This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so you can discern what is best and be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Phil. 1:9-10
"Moments of Truth" - a 2.5-minute weekly video to give kids an introduction to the lesson
Generations of Grace Video Homepage
The first time to the site, you will be prompted to set up a free account with your email; this will give you access to all videos.
Link to other translations of scripture passages. If the story seems difficult, use this site to look up other translations. It can be an interesting study. Accessible translations are NIV, The Message, The Living Bible, the Amplified Bible, and many others.
Note: We encourage using the newest version of NIV, for its readability, accuracy, and availability in the classroom. (This curriculum uses ESV)
There's no perfect curriculum. Christians grapple with how to interpret Biblical passages and fine points of doctrine. This church does not endorse all the doctrinal points of this curriculum, which comes from one particularly literal doctrinal stance. But it was selected because it seems to teach through the Bible well on the major points. Focus on the best parts, highlight Jesus and His work, and leave out what isn't helpful.
In Kids Min, we try to side-step indoctrination on hot-button topics that have built walls between earnest Christians. It seems more fruitful to teach open-mindedness that leads to dialogue, as long as we are pursuing God and aligning our lives to His word to the best of our ability.
Indoctrination: There is only one correct way to look at this passage and it is this.
Grace: Christians have struggled to understand hard things, and have different thoughts on how to interpret this subject. As long as they love Jesus and take His word seriously, there can be different views.
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Here they are. (Present them fairly, but briefly, in a sentence or two. A good benchmark is if a representative of this position were in the room, would they think they had been accurately depicted?)
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Here's what we believe and why. (Ok to make a case for your view, but don't belabor it. For kids, keep it short & sweet.)
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Now ask your parents (and pastor) what they believe, and why. (Send them on a mission to investigate.)
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Encourage grace, investigation, and thought.
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Remind the kids (and yourself) to speak respectfully of those with whom you disagree.