Sunday School

I've been working on a curriculum for Sunday School on theology/doctrine. This is the first year, so our focus was first on bibliology, to lay down the basics of where we get our authority, then theology proper. Over the past few weeks, we've talked about the existence of God, the Trinity, and the hypostatic union. Next week is about the Holy Spirit: He is God, and He is not an impersonal force.

I'm enjoying writing the lessons and digging deeper into doctrine and Scripture. I have three main resources: Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue; Reformed Systematic Theology by Joel Beeke, and Basic Christian Doctrines by Curt Daniel. I also have piles of old lessons that I've developed over the years that sometimes overlap with what I'm writing.

It's a pile of work, but a lot of fun, both writing lessons and teaching the kids. This week I asked them how we would prove that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and they answered, "By looking up a lot of verses in the Bible!" That pretty sums up what we're doing!

The goal is to have a 4-year program, taking the children through as much Biblical doctrine as we can teach in 4 years. There is so much I have to leave out, partly because of time limits, and partly because they're children and not quite ready for everything I could throw at them.

My main concern is that I'll enable a generation of Pharisees who have knowledge without faith, or zeal without knowledge. I don't want to raise a group of children who know all the right answers and can argue theology, but who don't know God Himself. 

My biggest goal is to teach them to know God and to desire to know Him more. It's a lot, but it is my prayer for them.