As Promised...The Pre-Conference Notes

Warning: Lengthy post ahead....


I promised to write about what I learned at that wonderful conference I attended a little over a week ago. There is just so much information!!!! I hardly know where to begin. This post is a compilation of my notes and a few of my own thoughts on the information presented at the preconference.

I'll start with just what makes this curriculum so special. I was first introduced to this way of teaching children a few years ago, while we were living in Dallas. My friends, Julie, Jenni, Tamra, and I began using it, working our way through the first of the preschool curriculum, He Has Established a Testimony with our kids. Every Friday, we would meet together at Julie's house and have a "preschool" for the kids. We did this throughout the year. At the end of the year, Julie proposed that we all go to Minnesota for the Children Desiring God conference. I went along, never suspecting how much I would learn, and just how much my views about teaching children about the Bible were going to change. So here's the deal, a little bit from the notes from the conference:

First of all, they stated that their aim in teaching children was to "spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ". They talked about the importance of we, as Christians, not merely knowing the truth, but also loving the truth that we teach. We should delight in telling them these truths. We are to tell these truths to the coming generation, the "glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, all of the wonders that He has done" Who, exactly, is the next generation? There are four spheres that we have influence upon: 1)our own children, 2)children in our local church, 3)children of this world, and 4)children of future generations. Just how do we pursue the joy of the next generation....with VISION!

We need a vision orientation, rather than an activity orientation.
So many times, there is an activity orientation that is aimed at getting families/children to be involved in a church. We've all heard it said, "We need to have something for the kids!" This is the usual vision for a children's ministry. SOMETHING??? We must have vision orientation in children's ministry so we will aim them intentionally, not just at "something."
(Ps. 127:4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children…) Arrows must be aimed intentionally, not just at "something". What is emphasized should not just be what we are "doing", as much as where we are "going". What is a result of this vision orientation? The result of this vision orientation will be intentionality about who they play with, what adults they are around, what TV shows they watch, where they go, what they do.... ALL of these must be decided with your vision in mind for your children!

What is the vision?

Ps. 78:1-11
1Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
4We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
5He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
8and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
10They did not keep God's covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.


Why should we tell our children of the "glorious deeds of the Lord"? We are trying to have them know of the glorious deeds of the Lord so that these children will set their hope in God. Those who hope in God, will obey Him. We want them to know (and never forget) the wonderful things that God has done, of His faithfulness throughout history, so that they (and future generations) can put their confidence in God and not turn back! We are not just teaching knowledge and facts, we are teaching a PASSION! Not "Something" for the kids, but a "Vision" for the kids!!! Also...If God is not glorious in our eyes, we cannot impart a glorious vision of God to our children. He stressed the importance of us speaking and teaching of our Lord continually, recognizing Him at every task and situation, our thoughts and words constantly saturated with an awareness of God and His hand in our lives.

Okay, the next thing really was a big "Aha!" for me the first time I heard it! THE BIBLE IS ABOUT....GOD!!!!! We must teach our children through God-centered lenses. Many times, when teaching our children we make the mistake of hiding the main point of the story. The Bible is a way for us to know about God and his character. Many times we exchange the more important for the less important. Instead of.. "Brave Esther saves her people", a God centered way of teaching the Bible would be.. "God delivers His people" Not, "One brave little boy named David," but instead, "The Lord delivered Israel from the Philistines." To teach a story of God's preservation of his people in this way robs God of His glory. Esther's involvement was incidental. Children can learn to see the world through God centered lenses.

Another way that we hide these things from our children is by emphasizing self above God. For example:
God loves ME!
God will take care of ME!,
God hears ME when I pray!
Instead, how about,
"God is loving and gracious. He loves sinners like me."
"God is faithful to His children!"
"God is attentive."
By teaching the Bible in a God centered way , we produce God centered kids.

Another way we hide these truths from our children is by placing morality in a story above God. We are not trying to teach morality to our children. Good morals grow out of a great admiration for God.
Examples of this include:
1."Miriam helped her mother"- Miriam did not save Moses, but God fulfilling his promises to Abraham.

2.A Lesson about "Feeding the 5000" is turned into a lesson on sharing. "Five thousand people were fed, because a little boy shared his bread...." NO!!! Five thousand people were fed because Jesus is the Son of God! This story is not about sharing, but about Jesus Christ, who is all-powerful, meeting the needs of the people.

We need to give our children a picture of a BIG God!

Now... On to what I discussed a little bit in an earlier post:

We want to raise our children to be "BIBLE SATURATED". They gave three principles of how to raise our children to be Bible saturated.

1)Use the Bible in Bible teaching. (novel idea) Use the actual book, not just quotes. Kids should carry their Bibles and use them in class! Are our kids Bible literate? Can they use it? If you teach from notes, lay them inside your Bible so that they see the source of our teaching is the Bible. Are we teaching the Bible to our children.....or just lessons? Do we have a habit of going to the Bible ourselves when we are looking for answers.....or just other people? When we try to teach the Bible to our children, we find that they rise to the challenge. We assume too little of them and thus, don't teach them to open their eyes!!!

(On a side note: I totally agree with this point!!! I have found that much of the curriculum that I've seen simply does not challenge our kids! Much of this curriculum is watered down and filled with silliness and time-wasting activities. It is increasingly evident to me that our kids could be taught deep truths at such an early age....and just aren't. An example of this: I teach a combined class of kindergarten and first grade children on Wednesday nights. A few months ago, I said something in my class about tax collectors and sinners. I said something along the lines of "sinners?- Is that good or bad?" They all responded with "GOOD!" I thought, "Okay, I'll simplify this a little bit... Again I said, "Sinners???? That is good??? Sin??? Sin??? S-i-n?" Out of a group of around 15-20 children not one of them knew that sin was a bad thing, nor had any clue of what sin even was??? That is horrifyingly sad to me. These children, who are bright and well educated in other things, yet did not understand the word "sin" as being a bad thing. Their ignorance, I believe is because they have not been challenged to understand even the simplest of spiritual concepts. We must challenge our children!!! And to do that, we must be Bible-saturated ourselves!!!) Our children, if challenged, WILL rise to that challenge. Let's please give them something more than the bare minimum. Not just "something", but a "vision".

2)Another way to raise Bible-Saturated children is to teach them the whole counsel of God. While repetition is helpful, children should not be limited to only one story, but to the whole Bible. Repetition is good for toddlers. We should move away from too much repetition with preschoolers. When we limit the amount of Scripture a person is exposed to, we limit their view of God. While they need to know about Creation and Noah's Ark, we should be sure to teach them the many other stories, the "whole counsel of God".
Showing them all of the stories helps them to understand who God is, that He is faithful and never changes, etc.

3)We also need to give children a chronological Biblical foundation. When stories are not told in relation to each other, they are seen more like mythical stories, not letting children understand the BIG PICTURE. A Chronological approach demonstrates the conclusion of a matter, how things tie together, the them and overall message of the Bible. It helps children see that God's way is always best. They see consequences, causes and effects.

4)We also should teach children the truth. We need to give children a true picture of God. "You can be Jesus' helper" gives children the wrong idea about God. Weak doctrine produces weak faith produces weak Christians.

5)Inspire children to memorize the Bible. For better or for worse, what is memorized in childhood will be retained for a lifetime. They will either memorize nursery rhymes or Bible verses. We can’t expect kids to memorize when we do not. (This one really got me! I need to get better about this!)

Types of verses that are good to memorize:
-Verses that give big picture of who God is (His character, power…)
-Verses which give words to our prayers and praise to God
-Verses to help with a problem they are having or encourage growth in an area of immaturity
-Verses that reflect biblical wisdom
-Verses that help them fight the fight of faith or help others fight

They sell an excellent variety of memorization resources on their website. The Foundation Verses are a really good way to get your kids on the road to becoming Bible-saturated. I have the Fighter Verses as well, but haven't been so good about memorizing them this year. :(

About Memorization:
They said not to make Scripture memorization an option, just something that you do (like brushing your teeth). They said that you should know your child and give appropriate verses for them to memorize. It is important that the children know the meaning of each verse. Go through it with them word by word. Explain anything that they don't understand. "What does this verse mean in your life?" Help them understand how to find these verses in their Bibles. They talked about using verses in prayer and in conversation with your children. When teaching your Bible class (or own children at home), say, "Who knows a Bible verse that will prove this point?" Get those kids thinking....and using...the Bible in their everyday lives. One effective way to do this is by saturating them with the Scriptures.

The speakers also gave a response to negative feedback regarding Bible-Saturated children. Here is some of what they said:

1) "Children won't sit still and listen for a whole half hour! They need to be moving!"

Their response: Children will rise to the standard that you set for them. Set the bar high. They will sit still if they are interested. Don't underestimate the kids!!!

2)"The truths of the Bible are too difficult for children to understand!"

Their response: Profound truths can be explained, if we pray and wrestle with it. Children are matter of fact. The deep truths that are emotional for us, are not to the kids. They have no life experience/emotional baggage to confuse the issues. These deep truths will help to prepare the kids for hard times. These deep truths should be presented in an age appropriate way. For example: "David stole another man's wife."
Or: "Potiphar’s wife did not have a good heart. She wanted Joseph to do something bad, which would not please God. This is sin. Man is sinful. Potiphar’s wife also sinned by lying about Joseph and got Joseph in trouble. Joseph was sent to prison."

My favorite quote of the entire conference was this...
"You have to know your plight so you can recognize the rescue!" We MUST teach children about these deep truths that are presented in the Bible. (concepts such as sin, hell, Satan's work in the world, etc.) Children CAN handle them, if presented in an age appropriate way.

3)"Sunday school should be fun. Otherwise, the kids will be bored!"

Their response: Our aim is to engage not to entertain. The children should be active, not passive learners. God is NOT boring! Why substitute HIM with games and activities?

My response: Preach on!

Lastly, they emphasized the importance of reaching the hearts of the children we are teaching. We must teach them not just to KNOW facts, but to think for themselves. If not, those facts can become a hollow belief that easily crumbles beneath their feet. It is your job as their teacher to show your child how to translate what you are teaching them. Translate it from the head to the lips, tongue, hands and heart. Aim for the heart when teaching, not just the head. We need to be praying for the hearts of the children we are teaching. Application is most effectively done through our questioning.

How do we present the word so that we aim for faith and not just for knowledge?
-Teach for response-don’t always tell.
-Ask questions, let them figure it out.
-Probe their hearts. Where is the Holy Spirit nudging their heart?
-“What would trusting God look like?” “What would trusting in yourself look
like?”
-This is hard – keep working on it!
-Apply the Bible to real life situations. Make it applicable.
-Ask God to help us know what response is needed from us.
-Model for our kids. They need to see God working in US.

When teaching to the heart, we should be alert to "heart indicators" in the children we are teaching. We should not scold children, but address the heart. Scolding comes from a heart of anger.

-prayer (in class time – listen to what/how they pray)
-observe the children – what does their behavior reveal?
-mingle with the kids – get to know them informally
-read body language- Pride? Rebellion? Disrespect? Shunning others? (Help
children understand what body language communicates)
-relate behavior to heart attitude - Luke 7:37-38
-Connect the heart issues with biblical truth. Your actions need to touch the
heart. “What does your action say about your heart condition?”
-don’t be passive- get involved and address issues
-commend a child when you see admirable heart attitude
-connect with parents (working on same issues at home & at SS)
-We should equip them for every good work, so that they are able to use what they have learned, so that they can take it and apply it!!


With Preschoolers:
-Much is setting groundwork

-Foundations of right from wrong
(Your heart said, “I want the toy” Your heart needs to say, “I want YOU to have the toy and enjoy it.” God can help you have a “You can have it” heart instead of a “I want it heart.” Pray with the child.)

-Equip them for every good work...right now.
Involve them in the church and ministry now. They have a purpose.
We want to move them from “being served” to “serving” others.
Areas that preschoolers can serve:
Prayer ministry
Giving
Ushering
Evangelism/back yard Bible club
Visitations – nursing homes/ hospitals
Starting in Jr. High – transition into an adult world – don’t let them grow
up in just youth ministry... but let them start serving early

What is our role in Faith training?
-We should be disciple makers.
-We should help them to learn the truth for themselves.
-We should be godly role models.
-We should encourage them to trust in God in the big and small situations.

Also, in our preparation for our teaching we should remember that a lesson prepared in the head reaches the head, whereas a lesson prepared from the heart reaches the heart. They strongly encourage teachers to read their lesson (from the Bible) several times during the week, each time praying for the hearts of the students who will hear the message. Do I do this when I am preparing my Bible lessons? No. Not yet I don't. But it is certainly something to strive for.

This is just the first seminar I heard. I won't bore you with the details of all of the other ones, but I might include bits of a few others that I especially enjoyed. This is probably my most lengthy post ever. I guess it is rightfully so, since this is one of my soapboxes. Just think what an impact could be made not only now, but on future generations if children were taught this way, taught the deep truths of God, taught by teachers who were dedicated to passing on their hope in God to the children under their influence!