A few weeks ago I wrote an article that outlined how Sunday school curriculum publishers were striving to support our churches through the production of resources to help us shift to hybrid models for teaching Sunday school this fall. Each have been busy writing new curricula and/or providing supplements to their existing offerings to assist us in making the transition to teaching outside of a classroom setting smoother and better for our teachers, participants and parents.
You can find that original article here: https://www.cnob.org/?p=1719#more-1719.
Please revisit it for an overview of the materials each will be providing this fall, especially if the curriculum your church uses is not mentioned in the following article. Your church’s curriculum may only be highlighted in the previous article because nothing has changed since July 22, 2020.
This article has been written to provide new or additional information that has been released since I last wrote on the topic.
So, let’s see what’s new.
DWELL (Faith Alive, Christian Reformed Church, North America)
DWELL has just released a new curriculum called DWELL Flex written specifically for our current circumstances. DWELL Flex includes 36 simplified, one-page, multi-age, multi-setting lesson plans. These lessons can be taught using any online platform by Sunday school teachers, or can be used at home with children by their parents. Each lesson consists of four parts; Breathe, Tell and Wonder, Pray, and Respond. These lessons require very little advance preparation and additional materials to be successful. To read more about DWELL Flex and download a sample lesson go here: https://dwell.faithaliveresources.org/flex.html.
DWELL has also provided a template to aid churches in adapting and simplifying their pre-existing DWELL curriculum resources to a new delivery platform if you prefer to do go in this direction. This template makes use of the same four parts as DWELL Flex. For further information and a sample of the template visit: https://network.crcna.org/childrens-ministry/template-leading-simplified-dwell-session.
Growing in God’s Love: A Story Bible Curriculum (Westminister John Knox Press, Presbyterian Church (USA))
The PCUSA has released a brand new curriculum for the fall that makes use of the recently released Growing in God’s Love: A Bible Storybook edited by Elizabeth F. Caldwell and Carol A. Wehrheim.
Growing in God’s Love has been designed for smaller churches with few children in each age group, for larger churches who want to intentionally teach mixed age groups, and for families to use together at home. Because of the multi-age and family focus of this curriculum, it lends itself to easily be adapted for family use at home.
The publishers have also produced a permanent At-Home Kit Guide to accompany each unit that will outline how you can put together unit-specific kits to leave on families’ doorsteps for their use at home. These kit guides can be downloaded with each unit for free from the product page.
To view Growing in God’s Love, download a sample session, and watch a webinar that gives a great overview to the materials, visit their page here: https://www.pcusastore.com/Pages/Item/13638/Story-Bible-Curriculum.aspx.
Whole People of God, and Seasons of the Spirit (Wood Lake Books)
I mentioned in my July 22, 2020 article that I had spoken to Wood Lake Books to ask if we could anticipate any supplemental materials for the adaptation of their The Whole People of God and Seasons of the Spirit curricula. At that time they said they were working this for the fall and to stay tuned to their website. I checked the sites this morning and did not find any new releases. So, I leave the following links below for you to keep checking in on these if needed.
Whole People of God: https://www.wholepeopleofgod.com.
Seasons of the Spirit: https://www.seasonsonline.ca/2/what_is_seasons//
If you would like to chat further about adapting your present curriculum for hybrid formats, or talk about what curriculum might best suit your church setting, please email me at torismit@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to have a conversation and walk you through the options that would best suit your church context.