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As an experienced Children’s Sunday School teacher and ministry worker I know from first hand experience that there is a shortage if high quality, reasonably priced Bible-teaching materials for use in churches, church schools, Christian home schools, and other church-related ministries. In addition, many of the available materials are inadequate or hard to work with for various reasons. Therefore, I believe we need to examine the teaching materials we use and let the Christian curricula producers know how they can improve their products. Below is a list of ways I believe we can improve these Christian teaching materials:

1.  Do what we can to keep the cost down so the materials aren’t overpriced. These items need to be available for a reasonable cost to individuals, small groups, small churches and home-schooling families. A cost of $200 or more for 13 lessons is too much for many to afford.

2.  Make sure all of the segments in the curriculum (i. e. Bible Story, Discussion, Crafts, etc.) are cohesive, working together to reinforce the main lesson theme. Time fillers and activities that don’t focus on the main theme of the lesson are a distraction at best.

3.  Include more learning activities that encourage student participation and provide times of fellowship so the students can get to know one another while they learn.

4.  Make the curriculum with more reproducible patterns, worksheets and even classroom decorations that can be made by the students. Help free the teacher’s hands from the chains of excessively tight copyright limitations that stop the teacher from making craft patterns, overheads, and visuals for class presentations. These chains can depress the Christian worker and render the curriculum useless.

5.  Limit your lesson points to two or three main ideas. This will help your students focus better and remember more.

6.  Do not print dates on the curriculum materials. If need be, put numbers that correspond with the weekly lesson and make a calendar showing the schedule plan. This way, if a teacher misses one lesson, the materials can still be used and the student’s won’t be able to tell the lesson is used one week later than the schedule plan. Also, the materials–whole or in part–can be used again at a later date. This will also help in the reduce the wasting of materials because they have preprinted dates on them.

7.  Do not put purchase requirements (of 10 or 20) student books on the curriculum package. Let the churches decide how many books to order so they can stay within budget and not pay for books that won’t be used.

8.  Include patters and/or visual aids for all crafts and activities. This way the teacher can see how things were meant to be done. This helps make class activity preparation clearer and easier for the teacher.

9.  Make the print in the teacher’s manual at least 12 point so the teacher can see it from a short distance away. When you need to look something up in a hurry, small print makes it even more difficult.

10.  Make the lessons in the curriculum more applicable to present-day needs. Though the Old Testament Law and the stories in it are great, they really don’t tell a person about Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, new birth, salvation, Christian living, Jesus’ resurrection and His return again. I believe we are in the last days, and people need to know about Jesus and to get saved so they can spend eternity as members of God’s heavenly household. They also need to know that the Bible contains the answers to the circumstances in their lives. They need the way, the truth, the life, and the hope. Without Jesus Christ life can be bleak and hopeless.

These are a few suggestions for improving present day Bible teaching materials. We need to have more high-quality materials available to help us teach others the “Good News” of Jesus Christ and the way to salvation. Time is running out and there are many who still need to hear the message and be taught. If we don’t tell them, who will?

 

 

Christians are Jesus Christ’s Ambassadors. Anyone who has been “born again” by the Holy Spirit becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old man is put off and the new man is put on. Then, by way of the Holy Spirit, God comes and lives in the heart of the one who is made knew. New birth by the Holy Spirit miraculously causes radical changes in a person’s life. The Holy Spirit gives the new person a new heart and a new mind which is the “mind of Christ.” Suddenly the person’s desires change, no longer wanting evil, but wanting the life offered to those who come to God.

The new Christian desires the word of God and the things God offers to His children, such as acceptance, unfailing love, and eternal life. This change is a result of the work Jesus accomplished on the cross at Calvary. The Word of God tells us,”Before the foundations of the world, He was slain.” God’s word instructs the believer to think upon things which are pure, lovely, honest, true and good.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden (Genesis chapter 3), sin and death came to mankind. The penalty for sin is death (an eternal separation from God). Because, as Roman chapter 3 in The Holy Bible tells us, all have sinned, all deserve death, and sin has separated mankind from God. Because of the fall of mankind, no man or woman could ever–in their own ability–be holy, pure and without sin. No one can work their way to heaven; nor can they atone for their own sins or the sins of others. Mankind was eternally lost because of sin.

However, God loved mankind so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to pay the penalty for sins of all mankind, from the beginning and until the end. Jesus atoned for our sins and made a way for man to be reconciled back to God. John 3:16-18 speaks to this saying, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” 

By sending Jesus, God also demonstrated His love for us and provided an example of agape, unfailing love for us. It is a love that put the others’ needs before one’s self. Scripture tells us, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

After new birth, Christians become Ambassadors for Christ with the purpose of passing on God’s message to anyone who will listen, and reconciling–with the help of the Holy Spirit–the people of the world to Christ. (Romans 5:6-11) According to Unger’s Bible Dictionary by Merril Unger, et. al., the word “reconciliation” is “the restoration of friendship and fellowship after estrangement…”

The message that we, as Ambassadors for Christ, are to carry into the world is indeed “good news.” This message is the news that men and women can be restored to God because of the great work Jesus accomplished by dying on the cross at Calvary and paying the price for our sins. We now have a choice to live instead of dying for our sins. Through Jesus Christ, we have been given the privilege of choosing to become adopted children of God and members of God’s kingdom and His heavenly household. We can also become co-heirs with Christ and receive an eternal inheritance from God. We can also have eternal life.

As born-again believers (Christians), we are privileged to be Ambassadors for Christ and we have an obligation to share the good news with anyone in the world who will listen. We also have an obligation to live our lives according to God’s Holy Word so we don’t tarnish God’s reputation in front of others. Though we make mistakes during our journey with Christ, we can’t be hypocrites who say one thing and live another. Our actions, to the best of our ability, must line up with God’s word. We cannot pretend to be Christians on Sunday or in front of others and then go out and live like the devil. If we do this, God knows it and others will also see it, and our Ambassador’s role and testimony to others will be tarnished. Why should they believe us if we don’t live it ourselves?

Ambassador’s for Christ must also be prepared to face rejection, persecution, mocking and other bad behaviors from those who are unwilling to listen and receive God’s message. Great pain and suffering can come upon us because we share God’s message with unbelievers. If this happens, the person hearing the message is rejecting God–not us. God will reward us abundantly for sharing His message and enduring persecution. God’s rewards will be eternal, priceless, and exceed our greatest expectations. Jesus is now in heaven preparing a place for us to live when we get to heaven. Upon our arrival at our heavenly home, there will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain. There will be an overabundance of acceptance, joy, and love for everyone who endures to the end and makes it home to be with Jesus in heaven. But for now we must be about our work as Ambassadors for Christ.

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