by Karen Jones

When I was a Kids Minister searching for a curriculum to use in my ministry, my first task was to look at a curriculum’s scope and sequence. A curriculum’s scope and sequence is simply its plan. Scope indicates the content the curriculum intends to cover. Sequence indicates the order in which the content will be covered. Looking at a curriculum’s scope and sequence will help you make a quick decision if the curriculum is worth considering for your ministry or not. 

First of all, it should be clear that the curriculum is teaching the Bible. You should see specific Books of the Bible and passages covered. If that isn’t readily apparent, move on. 

Once you are sure you are looking at a Bible-based curriculum, look at the parts of the Bible it covers. Does it spend ample time in both the New Testament and the Old Testament? Does it include a variety of Biblical genres? Are there Books of the Bible avoided altogether? When Paul is giving his farewell to the Epheisan elders in Acts 20, he says, “Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God.” I love how the ESV renders that last phrase, “the whole counsel of God.” Let’s be sure to give the children we serve “the whole counsel of God.”  

Once you are satisfied with the scope of the curriculum, take a look at its sequence. How long will it take to move through the curriculum? At what age will a child who started the curriculum, finish the curriculum? How long does the curriculum spend in different Books of the Bible? More practically, what is the time span you want this curriculum to cover? If you want a six-week curriculum, a curriculum with a three-year session plan, won’t be a quick fit, but could it be adapted to work?

When I first came to Lifeway, I was impressed and encouraged by the amount of careful consideration and deliberation that goes into planning each scope and sequence for the curriculums we produce. As an editor for The Gospel Project for Kids, I know firsthand the number of hours and voices that go into our three-year chronological scope and sequence. We are careful to spend a year and a half each in the Old and New Testaments. Our three-year plan ensures that a child will hear the complete story of redemption three times: as a preschooler, younger elementary, and older elementary student. 

My friends on the Bible Studies for Life Kids team are just as serious about their three year study plan. They use the Levels of Biblical Learning as their guide to make sure 10 biblical concept areas—God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Bible, Salvation, Creation, Church, People, Family, Community & World—are presented through eight different age ranges, from infancy through high school, and reflect levels of understanding that follow how God designed children to learn.  

My friends on the Explore the Bible Kids team believe every kid is worthy of every Book of the Bible, not just the ones that are easiest to read. Their scope and sequence takes them through every Book of the Bible in five years. They lead kids to practice the routines and skills required to better read, know, and apply God’s Word.

What are other things you consider as you choose curriculum for your ministry?

By Ken Hindman

One of the critical responsibilities you have as a leader of preschool and children’s ministry is choosing great curriculum. You need to choose a curriculum that fits your discipleship and spiritual education needs for the kids at your church. For the past 30 years, I have witnessed a flood of curriculum resources targeted to kids. Let’s face it, the resources provided for kids is big business. This provides you with many options to consider, but is having these options always the best? Here are a few things to consider as you select curriculum for preschool and children’s ministry:

• Biblically Based
  • Please read through the curriculum and make sure all items that are provided to support a teaching session are biblically based. Does it point the leader and the learner to the Bible? If not, you do not want that curriculum.
• Transformational Teaching
  • Make sure the curriculum you choose points kids to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. This transformation occurs only when a child moves from being an unsaved sinner to being saved through the blood of Jesus Christ.
• Age-suitable
  • By now, you must know a two-year-old learns differently than a 2^nd grader. Make sure the curriculum offers a wide variety of teaching options for younger, middle, and older preschoolers and younger, middle, and older kids.
• Interactive Learning
  • Does the curriculum support the use of multiply modalities? If not, it is not going to be a good option for kids. Kids must move in order to learn. When kids are encouraged to use their senses to learn, the knowledge gained is retained at a greater rate and for much longer. I encourage you to make sure your curriculum choice allows kids to be kids. For the most part, kids do not like to sit in chairs all the time while attending your class.
• Teacher Training Support
  • How do you train your teachers, leaders, and volunteers? The best curriculum choices will provide teaching training resources. Remember, a classroom is only as good as the teacher. Teachers are better when they are trained, equipped, and encouraged.
• Life-Application
  • Are kids learning how to apply the Bible to their life? I think it is important the curriculum teaches kids to be able to apply what they are learning to their everyday life.
• Price
  • Maybe you have an unlimited budget, but I do not. I must make sure the curriculum I choose is a wise purchase. Am I getting the best value for my money? If I pay for a company’s curriculum and it is provided in an online format, it might not be the best option if I am spending tons of money every week to print out the products for each individual classroom.
• Curriculum Evaluation
  • I would encourage you to walk through a curriculum evaluation process every 5-6 years. Products, price, and values, the needs of your church, ministry, and kids change. Take some time and do a thorough evaluation of the curriculum you currently use.

Joshua 1:9 states the following, “As for me and my house, I am going to choose to serve the Lord.” For myself, and the ministry I lead, the curriculum of choice is Bible Studies for Life produced by Lifeway. We use this curriculum because it meets all of the requirements I have mentioned. Plus, it provides colorful take home pages for kids, online support, curriculum resources for Babies, Ones and Twos, curriculum in Spanish, and curriculum for all ages of special needs learners.

Ken Hindman serves as the Children’s Pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tennessee.  He has served in preschool and children’s ministry for twenty-six years.  He is a graduate of The University of Alabama with a BS degree in Childhood Education.  Ken and his wife, Kristina, live in Arlington, Tennessee with their two sons, Mack (20) and David (18).  He was named Staff Member of the Year in 2003 by the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Ken is the creator of Marketplace, a hands-on biblical learning experience for kids. Ken has designed a variety of programs for preschoolers, children, and families such as Resurrection Journey, Kid$ense, Creation Station, TeamKid Camp, Fall Fun Fest, and Journey to Bethlehem.

These are difficult times for all of us. At no time in many of our memories has a single event touched every person on Earth. And let’s be honest: the gravity of this current crisis can feel overwhelming—especially when our worship gatherings are canceled. Even though we are not meeting together in person, we have a great opportunity to minister to kids and families in new ways during this unusual season. Many are leveraging digital content and delivery systems to spur on discipleship. 

To help you accomplish this, Lifeway is temporarily providing current Bible study sessions from Bible Studies for Life, Explore the Bible, and The Gospel Project to churches, groups, and families for FREE. 

We developed Lifeway Kids at Home (available FREE at digitalpass.lifeway.com) as a family viewing resource for parents to use with their kids at home, but wanted to also have a resource to equip church leaders to curate, customize and distribute the Bible studies they use every week in Sunday School. 

Get Started With Digital Curriculum

Why Digital Curriculum?

Whether you’re familiar with print or digital resources from Lifeway, this new enhanced digital curriculum experience makes discipleship during social distancing easy, allowing you to:

• Access content on computers, tablets, and smartphones
• Customize with your own content, discussion questions, etc.
• Share via email or social media
• Use with discipleship groups via Google Hangouts, Facebook Live, or Zoom Meetings
• Print and deliver to those who cannot access digitally

(Not sure about how to host an online group? We’ve got training for that, too.)

How Does it Work?

Using this digital curriculum is simple! Here’s what you need to do: 

Set up your church’s organization. In order to share this digital curriculum with your people, you will need to create a Ministry Grid organization that allows you to organize and share curriculum.

View and customize your sessions. The digital curriculum provided is completely customizable to fit your church’s context. You can add additional teaching components, activities and discussion questions.

Share curriculum with families to access at home. Once the curriculum is ready to share, send your people an email from within the platform, or share a link and they will receive the digital curriculum on any device. 

Intentional Discipleship Made Easier

These times are difficult, but growing together doesn’t need to be. Keep growing by logging in at curriculum.lifeway.com today.