Another Review of What’s in the Bible? Church Edition
A little over a month ago the Children’s Ministry at Evangelical Free Church of Wauconda, IL had a chance to test What’s in the Bible? Church Edition and we greatly enjoyed the opportunity. The new curriculum based on the What’s in the Bible? DVDs provided a great break and helped teach some Bible basics while keeping the children actively engaged.
I’ll be honest, the curriculum will work best if you are used to a video driven model (like KIDMO), which we are not. Nonetheless, our children live in a video-driven world and they easily made the transition to the video-activity- video-activity sequence. There were a few bugs that the team needed to work out, still, our children enjoyed the characters, the songs, and the learning.
As a parent, I’ve appreciated the solid teaching from Jelly-Telly.com and the What’s in the Bible? DVDs so the curriculum seemed to be another way to promote basic Bible understanding to parents. As a Children’s minister, I appreciated it’s ease of use and the engagement of our children.
We used it in our 90-min children’s church and, while it’s not yet been incorporated into our scope and sequence, we plan to find a place to use it on a regular basis. It’s something that we can use as a filler, as part of a regular program, or when we lack a large group teacher. If you think that there will ever be a week in your ministry where you’ll need something quick and simple, you cannot go wrong by having this as a backup. However, if you can find a place to use it regularly I’m sure you and your children will benefit greatly.
A Beta Test Review of What’s in the Bible? Church Edition
Hi! I’m Deborah, the Children’s Director at First United Methodist Church of Port St. Joe, FL and we had a lot of fun trying out the new What’s in the Bible? Church Curriculum. I really think that the What’s in the Bible? team is putting together something that may change the face of Children’s Ministry. It morphs technology and old school puppetry in a way that I have never seen before. It also took difficult material and made it easy for kids to understand and grasp. As an adult, I found the videos tremendously funny and watched as the kids laughed and laughed. Some of them are still asking me if we can watch the Sunday School Lady sing the “I’ve got a book” song. Meanwhile, they are still asking me questions about the first video we watched. During the viewing, a few of them were saying, “really??” This makes me think they were actually listening and maybe even absorbing this information! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
If you are considering using the What’s in the Bible? curriculum, my suggestion would be to tweak the games so they work just right for your group. For instance, I had a volunteer lead the Clive & Ian game for Lesson 1. She had the boys lined up on one side & the girls lined up on the other. The two kids in the front answered the questions. After they answered (right or wrong), they moved to the back of the line and the next one took their turn. And the boys won, by the way. I guess they were paying more attention!
Overall, this curriculum is awesome and I am so glad I got to test it out! Hope you have as much fun as my group did!
Follow Deborah on twitter @dkloyless
A Sunday School Story: My Phone Saved the Day!
It was Sunday morning and we had overslept. A nightmare for any children’s ministry volunteer. In the shuffle of trying to get out the door as quickly as possible, I left my small group curriculum on the kitchen counter! Can you relate?
On the car ride to church I wondered if we turned back, would we make it on time? My husband turned to me and made the best suggestion, “Sandy, why don’t you just download today’s curriculum on your phone? That’s what I do.” That thought had never occurred to me! Earlier in the week, my leader had e-mailed the curriculum to me. I simply needed to open it as a PDF, and teach the lesson from my iPhone.
It was an instant hit with my small group! They loved taking turns reading the lesson from the phone, and I loved that it helped keep them engaged. After a few weeks of utilizing the curriculum on my phone rather than paper, I noticed that it was actually enhancing the small group time. I had a pretty squirrely group of second and third graders and was constantly looking for ways to help focus their attention. When playing a game, I would allow each girl to take a turn reading questions from the phone and they loved helping me “lead” the lesson. And, there was a girl in my group with special needs. There were a few weeks that her physical limitations would make it challenging for her to participate in what we were supposed to do that day. But she loved being able to hold my iPhone and either read part of that day’s story or lead us through part of the game.
I really was shocked that something as simple as using my phone to access the curriculum instead of a printed copy was making such a difference in my group. When I told my husband how much I enjoyed his suggestion, he told me he was experiencing a similar situation with the group of boys that he led. When we shared what we were doing with the other leaders at our church, they also found it to be a win! My friend Matt didn’t have a smart phone, but he realized that his iPod Touch worked the exact same way.
This is what led the What’s in the Bible? team to create a mobile website. No adjustments needed for you. The mobile website is just right for teachers, so you can access the What’s in the Bible? Leader’s Guides and teach the lesson right from your Android, smart phone, Blackberry, or iPhone I love not having to worry about printing out my curriculum each week. Plus, I love the ease of not having to shuffle through paperwork! If you haven’t tried using your phone, eBook reader, or iPod to access your churches curriculum, I definitely think you should give it a shot! Hopefully you’ll love it just as much as I do! Sandy Riggs currently works as a Lemon Lime Kids’ Intern, and loves working on the What’s in the Bible? curriculum!
