Kids’ Quest Catechism Club is a curriculum that teaches children Bible truths through simple questions and answers. This curriculum is flexible and promotes memorization using components of Bible teaching, music, skits, activities, service projects and more.
Kids’ Quest was designed to meet the request of Children’s Ministry leaders and teachers for a school-year catechism program that taught First Catechism. However, many churches have customized the program to fit their own scheduling needs. Hopefully, you can use some of the following ideas from current users: Read the rest of this entry »
It never ceases to amaze me that anywhere in the world you say “Christian Education” people automatically think Sunday School. Is this the only education that the church does? If it is the only education we are engaged in, then we are in big trouble. Let me explain.
I taught the Christian Education (CE) courses at the Bible Institute of South Africa for eight years. The first exercise we did was to list every activity a church does, from worship to soup kitchens, from Bible study to foreign missions. I then challenged them to tell me which one of these ministries is not in one way or the other CE! I challenge you to do the same, because the way you understand the educational ministry of your church will determine the depth of spirituality existent in your people. You disagree? Then the challenge is for me to prove my point.
Let’s look at some of the things that a church does . . . Download article PDF
In First Catechism, question 21 asks children, “What is a sacred covenant?” The answer is, “A relationship that God sets up with us and guarantees by his word.” This encompasses the requirements, promises and threats contained in the covenant. Covenant is a core biblical truth for us: it shapes our understanding of God, salvation, the church, family and children.
The idea of the covenant is important because it explains how we relate to God and God to us, therefore it is to be a part of our daily lives. When children receive the sacrament of covenant baptism, we promise to teach them what that sign and seal are all about as they grow.
Catechism question 27 asks, “Did Adam keep the covenant of life?” Response: “No—he sinned against God.” If that were the whole story, we would be helplessly and hopelessly lost. However, the rest of this story is that Christ kept the covenant for us, enabling those who trust him to obey and follow him. When we do, we have eternal life, not just the promise but the reality beginning here and now.
We want our children to know that God has made a way for sinners to relate to him as a holy God. Before the fall, man’s perfect obedience was required. But man failed and his relationship with God was broken. After the fall, God’s covenantal system continued under a new order—by his grace, not by our works.
We want children of every age to understand that Christ loved us and kept the covenant on behalf of his children, and as a result God’s people are saved forever. Genesis 3:15 begins to unfold the story of the covenant of grace—a beautiful tapestry that runs throughout Scriptures. It reminds us that we relate to God by his terms and design.
The unifying theme of the Bible is the unfolding of covenant history. In the GCP curriculum, we build on that theme so young lives will be rooted in the covenant of grace. It is essential in discipling children—showing them who God is and how to be his children.
Dr. Charles Dunahoo pastored churches in Alabama and Georgia before being called to his present position as Coordinator for the PCA Committee for Christian Education and Publications. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia, Columbia Theological Seminary and Westminster Theological Seminary.
Children love stories. Jesus loved stories too, and told them often. Yet he was never just a storyteller. Jesus, the Son of God, knew the whole story, the story of God’s plan to deliver sinners who had rebelled against him. The wonder of the story is the love of God for those who were his enemies. Before creating the world, God chose lost sinners to be his children.
To save those who hated him, God had to come down from heaven. Our situation was so desperate that only he could help us, and his promises were so great that only he could make good on them. The story of the Bible begins with God’s creation of the world, tells of the sin of our first parents in heeding the words of Satan and of their being driven from the Garden of Eden. In judging the serpent, the Lord also promised the coming of the Son of the woman, who would suffer in order to crush the serpent and the power of evil. Read the rest of this entry »
What makes a Sunday school curriculum Reformed? Is it the biblical content or the teaching methods employed or the way lessons are illustrated? Certainly these elements are driven by and reflect the publisher’s theological standards. But it goes much deeper for us here at Great Commission Publications. We operate on the supposition that nurturing covenant children in the faith is a crucial part of Christ’s mandate to be disciple makers. That mandate must be carried out in sync with our heritage and the distinctive doctrines of grace.
Before we write a single lesson, we begin with an attitude toward Scripture. Our approach is to regard it as the “whole counsel of God.” We believe it is important to see the entirety of the Bible as God’s complete, unified revelation. Every small piece of biblical truth is part of a whole, and ultimately all the pieces fit together perfectly to comprise the message God wants to convey to us.
There are two practical implications to this underlying perspective: Read the rest of this entry »
