CM: Curriculum

This is from Chapter 10 of Children Matter - a strong chapter about curriculum. They define curriculum as "the experiential big picture of what is involved in teaching and nurturing children," [CM p.192] "a course or journey to be traversed together..." (as a faith community) because "...every element in the life of a church educates in some way." [CM p. 191]

They talk about content, learner, environment, teacher/shepherd, aim and evaluation adding, "One major element of life-changing curriculum is missing from what we have discussed to this point. Only God can change lives, and our curriculum is ineffective unless God's Spirit is at work in and through us,our students, and all that we do...Jesus promised to send His Holy Spirit to be with us, so we do not work alone." [CM p. 198]

They include a valuable section comparing the strengths and weaknesses of prepared curriculum with curriculum designed within the local church. They also talk about combinations. They talk about "empowering teachers, shepherds, and leaders," "attention to the environment," accountability...

All in all they present a wonderful challenge to define and create ways to teach and nurture children that embody experiencing God's big picture. [ from CM p.192] They call us to create journeys that multi-generational faith communities can take together, working with leadership so that everyone is attentive to the elements in the life of the church that can teach us about God, how He loves us, how He interacts with us, how He interacts with others in this world no matter how old we are. [ from CM p. 191] Programs, activities, and worship can accomplish this through careful planning and design. Being attentive to what people of all ages are learning and how they're learning is challenging and important but it helps us plan and design. But I think it's more than that. It's not just what we teach but what people learn. I think the curriculum they're talking about is more than all of this: it's God teaching us - no matter how old we are.

Who will take the time? What congregations will step out of their comfort zone, out of the old ways, out of the old wine skins to explore the possibilities of becoming new wine in new wine skins for generations of God's children? Designing the curriculum that the authors are talking about requires a unique relationship between church leadership and those who are given to ministering to children. It means we need to learn to hear each other, set goals together, work together, design together, create together, pray and listen together. It means learning to see ways that God is already working in the lives of an entire congregation - all ages - both as individual groups and as we interact with one another. It includes what individuals in a faith community are learning, how we're learning, and more important how it affects our day to day life and living. It's not didactic, it's organic. It has everything to do with what it means to embrace Jesus' words: "learning to obey all that I commanded you..." representing Christ in every area of our lives. We're not an institution. We're not country clubs. We're the living Body of the Living God - the wisdom of God to the world. I think that's the curriculum they're talking about. That's the curriculum we're after. What does it look like? When it's all said and done, it should probably look like Jesus.