Monthly column for youth leaders

New Year is when we think about new starts and spring-cleaning. 'Out with the old and in with the new' is the battle cry. Since it is time to think about the year ahead it seems reasonable to ask what we will be teaching our young people.

Before we think about the content of a 'syllabus' we could ask why we actually need one? Doesn't a syllabus give too big a hint of school? Why not just use the material available? The danger with this approach is that we might just drift. Planning begins to become something done on a weekly basis, without considering the wider picture. There is the danger that important points of Bible knowledge get missed out. There is the equal danger that the same stories get taught repeatedly.

One answer is to use material that plans a syllabus for you. This is good, but we still need to check that it is balanced and compatible with what other groups within the church are doing. Sometimes the danger of a pre-prepared syllabus is that it jumps around in the Bible, leaving the young people or children with no sense of time or of the flow of Bible history. Don't be fooled into thinking that just because you are presented with a two or five year plan that the actual Bible teaching is going to be good. Remember writing endless revision timetables, but never getting around to doing any?

A balanced diet

So what should go into a good, balanced syllabus? (How long is a piece of string?) In many church youth groups or Bible classes, young people stay in a group for two to three years. During that time a syllabus could include studying at least:

* one gospel;
* one Old Testament book covering some classic stories, e.g. Genesis or Exodus;
* one of the easier New Testament books, e.g. Acts, Philippians or James;
* one issue-based series (including relationships);
* Psalms studies.

As well as this fairly obvious Bible and issue-based material, the syllabus could also include:

* A 'how to' series - e.g. how to pray, read the Bible, talk to someone about God.
* Apologetics-based series ('What do I say when my friends ask ..... ?').
* Doctrine-based series ('What do we actually believe about ..... ?').
* A Bible overview appropriate to the age group.

These lists above are based on what we would like to have taught our young people by the time they leave our group. Wouldn't it be exciting if the young people moved on to a university Christian Union armed with a good Bible knowledge and the right skills for handling and applying Scripture?

Different age groups should co-ordinate their efforts so that the young people will have studied several different gospels, various OT and NT books. They will have had issues and doctrine studies on different occasions at their own level.

In the groove

These suggestions are made without reference to the material available. There is good material for Bible study with the ten plus age group, but there is not enough of it around. A syllabus helps in this situation, because we can direct our weekly planning well, knowing that the hard task of getting something prepared for each Sunday is fulfilling a wider aim too. Once a syllabus has run for a couple of years or so, it is possible to revisit old material knowing that the young people have moved on to an older group.

All this applies to younger children too. They need the bedrock of a full Bible-teaching programme so that this can be built on as they grow up. Naturally it needs to be appropriate to their age. One idea is to use the same timeline, visually displayed, for all the children's groups, to avoid repetition and help in setting the scene.

Understandably we cannot deal with the minutiae of planning a syllabus in a short article. But the issue of how we equip young people to actively live out their faith within the church and their school is important. It does require a co-ordinated effort from those with responsibility for teaching young people and children the Bible. There are lots of areas left untouched, coping with different levels of attendance or ability, for example. Hopefully this will get you thinking and planning, maybe doing a 'spring clean' on the teaching programme.

Planning a teaching programme

A balanced diet

In the groove

Roger Fawcett

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