Join us at a new location Sunday at 10am at the Crystal Community Center as we gather for public worship.

Behold & Become

A Discipleship Curriculum for Kids

The aim of our Discipleship Class curriculum is for children to have avenues to behold the goodness of God and become fitted servants for his kingdom. The local church not only has the opportunity but the responsibility to partner with parents to train and disciple their children. This curriculum will provide opportunities to behold God through familiarity with: his Word, songs of saints throughout time, and meditation on the Bible in context through memorization and reflection. We will also read and reflect upon Christian biographies in order to ground children in the Christian tradition by reminding them of the "great cloud of witnesses" who have gone before us. Children will be further shaped by the great Christian tradition as we explore worldviews and global missions.

Formation Foundations

The Value & Depravity of People

Who is the Teacher

Supporting Parents

Overview & Resources

Formation Foundations

Our methodology is always a reflection of our ideology. We need to ask ourselves: what do we really believe about the nature of children? We cannot spiritually save or force our children to love the things God loves. But we do have the responsibility to lovingly care for and train them in righteousness. Training them in righteousness begins with direct access to God’s Word but also includes presenting them with the best ideals that will cultivate their imagination with God’s Story of redemption. It is the best and truest of all stories. We should not hinder children from coming to the God of the universe by naively succumbing to the world's understanding of “What is a person?” and “What are they for?” We know who people are and what they are designed for: “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever” (Westminster Catechism).

... that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

— Isaiah 61:3

The heart of a discipleship class is not merely information, but rather its primary focus is spiritual formation. Discipleship is oriented around being formed into the likeness of Christ. It is not concerned with the hurried consumption of information but rather the slowed-down appreciation of the words of Scripture, as well as the wise words of fellow pilgrims on their way. It is not a pursuit of “right” answers in order to pass a test but rather of what Augustine describes as the “ordo amoris,” the right ordering of affections. 
It is seeking to be shaped by the good, beautiful, and true things of God. We become what we love and worship. Our hearts are in need of being transformed “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). James K.A. Smith says, “Discipleship... is a way to curate your heart, to be attentive to and intentional about what you love.”

The disciplined activity of studying the Bible, reading books, learning hymns, and reading the stories of God's people in church history are simply tools meant to train us in the art of thinking, loving, and living well-ordered lives that glorify God. Discipleship is seeking to love what we ought to love, know what we ought to know, and do what we ought to do. A Discipleship Class curriculum ought to inform the mind on the things of God, nurture the affections toward the heart of God, and equip the hands to the service of God.