Sunday school Curriculum

[Elias_Amare]

My church has been blessed with children; their number has become even higher compared to adults, and my elders have given more attention to the Sunday school curriculum.
My elders have tasked me with gathering and preparing resources for Sunday school classes, ideally translating them into my native Amharic language. Both for teachers and students.
The class has been divided into three based on their age differences. (3-4 age), (5-8 age), (9-12 age)

Are there any resources that can help me prepare a curriculum for each class?

Also, it has been planned to even more focus on each and every family household and help families grow spiritually in their own family worship. The church wants to provide resources on Bible study guidelines and an outline for topic series studies.

Any resources that could help me prepare an outline and guidelines for parents that help them in family worship may be integral to the Sunday school in which the teachers and the parents can work together.

 

[Andres]

I teach one of of children's Sabbath school classes which ranges in ages from 3-6 years. I use From the Lips of Little Ones: A Study in the Catechism. It goes through the children's catechism, which is perfect for this age group. Our church views Sabbath school as a supplement to help parents with discipleship so each child memorizes a catechism answer each week at home and then I will ask them during class to recite the answer theyve worked on each week. I also had them memorize Psalm 23 just by singing it each week in class until they learned it. We pray each class period and I will print out a coloring sheet for them to use at the end of each class time. This is a good coloring book because it does not have any 2CV's. I keep class to 30 minutes and the actual instruction portion is around 15-20 minutes since they have smaller attention spans.

 

[Andres]

I have also taught a class to our congregation on family worship. If you'd like the outline, I'd be happy to share but the two resources I recommend in encouraging family worship are Family Worship: In the Bible, In History, and In Your Home and Thoughts on Family Worship. The former is a modern book and the latter is an older work and while I am partial to the older work, I think the modern book can serve as a good intro to those without a background for family worship.

 

[Elias_Amare]

thank you for the resources

Would it be appropriate for ages 9–12 to teach pilgrim progress by John Bunyan?

If you'd like the outline, I'd be happy to share

Since this is my first time preparing an outline, maybe I could learn from yours. If it's possible, will you share it with me?

 

[Jack K]

Would it be appropriate for ages 9–12 to teach pilgrim progress by John Bunyan?

Much depends on your church and culture, and what those children already know.

Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory, and young children have a difficult time thinking in terms of allegories. Older children, like the age you are asking about, are starting to appreciate allegory but it still is not the way they process information best. They do better with "concrete" facts: true stories that really happened, firm rules God has put in place, etc. So, if the children in your church already know the Bible and basic theology very well, I think you could teach Pilgrim's Progress to that age group. But if they don't, I think you would do better to give them Bible stories and basic theology. Wait with Pilgrim's Progress until they are older.

I don't know much about your culture. If it is a storytelling culture, I would make sure they learn the true stories given us in the Bible. The children will be used to learning truth that way, and they will need to have God's stories deeply rooted in them to counter the false stories their culture gives them. But if your culture is more of an "ideas culture" like the West, you might need to teach about God in a more systematic, ideas-based way like by using catechisms to counter the false statements their culture gives them. Both Bible stories and catechisms are good, but your culture sometimes determines the best balance.

Even in the Western culture where I live, I mostly prefer to teach through the narrative (story) parts of the Bible for kids of that age. As I do this, I look for ways to bring up theological truths, and I teach many of those truths about God. But most of the time I introduce these truths in the context of a Bible story. Not all the time. It's also good to take some time to teach theology systematically. But true, concrete stories are powerful, and they work well with children.

 

[johnmo]

The bulk of this curriculum is scripture text, so if you have an Amharic Bible you would have much less to translate. Most of it is reading the text and questions to generate discussion.

About

Investigating God’s Word… is a seven year, comprehensive, Christ-centered Sunday School curriculum for Kindergarten through sixth grade. The curriculum covers all of God’s Word, from Genesis to Revelation, in a systematic way. Each quarter includes 13 lessons for a total of 52 weeks each year...

onestoryministries.org

 

[Andres]

Would it be appropriate for ages 9–12 to teach pilgrim progress by John Bunyan?

I would say yes.

thank you for the resources

Would it be appropriate for ages 9–12 to teach pilgrim progress by John Bunyan?


Since this is my first time preparing an outline, maybe I could learn from yours. If it's possible, will you share it with me?

Attached. I should note that when I taught this my congregation was in the RPCNA so there are a few references to the RP Testimony. Otherwise, it should be applicable to any group. May the Lord bless it to the edification of His people.

 

[py3ak]

I have 8 documents that cover a curriculum for children aged 2-11, with special reference to the Heidelberg Catechism. If you'd like to send me your email address via private message, I'd be happy to pass those along to you.