It's the Curriculum, Part 1

In my years as a youth pastor and education/disicpleship pastor, a recurring complaint from teachers in all age groups has to do with the curriculum choices our ministry teams have made. No matter what "material" we were using--and I've had experience with a vast array--at least one teacher did not like what was being employed.

Teachers usually have a Goldilocks mentality to Sunday School material - this one's too hard, this one's too soft... and which one is usually just right?

"Curriculum" gets a bad rap. The word really gets misused by leaders and students alike. The popular usage of the the word "curriculum" today is a synonym for "literature" or the lesson plans or study guide. But all these are really part of the curriculum. The word comes from the latin route that means "path" or "course." The curriculum, then is all the inputs that go into getting someone where you want them to go. It's the content AND the experiences provided by a teacher to students.

I will explore my ideas about curriculum planning in the coming posts. Today, think about the path your church has disciples on? Where are you taking them? Where do you want to take them? Are they the same?

The Message You're Really Sending...

Note the rear tire on this Auto Repair Shop van. All repairs. Really?

Your church's systems and structures either confirm or refute what you say about your church's vision and values.

Example: Most churches say they value having guests. What does the single mom experience when she arrives? Do the greeters welcome her warmly? Do they know where to direct her to get her kids to the right places?

Example: Many churches say they value families. Does your programming or schedule so fragment the family that they never see each on campus except in the parking lot?

What message are you really sending?

Thinking Orange and Ana

If you have anything to do with churches or families you MUST read Reggie Joiner's book, Think Orange.

My article on the Orange philosophy just posted through Rick Hughes' Next Step E-zine http://tinyurl.com/oa6ecy. If you want future issues of the whole E-Zine, subscribe by contacting me - it's free and I always benefit from his stuff!

On a different note: We finally have our first named Tropical Storm of the Season. Ana is worth watching and so is Invest 90 which is on her heels.

Great Resources for Parents, Part 2

What do you get when you cross a first-rate theologian with a concerned father? You get a fantastic book for teaching theology to kids. It is true that we don't usually think about "kids" and "theology" in the same sentence--tragic but true. It is tragic because I believe we sell our kids short in what they are able to understand. By theology, I simply mean the truths we believe about God: that is, who He is, what He's said, and what He's done. Kids can grasp these truths about God, and you can teach them without using the big words that most adults, let alone kids,understand. One reason we don't talk to our kids about theology is that most of us feel like we don't know where to start or what to say.

Fortunately, Big Truths for Young Hearts gives us a place to start and plenty to say. Bruce Ware, professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and sitting president of the Evangelical Theological Society is a seasoned scholar. He's also the father of two adult daughters. Through the poignant foreword, Dr. Ware's girls share how their dad taught them about the greatest of God on their own level as they grew. In Big Truths, Ware presents 10 classic doctrines through 6 lessons for each which parents can use with their kids.

Big Truths is written in such a manner that a parent could read the lessons directly to their kids. I don't recommend this approach for elementary age kids. Though Ware does an excellent job of taking the big truths and making them manageable the lessons may still stretch the limits of endurance for most kids. Instead, the resource is perfect for a parent to read and them boil down into a 5 minute talk for elementary-aged kids. If your kids are older, it would make a great book to read and discuss together with them.

The book includes discussion questions at the end of each chapter and memory verses as well. I'm always looking for "handles" to give parents to hold on too to disciple their kids. I wish Dr. Ware had given more instruction on just how intended for us to use the book, but if you are ready to dig in with your kids and learn theology together, Big Truths is worth a look.

Principles vs. Methods

Methods are many, principles few

Methods often change

Principles never do...

As I visit with church leaders and look at churches, it seems like one of the hardest things for a church to overcome is broken systems and structures. The reason, I believe, is that we get stuck on our methods. Methods (our ways of doing things) are familiar; therefore, they are the path of least resistance for us. Methods are comfortable for our leaders because that's the way they've always done it. In short, we mistake methods for principles. At some point in history (hopefully) there was a principle that caused someone in a church to implement a method. Somewhere along the way, though, the church leaders forgot the principle but kept the method. That's why it's so hard to kill so many sacred cows that roam the halls of our churches.

What would it look like if your church took a hard look at WHY you do things (principle) before considering HOW you do it (method)?

Example:

Bible Drill vs. AWANA vs. insert children's Bible memory fad here: ______

Principle - It's important for kids to meditate on God's Word.

Method - the program or process that best carries out the principle in a given context.

The methods aren't necessarily right or wrong, but consider the timeless principle and accept that methods come and go over time.

Great Resources for Parents, Part 1

This summer, our family has been using The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones (Zonderkidz, 2007) for our nightly devotional times. I have a 7 year-old and a 10 year-old. The subtitle of the book is "Every story whispers his name." That's a little misleading. In fact, every story SHOUTS his name. Lloyd-Jones does a masterful job of weaving the Gospel (God's Secret Rescue Plan, as she calls it) into every Bible story in a way that kids (and their parents) can easily see how the whole of the Bible tells the story of Christ.

Of course, as the title states, this is a storybook Bible. In other words, the stories are selective and paraphrased. Lloyd-Jones does no violence to the original meaning of the text, nor does she impose fictional thoughts into the essence of the Bible story. Rather, she is faithful to the message of God's Word and even is able to color many of the stories with humor and joy --the story of the Tower of Babel had my kids rolling! The illustrations by Jago are bright and engaging for the kids, too.

The stories are short. Most nights, the kids have begged me to read two. Although my 5th grader has enjoyed this storybook Bible, he's probably a little older than the intended audience. It's perfect for my second grader. If you have late preschoolers through elementary-age kids and you want them to have a grasp of centrality of Christ in Scripture, you need this book!

The life is more important than the lesson

Recently I heard a group leader for children say, "I feel like I don't know enough to teach these kids! I'm just trying to stay one step ahead of them. I don't know if I'm cut out for this." It's a common concern I hear over and over from children's Bible study leaders. We feel such a great responsibility to give kids the knowledge they need to know God and experience Christ that we are afraid we'll miss giving them something they need. Sometimes we may even fear that they'll ask a question--kids ask the darndest things--that we won't be able to answer and we'll be found to be not quite the biblical scholar we hope to be.

I tried to encourage this teacher the way I normally do. I asked her to recall a whole lesson she was taught as a child. She could not, of course. Then I asked her to recall a teacher who made a positive impact on her. She thought of a name immediately. I reminded her that it's not her lesson so much as her life that these kids were see. God was using Christ in her to teach. The kids were learning that faith was important to her and that she loved God enough to serve Him.

Of course, we all need to grow in our knowledge of the Lord and His Word. But there were some guys in the Bible that had more Bible knowledge than anyone. They were called Pharisees. Jesus had another name for them - hypocrites.

Yes, I want my kids to have knowledgeable Bible teachers. But more importantly, I want adult voices in the lives of my kids who are saying the same things I am with a heart that thirsts after Christ. If you love my child with the love of Christ and show her a life after God's heart, then suddenly, I'm not so worried about what you know.

"Ghost" in the Machine

As a missionary/church consultant, I have been wrestling lately with the quest by many pastors and church leaders who are looking for the next big thing in church programming. This is not new in church history. In fact, it seems we in the church have always sought better machinery to carry out our mission to make disciples. 

But isn't it our job to rely on the Holy Ghost (that's olde English for Holy Spirt)? Prayer giant E.M. Bounds (right) said this more than a century ago:

"What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men--men of prayer."

God help me not to point men to fads of the day, but to You and Your power to bring revival.

"...'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts." Zechariah 4:6