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We’re working on a comprehensive 4-year teaching plan for our small group ministry right now, but I really like Kurt’s post today about a strong teaching plan for the weekend. You’ve only got so much time, so having a big picture plan is a big deal. If you’ve got a thought on it, post it on his site so they’re all in the same place – join the conversation. Here’s a clip:
Sooooo, with at best 150 (add 33% if you have 6th graders) opportunities to speak God’s truth into the lives of a group of students who are in the midst of CRAZY social, spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual development, it seems like junior high ministries should have a pretty solid christian education plan, right? It does to me, but we don’t. Our team recently had a small, but rather disturbing, “ah ha” moment at our weekend program that caused us to acknowledge that perhaps we need to become more proactive in thinking through our teaching scope.
Sure we have certain areas of studies that we make sure we cover from year to year such as the basics of the faith, sexuality, core doctrine, etc. but honestly there isn’t all that much that has been deemed as “stuff we always teach to every group of kids”.
JG
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We’ve been thinking about this a lot…especially being impressed with Dare 2 Share and Greg Stier’s 30-year ministry strategy, which is based on their 30 core questions, and they have that broken into 6 years of conference topics.
We started using Student Life’s Sunday school curriculum, which is a 6 year curriculum and is based around their 12 Core Truths. This is what we do in Sunday school.
I think the most important thing is tying Jr. High and Sr. High together (I work primarily with Jr. High). Our Jr. High has a big-picture 2 year plan of “who is God” and “who are you” for the two years, and now I’m trying to get more specific within those two topics to make sure I hit everything. But the idea is to give a solid basis for Jr. Highers to form their identity and view of God, so that in Sr. High they can be challenged to turn outward and impact the world.