Teacher Discipleship and Teacher-friendly Lesson Plans

As we seek to minister to the teachers and pastors who will use this curriculum on a weekly basis, we designed this resource to be user-friendly. For that purpose, the curriculum is divided into four main sections. The For Your Edification section is for the teacher’s spiritual and personal edification and weekly preparation. The Engage, Discover and Treasure sections are part of the weekly lesson plans for the children and teens.

For Your Edification

This section is focused on growing the teachers in their personal faith journey. When we began designing the curriculum for use in the local church, we spoke with pastors and seminary professors as to what their chief concerns were in existing curriculums. One priority that kept surfacing was the need for teacher training. Teachers desire to be trained in order to be prepared to teach well. All of us are on the journey of sanctification. The For Your Edification section is written in view of edifying and equipping the teacher. This section also features the insights of many well-respected pastors and theologians on the Scriptures presented in each lesson.

Engage

Children and students alike need to see that God’s Word speaks truth into the world in which they live. In this section, we connect their world with God’s written Word, the Bible, by encouraging them to apply Scriptures to “real-life” situations. This time each week includes activities, worksheets, crafts, songs, games, videos and discussion that will help the children and students actively interact with the Scriptures.

Discover

Every week children and students come to church with different backgrounds, pressures, temptations, joys and fears. It is vital that they know God’s Word is truth that they can apply to every area of their lives. They need to know that God’s Word gives them a sure footing to stand in a world bombarding them with lies. This section includes Bible teaching, discussion and activities to reinforce what was just taught. The biblical material will be more in depth as the children grow older and more mature. This section will also include music by singer/songwriter Daniel Renstrom. We want children and students to discover for themselves the truth of God’s Word.

Treasure

Our priority on the Bible and its focus on the Gospel motivates us to share this treasure with others. Our desire is that students treasure Christ above all else and have . . .

• A passion to show the world around them that they treasure Christ.
• A burden to go to their family, friends, neighbors and to the nations with this good news.
• An encounter with Christ. Jesus didn’t come to this earth to merely provide a moral example in hopes to correct their behavior. Jesus came to give them abundant life and eternal life.