To buy curriculum or to write your own?
This is a debate that never seems to die. The young guns have convictions, the veterans have their experience, the big churches have resources and the smaller ones are simply happy to have someone show up and love kids. In the midst of all these differences there still is the un answered question of whether or not this is a good idea.
Here is the deal, we all come to the table with a completely different gift set and context in which we find ourselves. And because of that, we all need help and support in different areas. However, no matter what kind of ministry you lead, no matter how big or small your context is, you MUST have a curriculum. The real question is what will your curriculum be.
There must be some rhyme or reason to what you teach and when you teach it. Purchased curriculum is great in that it lays out what each lesson is and usually puts it together in a cycle that builds upon itself and reinforces the lessons that have been taught. There are many good options out there for this. My favorite is XP3 by Orange. I have written a little bit about their scope and cycle before.
Who needs curriculum, I have the Holy Spirit!
If you don’t buy curriculum then I am sure that you have sat down at the beginning of the year to plan out your lessons so that you too have a scope and cycle to what you are teaching your students. Back when I first started as a youth worker, many of my colleagues, including myself, would think planning that far in advance left little room for the Holy Spirit to lead the ministry. They would trust that the thing that God was teaching them and what they were most passionate about at the moment was the thing God had called them to teach to students.
But what everyone who has been around this type of “spirit lead” teaching for a while knows is that very soon students have only been exposed to a very limited understanding of scripture and limited exposure to the wider experiences and discussions surrounding the Christian faith. On the off chance that you are someone who has never developed their own scope and cycle before, I thought I would share with you how we have developed ours. And if you are a vet and have a much better and more compelling one, please share it so we can all learn.
My Scope and Cycle:
Over the years I have developed a pretty set scope and cycle to my student ministry curriculum. We have a pretty simple motif in our ministry. Our youth group’s name is House, and the language we use surrounds being part of the family of God. God is our father and through Christ we are adopted into His family. We use the language of adoption and belonging because I think alienation is one of the main places of brokenness our students experience, and is a place where the good news really is good news.
With God’s family as our over arching picture, we can then drop town into our themes, and then our lessons.
Fall: Our Family Story
Every family has stories that they share to communicate where they came from, great things that have been done, love stories, awful failures and how they have overcome, and many more. All of these stories give expression to how this moment around the dinner table is actually part of something much, much bigger. So in the fall we spend these lessons telling the story of God, his love, our rebellion, his grace, our adoption, and the implications of our new family identity.
Winter: Our Family Values
In youth group we have to tackle sex, drugs, and rock and roll. We address these issues too, as well as parents, cheating, lying, gossip, dating, homosexuality, creation care, etc. But instead of simply sharing, “this is right and this is wrong,” these topics are placed into a larger context of values, the values of their adopted family. Just like in my family we value things like generosity, education, and hard work. In God’s family we value mercy, justice, humility, holiness, service, and integrity, to name a few.
Spring: The Family Business:
For us, Spring is when we gear up for mission trips and focus on evangelism. These are great parts of every youth ministry diet. In the context of this scope and cycle, everything is framed through the paradigm that God has work to do here on earth, and he invites his kids to take up the family business. Just like in the good old days, a black smith would pass their trade onto their kids, God passes on his kingdom work to his kids. And since we are adopted as his children, part of the family story, putting on and owning the family values, we are to now also be a part of the family business making God’s kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven.
What do you do?
All good youth workers need to have curriculum, some plan to what you teach, why you teach it, and when you teach it. You can buy it or develop it yourself. Above is my simply plan. I am sure you have one that is just as compelling and works for the unique way God has created you and serves your context well. Would you be willing to share how you develop your scope and cycle?
Super valuable article. I’ve both taught small groups weekly for the last decade AND worked for Christian publishing companies during the same time. So, I see both sides of it. I think all youth workers should start with a vision of what they want their students to learn, similar to what you have shared above. Then, they need to ask themselves, “How can I most effectively communicate this vision?” For some churches, it will be writing it all themselves. For others, it will be purchasing curriculum to meet all their needs. I have found over the years that most youth ministries employ a mix of both purchased curriculum and stuff they write. And for me personally, I think this is a great approach.
Great read, buddy!
This is a challenging article. I totally agree that a plan benefits the long range of any ministry. Even in the short haul, planning helps. I love books like The Seven Checkpoints that articulate the scope of thinking through multiple years of teaching.
However, I really hate the word curriculum. Long ago that was a fancy word (originally Latin) for plotting a course. It seems today that curriculum means the context (or gimmick) we use to teach something. It has less and less to do with “what” we teach and more to do with “how” we present it. Packaging is king, content is often irrelevant.
I hope that through this article leaders see the need for a plan. When it comes to context, you are the best presentation of any teaching.
This is some cool stuff Ben. Love your scope and sequence, tempting to just steal it
Great article. Anything we can do to create structure and purpose in how we teach will have a great deal of fruit. The biggest issue with writing our own curriculum has been the significant amount of time that it takes away from everything else. As resources have become more plentiful and more adaptable, it has made sense for us to take the purchase approach. If you have a plan/scope in place, you can still accomplish what you need to accomplish.
Cool cool! I just saw your blog post through YM360. I think this is great to remember to have a plan. However, I am a youth pastor in Gunnison, Colorado. It is a town of 5500 at 7700 ft of elevation. To get a feel of how far we are in the sticks the high school’s closest rival is an hour drive over mountain passes. I am telling you this because although i was trained at Trinity International University and did ministry in Midwest for 4 years. No model i have learned works here in the mountains, including organized, planned out curriculum. It all works where there is already a christian culture based but it doesn’t work when there has never been a christian inkling let alone a foundation. I have discovered instead of Paul’s Synagogue approach where there was already basic teaching, i need to use Paul’s Athens approach and just study the culture and find footholds to preach the Gospel which does not come in a nice neat package from a publishing company. I wish it did!
ryan, i appreciate your context and totally get doing ministry in a post-christian context. it is true that much of the packaged curriculum is less and less relevant in your context. but the point of the post was simply to make sure you have a plan. and i think that plan should be long term. paul and athens is only a two week series at best. the next 50 weeks will take some critical thinking and hard work. i will be praying for you.
I agree it would be a two week series if i was teaching through the bible in a model that i was used to in the Midwest. I’m saying using Paul’s model in Athens– Keeping an ear to the ground figuring out what is values and passionate and then point students to christ through what they know. I’m not saying throw out a plan and shoot from the hip. I am saying throw out models and year long plans in my context.
My thought is that Youth pastors in Rural middle of nowhere contexts, pre-Christendom (because there never has been a christian culture here), should be well equipped with scripture where they can proclaim the Gospel at all times. My long-term plan is that the Gospel be preached and the town i live in know Christ.
I have done the whole plan the entire year’s curriculum and loved it… I have tried to do that here and it was a huge hindrance to the Gospel going forward and building the kingdom. I am now equipping my leaders to start conversations and build relationships and training them to find ways to contextualize the Gospel in students lives and then eventually hopefully build a culture where we can do a more planned out curriculum.
ryan, way to be so faithful to your kids and in your context. i will be praying for you and any time you want to write up a little deal about how you are doing ministry in your context, the unique struggles you face, and some of the unique victories you are experiencing, i would love for you to guest post!
Ben, as you may or may not know I am pro-developing your own lessons/curriculum. Youth Pastor’s know how to best lead/teach their students at that particular time/setting etc etc… Now, I am not discrediting anyone who uses developed curriculum. I know in some cases that it is necessary to have something pre-written because time is a factor in their ministry. I happen to have a good amount of time both day and night to be able to develop and write my own lessons…
Great info. I am new to teaching in youth ministry and have spent the last year trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. I will definitely keep this plan in mind!!!
Important article. I like to plan out curriculum by the quarter. My fear in planning out an entire year is that sometimes a trend or issue shows signs of developing in your group and you have to address it. For me, it’s easier to look back at a quarter and recognize those developments than it is to look back at a year.
As for purchased curriculum I say it’s an indispensable tool for developing teachers and giving you something to fall back on in a pinch.
Great stuff Ben- were taking students through Mark right now- going through books in spring and fall and topical in summer/winter. The vision is simply to read the bible and have adult leaders carrying out that vision on our mid week core nights with the students.