Here at St Anne’s we’ve committed to following a whole-church curriculum. What does that mean? Simply that we’re all hearing from God in the same Bible passage every week. I’ve been massively encouraged by this. Let me offer a couple of reasons why I love the whole-church curriculum.
1. Family conversations
The buzz of having children with us on Sundays is amazing. Yet as a church family we only get 1-2 hours with them each week. The rest of the week is spent between school, home and hobbies. Parents are the primary disciple-makers of their children. Following the same teaching on Sundays means that there’s an opportunity to take what we hear on a Sunday morning home and into the week.
Questions over lunch on a Sunday bring families together as they encourage and help each other in God’s truth from his Word as soon as they’re back home. Asking things like ‘what did you find exciting about what we heard this morning?’ embeds what we’ve heard in church into our hearts. Children will have questions too. ‘Mummy, what does that mean?’, ‘Dad, how can this be true when we don’t see it in life?’. Questions like this are less intimidating, and perhaps more welcome if we’re all tuned into the same book of the Bible. Parents will know what their children have heard so are aware of the tricky topics that might come up. The whole-church curriculum equips parents and children for conversation.
Hearing the same passage will also help with applying God’s Word to their life as they know what the week brings for them – exams, sports matches, a funeral, a birthday and so on. It means families can brace themselves for a tough week ahead or rejoice at God’s goodness to them sharing truths they’ve all heard together.
Children in church are blessed to have 2 families. They have a family at home and a church family. The whole-church curriculum makes conversation between church family easier too. I love seeing the kids at St Anne’s talking to wise, mature saints. Knowing what the children have learnt in their groups gives the wider church family fuel for encouraging young hearts.
2. Truths to grow into
We might have been the child wearing a jumper and jeans that’s too big for them. Or perhaps even the parent sending that child out of the door. We know children grow quickly. The jumper that drowns them will be snug in a month. It’s similar with the truths in God’s Word. We don’t need to be scared of ‘giving them more than they can handle’ or wonder ‘are they really ready for that?’. A beautiful aspect of whole-church curriculum is giving little ones big truths they can grow into and grow with.
Staying in a comfort zone of small truths may give us an easier time of teaching children in the short-term. Seeing a two year-old bursting with joy saying ‘Jesus loves me!’ Is a great sight. We know we’d be neglecting children though if we haven’t moved on by the time they’re ten. Simple truths are brilliant for our hearts. If we don’t let what we teach our children grow with them then the result will be a shaky, shallow faith that isn’t resilient and doesn’t prepare them to take the reins of their faith. Without a well-rounded, solid foundation children may grow to find that only knowing little truths leaves them feeling ill-equipped or even disillusioned. They might wonder how the ‘Jesus loves me’ truth balances with all the new feelings that come with being a teenager. Whereas a child who has been taught from their earliest days that they’re made in God’s image (Genesis P) and knitted together in the mum’s womb by God (Psalm 139) is on a better footing to rebuff the devil’s lies and accusations.
By sticking to the whole-church curriculum we all get the whole depth of God’s true and beautiful Word. We get a balanced diet of Scripture. We get all we need. Going this way as a church means we don’t shy away from the truths that we all have to wrestle with. God’s Word is so deep. We’ll never fully plumb the depths of it. We have to depend on him to speak to us. If we only spend time in the ‘easy’ or ‘light’ bits we miss out. In fact we do something worse – we make God out as smaller than he is and as someone who we can fully have a handle on. We all need the fullness of God.
Often children are ready to grow into the big truths. It’s crucial we give them the chance to be wowed and awestruck by the biggest truths about God and the chance to grapple with the questions and grow into big gospel truths. There’s something beautiful about a child coming to know and fully understand the gospel and what it means for them. It’s great to watch them grow into the person God is making them.
The whole-church curriculum helps us fully include children in our church family and helps us to help them grow in faith. Next Sunday why not ask a child what they’ve been amazed by that morning or encourage them with what you’ve heard?
