Flipbooks

Have you heard of CPH's new Enduring Faith Religion Curriculum? Maybe you've heard the Enduring Faith series title before, but this is something totally new. The Religion Curriculum has been designed specifically for Lutheran schools and daily classes. How does this play out? Here are a few guiding principles for the curriculum: God's Word Gives Life Faith Is Important in the Home Our Goal Is to Make Disciples for Life We confess that "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). It is a nonnegotiable to have the Word of God and a focus on Jesus present in lessons every day. This curriculum manages that with seventy lessons, each split into two sessions, and a host of extenders to ensure that students study, pray, sing, and treasure Scripture daily. So what does that look like? The first session of every lesson introduces the Bible account and central biblical truth for the lesson through activities that dig into God's Word. Then, during the second session, the focus zones in on life application. In either session, Lesson Extenders provide the opportunity to expand class time with short activities in areas such as worship life, catechism connections, and works of love. The flexibility of the two-sessions-plus-extenders format means lessons can be adapted to whatever time frames are necessary on a given day. Ahead on math? Bolster today's religion lesson with some extra hymns and a Bible memory activity. Or maybe there is an early out and class time is tight. Because every lesson is designed around a Central Truth from the Scripture, even a condensed version clearly communicates the Good News to students. While we know that the classroom is an important center for faith formation, the surest formation comes from a Christ-centered home life. Recognizing that, the Enduring Faith Religion Curriculum includes a variety of free tools that help connect learning in class with faith at home. At the simplest level, lesson summaries can be shared to keep parents in the loop with what Bible passages their students are learning each week. With that knowledge in mind, parents can make connections between home devotional practices and school topics to further integrate scriptural learning into students' lives. Parents can also access digital resources that support learning with family devotions, lesson review questions, and memory practice. There is a lot more that could be said about the Enduring Faith Religion Curriculum, but this will have to do for now! If you or your school might be interested, check out free lesson samples and digital tools at cph.org/enduringfaith. God's Word promises to use the Word to create faith, and faith needs to be nurtured by that same Word! For teachers and schools using the new curriculum, we've made every effort to create a program that points to God's Word every day, every year. One way the curriculum supports lifelong faith is with its robust Scope and Sequence. The seventy lessons fit into one of eight units, spanning the creation in Genesis all the way to Revelation. These lessons and units are shared across each grade level, meaning that everyone in the school focuses on the same Central Truth and overarching Bible section each day. It builds school unity around Scripture and allows for shared themes in weekly newsletters, chapel, and other schoolwide events. This means that every year, students get to return to Bible themes with increasing familiarity and grow with them. Now, even though each grade shares topics and emphases, that doesn't mean a student will focus on the same account every year. Remember, we want students to keep growing in the faith! And grow they will. Under each lesson's schoolwide Central Truth and general focus, individual grades explore specific accounts and ideas most appropriate to their age and stage. From a long-term teaching perspective, each student's growth will be reinforced through the built-in Checks for Understanding and the Memory Words included in each unit. These checks help students review their learning and even share these activities at home. Lutheran Life 13

• Cover