A New Curriculum for Family Ministry
Introducing Tru, from David C. Cook
This year Family Ministry at Third will be using the curriculum Tru, by David C. Cook, for all children ages 2 - 6th grade. We embrace the truth that parents are the primary spiritual guides for their children (Deuteronomy 6) and we desire to come alongside families to offer support in this endeavor. Here are some of the key features of our new curriculum that help us help parents:
Tru provides Homefront Weekly, an information sheet emailed to parents to help them to share the Bible story their children will learn on Sunday and work on Scripture memory together. It also includes a beautiful blessing that parents can pray over their children each day during the week. We encourage you to take a day during the week to read Scripture with your children and prepare them for Sunday school.
This parent page goes hand-in-hand with our Faith Milestone of Family Prayer and Devotions. It can provide opportunity for prayer and discussion during the week so that our children will be prepared to really engage with God's message for them during Sunday school.
Another thing we love about Tru is its focus on the Big God Story. The ENTIRE Bible is God’s unified narrative; it's not just a collection of random stories, but incorporates all of history, from Genesis to Revelation and beyond. We hope our children will learn that they are part of this incredible story and are part of a much bigger faith community than their families or Third Church--a community that includes past, present, and future believers!
Another way to put that is that the curriculum is God-centered with its emphasis on God’s love and redemption through Jesus. As our teachers go through the lesson each week, they will focus on God’s part in the story: not just David and Goliath, for example, but seeing how God was victorious in using David to defeat Goliath. God is not the supporting cast in the story, He has the starring role.
Because our desire is also to promote Biblical literacy in our children, we also have Books of the Bible Timelines for many of our classrooms and posters that show the books of the Bible in categories, such as prophecy, poetry, letters, etc. We encourage our children to bring their Bibles each Sunday so that they can be active in searching the Scriptures and reading them with the class.
Finally, as a companion to our curriculum, Tru offers a free monthly magazine called Homefront. We think of this magazine as a Christian Family Fun, filled with stories, recipes, and fun activities that you can do with your family. Be sure to sign up to have your free copy delivered by email each month!
We hope you will not only bring your children to Sunday school, but that you will let us join you in helping to nurture and love these little ones. If you have questions about the curriculum or other resources, please contact Kathy White or Tracie Meadows.
