Evaluating Bible Study Curricula for Small Churches

Ask first what story the unit teaches. Here the answer is plain. God rescues captive Israel and leads the people to the Promised Land. Write that sentence at the top of your review sheet and keep it there while you look at each piece.

You want to see whether every component serves that thread. A leader book, a learner page, and a video disc should each move the same rescue story forward. If one piece drifts into general morals or games with no link to Israel and the promise, mark it down. Accuracy for parish use means the central act of God stays central.

Tweens notice when teaching talks down to them or borrows humor from a younger room. The three Unit 3 pieces are presented as Sunday school shaped around the Bible and pitched with light, quirky humor to hold early adolescents. Read that claim as a promise you must test with real youth in mind.

Picture your sixth and seventh graders around one table. Would short jokes and side comments help them stay with a long Exodus passage, or would the jokes pull them away? Age fit is not about fun alone. It is about whether humor opens the text or covers it.

Many small churches buy one item and hope it does two jobs. It helps to keep the roles apart. The Learner Sheets have ISBN 9781451438741 and are listed at $5.99. The Leader Guide has ISBN 9781451438734 and is listed at $12.99. Those are distinct tools for distinct hands.

Hold a sample learner page next to your last attendance list. Can a visitor follow it with no prior lesson? Can a regular pupil take it home and show a parent what the story was? If you need subject headings that volunteers understand, add them in pencil before you file the sample.

A volunteer leader needs a plan that can be read on Saturday night and taught on Sunday morning. Look for a clear aim, a reading order, questions that stay with the passage, and a closing that returns to the rescue theme. Look also for supply lists that fit a parish cupboard rather than a trip to a craft store.

The listing names a Leader Guide for Unit 3 but it does not spell out session length or preparation time. The Augsburg Fortress page does not publish the number of sessions in the set.

A disc can help when readers are shy or when the passage is long. The Unit 3 DVD has ISBN 9781451438758 and is listed at $24.99. Think about your room before you count it as essential. You can check the Freedom unit listing for current details and placement in the series.

Ask who will run the player and where pupils will look. In a small room, a five-minute clip with one pause for talk often works better than a full viewing. If your team has no helper to handle sound and light, a disc that no one starts has no value, whatever its content.

The fourth item on the page is the Connect Bible NRSV Paperback, ISBN 9781451430813, listed at $24.99. It is described as having age-appropriate activities that help children work through Scripture for themselves. For review purposes, treat it as the text under the unit rather than an extra.

Put that paperback beside the pew Bible you normally use. Is the print readable for your group? Do the notes and tasks point back to the passage or away from it? Pupils who can find Exodus on their own will follow the Freedom story with more confidence.

Small budgets need exact figures. The page lists $12.99 for the Leader Guide, $5.99 for the Learner Sheets, and $24.99 each for the DVD and the paperback Bible. Use those figures to model one class, not an ideal church.

Multiply the learner price by your average attendance and add one leader book. Then decide whether the disc and extra Bibles fit this term or a later term. A clear price map keeps a review honest and keeps a council vote short.

Short shop lines tell you the intent, not the method. Bible-centered and age-suited tell you the aim. They do not tell you how much writing, reading aloud, or moving around a lesson asks of you. The page lists three Unit 3 formats plus the paperback, each with its own ISBN and price, and leaves teaching method to samples and to your trial.

Note that gap on your form rather than filling it in hopefully. Write down what you still need to see, such as a sample session or a scope outline, and where you will look for it. A good review names the missing detail and moves on to what is shown.

Bring the leader sample, one learner sheet, and the Bible to a ten-minute test with two teachers. Read one passage about Israel on the move, try one task, and watch the clock. You will learn more from that table test than from any cover copy.

File what you learn where next year's volunteers can find it. If you keep how a catalog organizes ministry in mind, store the ISBNs, prices, and your notes under Unit 3 Freedom so the next teacher starts with facts. Pull your current Exodus unit this week and run it through the same three checks.