|
"What kind of curriculum do you use?" As many of you know, this is the wrong question to ask at Calvary Chapel. Our curriculum is the Bible. Pure and simple. Ah - but is it?
We have students in youth ministry for maybe six years, if they are with us for their middle and high school years. There is simply no way to cover the whole Bible in this short of time. So, here's what I do... I have to choose which sections of scripture to cover with the youth group in six years. I actually have six year plan that I cycle through in our teaching, with much variety, of course. The important thing is that we teach PASSAGE-LY and not TOPICALLY. This is a big value with us. We often hear of "verse by verse, chapter by chapter" in Calvary Chapel, but more accurately, I prefer to teach thought by thought, passage by passage. The chapter and verse breaks in scripture came way after the Bible was written, so we must look for the natural breaks that the Holy Spirit inspired the writers to create in the prophetic process. The way this works out is that we always study one "thought" in context of the surrounding passage, book, author and testament. It is amazing what you can learn when you always refer back to what the overall theme and context is. Scripture jumps to life when you take a familiar verse and look at it in the broader light. The whole point of this is TEACHING STUDENTS TO STUDY THE BIBLE PROPERLY. Our society has become so media-driven that most students haven't learned how to read any important document, much less the Bible. As I teach, I want to model RIGHT COMPREHENSION of the text so students can read on their own in the same way. Many youth pastors fear boring their audience, so have rejected this type of study. How sad, my friends! I can't tell you how exciting it can be to see scripture spring to life and realize how relevant it truly is. When students see this happening week after week, I pray that they will begin to look for contextual-treasure on their own in their own Bible study. That is when my job as a Bible teacher has been accomplished! Next article: I'll show you some examples of scripture coming to life by proper contextual study - just right for youth Bible study.
 |
Staff Blogs 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comment form