The following is a reflection on the Youth Leaders’ Top Teaching & Curriculum Resources by Ron deVries, Koenraad Beugelink and Karen De Boer. To listen to the full online training, click here.
In my role as a Youth Ministry Consultant in Classis Alberta north and as a co leader for the CRC’s Canadian Youth Ministry pilot, many churches have asked for support. Questions like, “how should I do this” or where can I find this?” have often crossed my desk.
Curriculum is one of the things that youth leaders look for.
A few of the most popular resources we found that churches have had success with are the following;
- Sticky faith. This curriculum was created in response to longitudinal research based findings exploring a cohort of youth who were committed youth group participants-50% of whom wander away from the life of faith. There are resources for parents, youth leaders and church leaders as well as materials aimed at helping grade 12’s transition into University/work life, and materials that tackle the tough questions this generation is asking of the church, and a healthy approach to social justice. It is a holistic response to meeting the needs for today’s youth.
- Spark House resources. At Spark house, they are creating a whole new class of faith formation resources created for today’s Christians. They meet people where they are: using technology, language, and active learning concepts that match our 21stcentury lifestyles. Every day they strive to make creativity, collaboration, and even humor synonymous with thought provoking, Bible-based learning.
- Faith Alive resources. This ministry offers many types of resources for all the ministries of your church. From DWELL, WE, HC and me, Questions from the Pickle Jar to the Elder Handbook, this place has you covered It is important to note that although these resources are wonderful “out of the Box” tools, I would encourage you to use the gifts God has given to you to add your own value and voice to what you teach when using these resources. These can be very good foundations to build on for your program teaching.
