You often hear marketing phrases like “We are rethinking children’s ministry” or “we’ve discovered a totally new approach to kidmin” and I supposed as times change and people change, we need to adapt and adjust in order to stay relevant and current…
But when it comes to discipleship… is the same true?
I saw an ad recently that said,
“What if you changed the way you looked at discipleship? We have.”
Call me old fashioned…
Call me a fuddy duddy…
Call me stuck-in-the-mud…
But when it comes to discipleship, I’m not sure I’m willing to change the way I look at discipleship, because I’m not sure the Bible has changed. I still believe it looks the same. Believers of Jesus Christ teaching other believers how to follow Him.
And I don’t mean this as a blantant promotion of DiscipleLand in any way, but I kinda like a curriculum that isn’t constantly changing and reinventing itself to keep up with the culture. I like updating the pictures and helpful tools and means to equip parents, but I’m talking about the Core material and strategy. If it’s based on Scripture and has a comprehensive strategy to teach material, skills and character traits that every disciple needs… what is there to rethink or look at differently? Improve it, yes. But throw it out constantly and keep starting over? Why? I get suspicious of products that are promoted as a “totally new strategy” that aren’t even complete and barely tested and are already being marketed. How soon until they are tossed aside for the next “rethinking” and “relooking?” What good (or potential harm) does that do to young disciples who are spiritual jerked around from one strategy to another as they grow up never given a strong stable biblical foundation upon which to build their life upon?
Jesus laid it all out. Go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to obey. I don’t see a need to look at that a new way. I like using something tested, proven and complete. I don’t mind it being steadily improved, but I like a curriculum that’s complete and 100% thought through. (And there are several solid ones like that out there.) Not one just “appearing for 2011.” I like knowing it will still be around in 2016 when my first graders reach sixth grade.
Should Jesus tarry that long! Come Lord Jesus, Come!
I wholeheartedly agree. We started using one of the “hot” new curriculums (I won’t say which) and are really frustrated because they can’t tell us what is going to be happening next year, there are real problems this year with some aspects of it, and it is clear they spent more time on the marketing than on the material itself. It is half-baked but if I change again, I’ll be in hot water, because I worked so hard to convince everyone to change to this! Boy, I wish I’d stayed with DiscipleLand.
We love your materials. Its not just the latest fad, but has stood the test of time and we can see the results in our children. Parents thank us for helping make their job easier in the dounting task of imparting a biblucal world view in to their children – so THANK YOU!!