I am currently working on a scope and sequence (not real high on that term but it is the best I have) for birth-high school. Yes I know, it is a task and a half. You think I am crazy and you want to know why I am doing this thing because I am not a publishing company. Well, let me just say that I think we need to be more strategic and intentional in our approach of leading kids and students.
Right now I can't say that we are doing a great job at being either strategic or intentional in the ministries that I over see in this area of cohesion for kids. Don't get me wrong, I think that we are doing very well in our series that we do for each group but it is not a cohesive unit by any means. As the Pastor of Students and Children it is my job to get us there.
You may or may not know but Reggie Joiner and the people over at the ReThink Group are doing this as well. Reggie has his 3 dials of Wonder, Discovery, and Passion that he talks about when examining this topic. Those are very good and the way that he presents them is great. The only problem is when I tell parents that I am going to teach their kid about Wonder, Discovery, and Passion then they look at me funny. Believe me, I have tried this and the looks are great. I guess I didn't do as well as Reggie at presenting the concepts.
What did I do in return? I have come up with 5 themes that we are going to focus on from birth-high school. Now don't get me wrong, these are not earth shattering by any means but it does give us a stick to measure with and to communicate to parents.
When a parent comes to me now and asked what we are going to teach their child from birth-high school I will say, "There are 5 key themes or areas that your child will learn while in our program. We will make sure your child is taught about:
God (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit)
The Church
The Bible
Self Disciplines
and Relationships
I told you that it wasn't earth shattering.
This gives us a foundation of what we are going to teach. It also helps us plan the teaching series or look for curriculum. I can now honestly look at each series and say that we are to heavy on the relationship piece and not enough on the Bible or the Holy Spirit or whatever happens to be the case. It is a start but not even close to being finished. More will come in the future about what our scope and sequence really looks like. It will be broken down for each area to give us a nice picture of where a kid should be in 5th grade, 8th grade, and 12th grade. Like I said before this is a task and a half.
By the way, why is it so hard to find this topic of an over arching theme for birth-high school? Is Reggie really one of the few people out there doing this? There has to be more. If you know of any could you leave a comment and let the rest of us know about it.
June 23, 2008
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4 Responses to "Ministry Monday: 5 Themes"I'd love to know if there are more doing it as well.
And do you really have parents ask what you're teaching their kids?
I'm a big fan of this. I'm looking to do the same thing here at Gateway... develop a path of spiritual formation for kids who grow up in our church or jump in along the way. Not that this is bad, but when you purchase curriculum, you're teaching what they've decided is important. I think you can plan your curriculum around your scope and sequence as well.
Central Christian in Vegas actually writes their own curriculum and they have 12 whadayaknow statements that they hit over and over again as kids grow through their children's ministry.
http://www.centralchristian.com/henderson/students/whadyaknow.asp
When working on my Masters degree in Education, I was frustrated with this aspect of ministry... to some degree. We all know the school system is perfect by any means, but they do have standards for each subject and each year. They've developed a plan. Kids can get lost in the system and fall through the cracks, but for the most part it works. Most children's ministries have no plan. If a ministry at the very least stuck to one curriculum for multiple years, the kids would at least benefit from the scope and sequence of the curriculum developers. However, when we piece our curriculum together and change every two years, we interrupt that flow. I'm not presenting a solution by any means, but maybe just pointing to another problem.
Okay, I'm done.
Interesting. I heard Reggie share the 3 dials at Orange and it clicked for me. We use 252 and love the dials stratey. I think it gives a great visual and like the way if flows from children to students. We are trying to work the strategy in at Cross Point, but I think there is more to develop so that it works at Cross point. I love the 5 themes you came up with. Was that a team development?
JC, yes I have people ask me what I teach their kids. Now most of the time it is from the home school camp but that is okay in my book.
Kenny, thanks for your thoughts. I also see your point as a problem. Being strategic is one thing that I think we all can do better.
patrowland, I hate to say this but it was not a team development. It was me in my office with the door shut in prayer. Then waking up at 3:30 one morning and thinking about it again. Also I do like Reggie's dials. I think they make a lot of sense and give a great visual. The hard part of those dials is marketing them to parents. That is why I came up with the 5 themes. I think they go hand in hand. They don't replace each other.
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