What does it look like?
The Knowledge Response looks like this. We read about the Conquering of Jericho. Kids are asked rote memorization of facts. How many times did they march around the city? They know the facts about the story, but they fail to realize that it was God who gave them the city. The judges--we focus on learning the song of the Judges. Students know the order of the Judges, but forget the point that God continued to have to save His people because of their poor choices. The point is that we are teaching the facts of the Bible without teaching them that this was real and that God used real people--We make no application for them.
The Relevant Response looks like this. We read the story of the Good Samaritan—hitting the high points of the story. Then, we spend the rest of the class time helping kids recite, “Be kind” as you color a picture of someone who looks like an injured person. What do you think happens once class is over? Each child (happily) runs out of the room quickly forgetting everything they just remembered and regurgitated. We have to teach Bible--Without proper context, how will students understand the lesson, or the theme of redemption.
What should this look like in the classroom? Tell the story of Joseph. Talk about how he was the favorite child and his brothers’ jealousy grows. He is sold into slavery and we grieve with Joseph as he is far from home. Yet, we become excited for him because he becomes a great servant in the house of Potiphar only to be disappointed when he is sent to jail, wrongfully accused. We love Joseph for his great faithfulness to God and then how he faces his brothers in the end. At the end of class, every student memorized “Be faithful unto death” or memorized Gen 45:5--“5 Now do not be grieved or angry [a]with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” Was the class relevant? Was the class knowledge-based? Each child probably walked out wanting to be more and more like Joseph
Are we stressing too much over the importance of our young people? Are we placing too much emphasis on the children’s classes? Should we just send children into their little rooms and let them be babysat until the adults finish class? Hosea 4:6 What do you think was the problem with the Israelites?
We expect children to learn about the Bible through osmosis. Do we expect that because we have the Bible in the house suddenly students will know more? What about if we go through the Bible story one time, shouldn’t that be enough? Some have said that it takes thirty reps for something to become permanently fixed in someone’s mind. Do you think that is true? What about smashing a wasp with your hand—do you think that would take very many tries to make it permanent?