to define and apply that knowledge to their own lives by the end of the lesson. Integrate or post your objectives in the classroom. Refer to them throughout the lesson, and help students use the objectives to assess their own learning.

    

2. Zoom In and Zoom Out: Make cumulative biblical connections throughout the lesson. When introducing new information, zoom in and contextualize it for your students. Then, zoom out by linking your lesson to the greater biblical story that reflects God’s redemptive plan for humanity. Consider creating a large visual map per unit (or even per year) that visually demonstrates how each biblical story and figure fits into the bigger picture.

    

3. Connect the Dots: Help take your students beyond the recalling of simple biblical facts to the analysis of the story and how it applies to their own lives. Provide opportunities for students to brainstorm, work in groups, and act out mock scenarios that help them make personal applications to biblical truths.

    

4. Reinforce: Reinforce, revisit and review! Provide parents with a handout or newsletter per month (or quarter) that outlines biblical passages for further reading, questions, and/or other simple activities they can do with their children to reinforce the principles they are learning. Take time in your lesson to connect new concepts to previous lessons. Facilitate opportunities for students to review in small groups how they are living out those principles.

Bottom Line: Leading students into a lifelong relationship with Christ requires an authentic experience with God and a deeper approach to biblical literacy.

Reference:

Burge, Gary. “The Greatest Story Never Read”. Christianity Today 43. no. 9  (1999): http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1999/august9/9t9045.html?start=5 Accessed on 19 June 2016.