# A Sure Foundation



## johnc (Sep 14, 2011)

Does anyone have any experience with Children Desiring God's children's resources? I would be interested in any experiences or thoughts, but, in particular, their Nursery and Toddler curriculum, 'A Sure Foundation'? 

Children Desiring God - Curricula - A Sure Foundation

Thanks.


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## Jack K (Sep 14, 2011)

We use Children Desiring God materials in my church. I'm not so familiar with the nursery materials since my area of responsibility is older kids. But those who are using it like it.

In general, anything from Children Desiring God will go heavy on theological training. And if older kids are going to be studying it, if helps if they've gotten the background of the lessons for younger kids while they were in preschool. In general, my thoughts on the Children Desiring God materials (again, knowing the stuff for older kids best) are as follows:

STRENGTHS:

- Really teaches theology from the youngest ages and continuing through high school.

- Strongly Calvinist view of salvation (so strong I sometimes wish they'd actually be done with it and move on to other topics) and emphasis on the sovereignty of God.

- Gets kids diving into the Bible constantly.

- Although the ministry is Baptist, doesn't press Baptist distinctives (a plus for Presbyterians!).

- Requires real preparation from teachers, who have to get to know their stuff. Some churches consider this a weakness, but I call it a strength.

WEAKNESSES:

- Can be SO intent on teaching theological concepts that it ends up feeling like studying from a systematic theology textbook. The Bible's narrative sections, so captivating to kids and useful in teaching them, are underutilized. Theological points are too often divorced from the context of the biblical story, and lessons jump from place to place in the Bible until kids lose all sense of the biblical timeline and its sweeping story.

- Can be so intent on exalting God the Father that it ignores the Son, forgetting that the Father is known best through the Son. Despite a solid emphasis on theology, Jesus is surprisingly absent from too many lessons.

- Lacks the production values of many other materials. Illustrated material has little pizazz and kids (and teachers) sometimes find their worksheets boring.

You should also realize, should it matter to you, that despite being Calvinistic on salvation Children Desiring God does not take a stance that's fully on board with toe-the-line Covenant Theology or with Reformed confessions. I haven't found this to be much of an issue at all in the teaching points, which I find again and again to be solid, but it will show up in places such as the use of picutres of Jesus.


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## johnc (Sep 15, 2011)

Jack,

Thanks for your detailed reply. Our son (2 yrs old), brought home what I guess was the first worksheet from the toddler curriculum last week. It basically had a bunch of 'simple' theological truths, e.g., "God is good'. Most of them were ok, but I questioned one or two. For example, "God loves you". I know this is a debatable point with what to tell young (covenant) children, but I myself am uncomfortable with it. 

John

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Jack K said:


> You should also realize, should it matter to you, that despite being Calvinistic on salvation Children Desiring God does not take a stance that's fully on board with toe-the-line Covenant Theology or with Reformed confessions. I haven't found this to be much of an issue at all in the teaching points, which I find again and again to be solid, but it will show up in places such as the use of picutres of Jesus.



Thanks for the heads-up about pictures of Jesus. I will have a problem with that. It's frustrating how much children's material we have been given since our son was born, and I would estimate >95% all have 2nd commandment violations.

John


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## Jack K (Sep 15, 2011)

johnc said:


> Thanks for the heads-up about pictures of Jesus. I will have a problem with that. It's frustrating how much children's material we have been given since our son was born, and I would estimate >95% all have 2nd commandment violations.



The PCA/OPC's Great Commission Publications is the way to go for those who're concerned about pictures of Jesus. Their stuff is also good in many other ways. But Children Desiring God probably has fewer pictures of Jesus than many other materials simply because they don't use a lot of pictures, period.

Since you're in a PCA church you might be able to talk to the folks in charge and nicely encourage them toward looking at the Great Commission materials. Be prepared for changes to take time, though. And realize going in that the Great Commission stuff is much more expensive than is Children Desiring God.


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