Recommended Curriculum
Finding a good curriculum is a challenge. It needs to be biblically-sound, but usable for volunteers who’ve never formally studied either Bible/Theology or education. And it needs to be deep enough that church kids will actually learn something while also being simple and grounded enough that students are challenged to apply the Word to their daily lives. Of course, this is all within the framework of biblical theology - where the whole Bible proclaims the gospel from Genesis through Revelation.
The YPT Curriculum
We don’t simply want to create theology nerds, we want to build Christians. That means we need to think carefully about the question, “What is a disciple?” The way Christians have always answer this question has revolved around three branches of discipleships: Christian Doctrine (Head), Christian Spirituality (Heart), and Christian Living (Hands). Each year, the YPT Curriculum will publish a series in each branch, in order to help you disciple students’ whole selves. Start with the Core Discipleship Curriculum (Apostles’ Creed, Ten Commandments, Lord’s Prayer) to build their discipleship foundation, and then select from the Ongoing Discipleship Curriculum. You can order a full year’s curriculum for $250 or each individual series for $100.
The Rooted Curriculum, by the Rooted Ministry
The Rooted Curriculum offers many different options to bring your students through books of the Bible. Each lesson is question-driven around the three main questions of hermeneutics (What? So What? Now What?), so they’re learning how to do exegesis/hermeneutics as they work through each lesson. If you know anything about Rooted, then you know that every single lesson highlights “Fallen Condition Focus” in order to lead you to see Christ from Genesis through Revelation. There are many different tracks available, with more on the way.
The Thread, by YM360
Although YM360 has many curriculum options and their content is generally reliable, The Thread stands out for the way it teaches biblical theology to students. Lessons are teacher-friendly but do require prep-time so you can teach with confidence and clarity. It will be helpful to remind teacher that most curriculum is designed with the assumption the teacher will modify somewhat - so if you try teaching everything you’ll probably run out of time (and attention). But this is one of the best Sunday School curriculum I’ve used (twice!).
Deep Discipleship, by LeaderTreks
This curriculum has multiple series, built around the “8 Roots” of discipleship: Rescue, Knowledge, Kingdom, Outreach, Apologetics, Worship, Community, and Identity. These roots show up throughout the various series in order to give students a clear way to think about what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The engaging way this line is written makes it a good curriculum, especially for churches who are transitioning from a more entertainment-driven model of ministry to a gospel-centered approach. And the different series (each of which will last a full school-year) means you can build scope-and-sequence for your ministry off this framework. Churches who are looking for a more straightforward “Bible Study” may want to go another route.
The Gospel Project, by Lifeway
This has become one of the most widely-used curriculum, and for good reason. It’s well edited and there’s a kids, youth, and adults edition - so each age group can study the same series, though in age-appropriate ways, and have a good family discussion on the ride home from church or over dinner. This is a great option for churches who are looking for a solid curriculum with an intergenerational emphasis. When I used this curriculum (years ago, so it’s likely improved since then) it was theologically sound, but my volunteers had to put in extra work to make the lessons work for them.
Feed Bible Studies
Feed has various (free) Small Group studies that are built around the catechism. Although I haven’t used this curriculum, other trustworthy youth workers vouched for it.
