on getting the fluff out

"in fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's Word all over again. you need milk, not solid food!" - hebrews 5:12

students at faith have, for the most part, grown up in Christian education. since kindergarten, they have been at a school where Christian values have been taught and where the Bible counts as a textbook for classroom learning. they should be able to teach about God by now, but far too few of them have any real grasp on the Bible or on doctrine. theology and Bible study skills are foreign to them, and i very often find myself assuming they know things they don’t at all.

example 1: i asked one of my classes to turn to jonah. half of them had to look in the table of contents, and one kid argued with me that jonah wasn’t an actual book.

example 2: at the end of last year i asked the students in all my classes to name one thing that separates their denomination from any other denomination, i.e. what do you believe and what is an alternative to that? not a single one could tell me anything that made their denominational beliefs different from anyone else, not even on a very basic level.

hmm…

in talking to students i have found that they are missing these things because they are only being fed milk. spiritual solid food isn't being offered to them. so this semester, i am on a crusade of sorts to indoctrinate (literally) faith academy students. to hit the most students, i’m developing a new class on basic theology that will be taught beginning next semester (i’m trading my genesis class for it). the course outline will include units on God, man, sin, Jesus, salvation, the church, and denominational distinctives. any ideas for input would be gladly accepted.

for the guys i have direct contact with, we’re skipping the fluffy Bible studies and digging right in. with a little suggestion, the firemans have decided they would like to study Hebrews this semester, and my Sunday night guys want to look at romans – two awesome, doctrine-packed books. while we look at the content, we’ll also be going over how to study the Bible on your own without a devotional guide or Bible study guide.

hopefully i’m not overestimating the students on their ability to grasp biblical truths, but they have been impressing me for the past three years…