Children's Supernatural Curriculum - 1st Qtr (MANUAL)

MANUAL VERSION

We owe our children an encounter with God!  Children’s Supernatural Curriculum is a resource that will create a place in your children’s ministry where that encounter can happen week after week!

Children's Supernatural Curriculum: #1

For years the church has settled for establishing a place in the body of Christ for children that amounts to nothing more than child-care services so that the adult community can “go after God”.  We have put on videos, served snacks, played mediocre music and told stories, all to keep the attention of the little ones that come into our rooms each week.  Even more frustrating is for those who saw the opportunity to use this time each week to present the gospel or to establish the children in their own faith in Jesus, only to find that the resources to help do this were few and far apart.  If the children’s leader is fortunate enough to find workers that are faithful, the materials available are difficult to use, requiring time and creativity every week to make it effective for the children.  For the leader who has a hard time keeping their children’s ministry staffed, this proves to be a huge burden.  You need people who can do more than just show up, you need a plan that will excite and motivate a team to be there and love it while they are! Do I have a plan for you!

I have been a Children’s leader for many years.  I taught music in Christian schools for 12 years, where instead of a traditional music program, we were able to  This curriculum took four years to write and is now being used in churches throughout the world.  I have been a published writer for seven years.  A few years ago I transitioned from teacher to training children’s leaders.  I have spent the last several years encouraging children’s leaders to be champions for the children.

This curriculum was born from a visit to the Marshall Islands a few years ago when I was there teaching at an adult conference.  I noticed that they had over 500 children, but when I asked the pastor what they did with all the kids (I’m having visions of a small army for Jesus!), she told me that they told them stories and played games.  When I asked if they had a plan and she said no….I went back to my room and for the next 2 ½ weeks wrote what was the basic format for the 12 month curriculum.  As I prayed, I believe the Lord accelerated my understanding of a plan for these children.  I left it with them thinking that it was only for them.  On returning home, I shared the drafts of the plan with my host who happened to be a dean of a high school.  She encouraged me to develop it further into a curriculum that could be used throughout the world.  I came home and began the four year challenge to write a curriculum that would give children a basic understanding of how to live a Supernatural life as a believer. 

One of the things that I did while I was developing this course, was to spend hours interviewing teachers.  What do they like, what don’t they like in a curriculum.  I spoke to both professional teachers and volunteer leaders that had years of experience.  This is how I came up with the basic format.  I have included in every lesson these elements:

An Objective:  what is our goal for this lesson? 

A Lesson:  this is what the teacher will read several times to prepare for teaching the subject.  The lesson is written with the adult in mind to make sure that they understand the subject.  Then there are bullet points along a margin as a reminder of specifics throughout the lesson.

Memory verse:  this verse was chosen through going back to the Hebrew or Greek to make sure that the verse actually supported the lesson theme.

A Bible connection:  Every lesson is supported with “where this happens in the Bible”.  It is written like a story and can be told to the kids during a quiet time.

A Project/game:  One of the most important tests of a good curriculum is the application.  Each lesson provides ideas on how to reinforce the lesson theme through activities or interaction with the leader. Everything that you need is planned out, including a list of the materials you will need.  In many of the lessons there are choices for activities so you can choose what will work for your particular culture.

Prayer:  this is a written prayer that can be spoken over the kids or used as a guideline to bless the children in the specific things that they learned this day.

Parenting History Makers: This is one of the most valuable assets to the curriculum!  We are co-laboring with the parents for these kids.  So there is a handout for the parents to take home.  Included in the handout is a general summary of the lesson.  We know that not all parents are believers, or may understand the specifics of what their children learned that day, so we “teach” them the general information.  They will also have the week’s memory verse and will be encouraged to work with their child to learn it during the week.  We also have a list of things that they can do with their children to support the lesson of the week.  These parenting pages have been an amazing asset to support what the teachers have taught, and the children are learning at home and at church about God.

Color Pages:  Every lesson also includes a coloring page, that can be reproduced to be a visual reminder of the lesson, and includes the memory verse. This can be used in class, or sent home with the Parenting History Makers page. 

This first quarter is like a discipleship program.  All of the basics are covered and each subject is written in a way that the kids can apply the principles to their lives immediately. The lessons are:

• Salvation
• Baptism
• Communion
• Sanctification/Righteousness
• Tithe/Offering
• Bible Reading/Fasting
• Body of Christ
• Covenant
• Family of God
• And Four Lessons on Prayer

Each of these lessons are designed with the intention that we depend on the Holy Spirit interacting with the class.  We are asking God to come, and depending on Him to connect with each child.

This is a testimony from the Marshall Islands:

The children’s Supernatural Curriculum is changing our approach to teaching children. They are now praying for the sick and in one case a “grandma” who was pronounced dead at the hospital, to everyone’s surprise, began to breathe again after her grandchildren prayed for her. She is still living today (6 months later). Parents are coming to the Lord because of the change they see in their children. We are expecting this generation to walk in power and purity by the Spirit of the Lord.

Co-pastor of Bukot Nan Jesus, Linda Hensene, September 2006 – Majuro, Marshall Islands

And another from Australia:

We just wanted to thank you for this fantastic ministry aid, we are using the 1st Quarter lessons here at DaySpring. The lesson plans fit so well into the other things we do in Kids Church, the Parents letters are well received and the kids are really soaking up the teaching in a way that surprises me each week! The week we did Communion was so, so good and it really opened up to teach into the area of honour and we shared sponge cake and juice, it was really cool. Also our kids seem to have a leg and ankle anointing, with several ankles and a knee healed from kids praying for other kids… Its sweet!!

–John and Penny Healy, Children’s Pastors, Dayspring Church, Sydney, NSW, Australia

These are just two examples from dozens of teachers who are excited about this Supernatural Curriculum.  In a time when there is a famine of strong direct training for children, this is proving to be everything that the local church has been crying out for.  It answers the questions that many leaders have been asking.  How can we effectively teach our children to walk in the Supernatural life that has been provided for them. Where can we find Bible teaching with integrity and passion for the things that we value?  This is all done in a format that is accessible to any trained or untrained teacher.  Everything has been provided for you. All you need to do now is pray and prepare.  We have done all of the hard work.  You get to go and play with the Holy Spirit and the children! 

One of the greatest compliments I have heard from all over the world has been that the teachers have been learning as much as the children.  This thorough and simple plan is working.  I believe it is the answer for the training of a generation!

It has been designed to meet the needs of the local church.  We have been translating it into several languages.  In Mexico, a pastor was seeing the results of this teaching and decided that he would stop preaching for an entire year while these lessons were taught to his entire congregation so that no one would be left out.  That’s an amazing commitment to educating his church in the basics of our faith.

I recommend that as you and your team are teaching this material, that you take your time.  I don’t believe anyone learns the subject from a lesson and begins from that point to walk in that truth.  It is said that we hear something ten times before we realize we have heard it.  We realize that there is a tremendous amount of information in each of these lessons and have begun to recommend that they be taught over two or three weeks.  We have been asked what do we do when the year is done?  I seriously recommend that you begin at the beginning again!  There are always new children in your group.  Even if the ones who were there for the first teaching are hearing it again, that can only reinforce what they have heard and now they are one year more mature and will hear the teaching at a whole new depth.  If you go though this several times, let the ones who are familiar with the lessons begin to help teach!  This is a great way to training your future staff.

I will leave you with this last testimony:

I cannot tell you what a difference this Supernatural Curriculum has made in our children’s program here at City of Hope Church in Flint Michigan. My name is Corrie Ferguson and I am the children’s director and oversee children K-5th grade. This is my 9th month and I can tell you we are on our third lesson on healing and God is about to birth something in this house and we will never be the same. Soaking has become a norm and a must for us. I soak with the kids every other week during service. The visions these kids are seeing blows me away. At our last soaking session we anointed the kids with oil and asked “Papa God, to open their faith eyes”, then we soaked. After we soaked I instructed the kids to go and draw what Papa God showed them, and to make sure not to look at anyone’s paper. 3/4 of the kids drew the same thing – the throne room with open doors, some had golden keys. These kids are learning what the norm is for being a child of God. Thank you for your obedience in creating this curriculum, it is so simple yet more powerful than anything I have ever used before. I have learned that I am growing along with these children and I pray I can keep up – WOW

–Corrie Ferguson, City of Hope Church, Flint, Michigan

It’s all ready for you.  The groundwork has been laid.  Go and do your part in the transformation of a generation like the world has never seen before!

The lessons are packaged either in a 126 page binder hardcopy format or on a CD containing all the lessons in a single PDF document.  Each lesson's memory verse page, parenting history makers page, and coloring page may be printed/duplicated for the number of children attending the class to fit your needs.

Download a sample lesson