Virginia Theological Seminary

Attitude

Available from Living the Good News, 800-824-1813, www.livingthegoodnews.com.

Attitude is intended for use in religious education classes, retreats or youth meetings. It offers three volumes, each with 32 sessions, which cover topics chosen by teens. The volumes are as follows:

Volume 1, Wholeness and Holiness. Sessions include such topics as Insecurity, Jealousy, Loving God, Loving Yourself, Divorce, Gossip, Cheating, Life Goals, Prayer, and Serving Others.
Volume 2, Life Skills. Sessions include such topics as Family Rules, Siblings, Popularity, Listening, Peer Pressure, Suicide, Accepting Ourselves, Accepting God, Why Date?, Sex, Ending a Relationship, and Making Friends.
Volume 3, Changing the World. Sessions include Racial Prejudice, Hunger, The Environment, Decisions about Drugs and Alcohol, Recognizing Addiction, Guns, Rape, Who is Jesus? Who is God? Violence on TV, and more.

Each session includes relevant Biblical texts. For each session there is a 2-page Leader's Guide and a 2-page reproducible hand-out for participants.

DOCC 16/20 (Disciples of Christ in Community for Young Adults)

University of the South, Sewanee TN, 800-722-1974, www.sewanee.edu/Theology/DOCCFolder/DOCC%2016.htm.

DOCC 16/20 is a two year course designed specifically for young adults ages 16 - 20. It is an adaptation of the adult course, Basic DOCC. The content is tailored for young adults whose faith development stage is that of questioning and seeking answers to concerns of faith. DOCC 16/20 aims to develop a caring Christian community in which the young people's questioning and faith development can take place. The program can be used for Sunday morning Christian education classes, in evening youth group meetings, or in college groups.

There are eight presentation topics per year, with approximately 2-3 weeks devoted to each topic. A wide variety of experiential methods and activities are used to meet a variety of learning styles. Activities include movies, games, Bible studies, panel discussions, speakers, liturgical expressions and writing activities. Year 1 topics include Community, Prayer, the Institutional Church, and Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Year 2 topics include the Gift of Love, Being in the Midst of Change, and the New Testament and the Person of Jesus.

Curriculum parts: The curriculum arrives complete in a 3-ring notebook for the leaders.

Episcopal Curriculum for Older Youth

Episcopal Curriculum for Youth (ECY), available from Morehouse, 800-877-0012, www.morehousepublishing.org/

The ECY is intended for Sunday School classes, youth meetings or retreats. This version for older youth is intended for grades 10-12. It is published in modular format for maximum flexibility. Each module focuses on a topic of interest to young people, who helped design the curriculum, and may be used in any order. Modules for older youth are as follows:

Difficult Decisions
Peace and Justice
Relationships
Spirituality
What Do Others Believe?
Diversity
Success and Failure
Who Are the People of God?
Violence
Treasuring Our Gifts
What Is Evil?
What Am I Called to Be?

Component parts:

Each module is a 50 page booklet for leaders, providing lesson plans for nine sessions.
Poster Pack, purchased separately for each module, provides six posters which illustrate the theme.

Episcopal Curriculum for Younger Youth

Episcopal Curriculum for Youth (ECY), available from Morehouse, 800-877-0012, www.morehousepublishing.org.

This version of ECY for younger youth is intended for classroom instruction for grades 7-9. It is published in a framework of twelve modules to be used over a number of years, and leaders and youth can compose their own unique sequences. Three of the modules focus on the Old Testament (Hebrew scriptures), three on the New Testament, and three on Contemporary Times. Within each stream are the themes of Call, Covenant, and Community. In addition, three modules are on Episcopal Basics. The modules by categories are as follows:

Old Testament: Called by God. Covenant Ancestors. Community Leaders.
New Testament: Called by Jesus. New Covenant Disciples. Christians Build Community.
Contemporary Times: Called Through Faith. People of the Promise. Witnesses in the World.
Basics: Sacraments of the Church. Episcopal Church Year. Spiritual Life. (The latter covers prayer, worship, rule of life, mission & service, ethics & morals, and the "Episcopal Way.")

Component parts:

Each module is a 50-page leader's guide with lesson plans for nine sessions.
Poster Pack, purchased separately for each module, provides six large classroom posters on the module's theme.

Gather Round. Thematic. Ages Preschool - Highschool

Gather Round, 800-441-3712, http://www.gatherround.org/

Ages: Junior Youth (grades 6 � 8)
Youth (grades 9 � 12)

Gather Round: Hearing and Sharing God�s Good News is a bible-based Sunday school curriculum based on a four-year Bible outline. The curriculum is created for children, youth and the adults who care for them. Using the faithful retelling of Bible stories this curriculum strives to guide congregations and teachers in leading children, youth and their parents and caregivers to follow Jesus Christ with joy and confidence. In addition, Gather Round invites adults to gather around the Biblical story with children and youth to learn and grow together in faith.

The Gather Round curriculum has four major goals:

To nurture children and youth in their faith formation by helping them know, love, and follow God, by engaging children and youth in the language and habits of worship, respecting them as partners in ministry, and encouraging them to engage directly with scripture.

To strengthen the connection between home and congregation by offering parents and caregivers resources to participate in their children�s faith formation, and providing opportunities to engage the entire congregation in faith nurture.

To explore what it means to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in Christian community by considering how God is working in the world and how people are invited to participate in that work, by learning how to share our faith with others, by providing an alternative to worldviews that emphasize individualism, power, and accumulation of wealth, and by encouraging an attitude of service.

To promote versatility and ease-of-use by supporting congregational Christian education programs, and by maximizing the responsiveness and flexibility of the curriculum.

Curriculum parts include:

Leader�s guide for each age group (downloadable from the web for youth)
Student resource for junior youth group
Classroom pack which contains posters, cards, teaching pictures for junior youth

Additional resources:

Gather Round Handbook: The Essential Guide for Leaders and Teachers
Gather Round Annual Music CD
Hymnal: A Worship Book
Sing the Journey songbook

Journey to Adulthood. Comprehensive Program. Youth

LeaderResources, 800-941-2218, www.leaderresources.org

Ages: Grade 6 through high school

Journey to Adulthood is a comprehensive youth program of spiritual formation for 6th - 12th grades using Bible study, prayer, rites of passage, outreach ministries and a variety of activities. It includes three two-year segments:

Rite-13: The first two years (6th & 7th or 7th & 8th graders) focus on celebrating the individuality of each young person and their creative potential. The name comes from the liturgical rite of passage celebrated by the community with the youth as they turn 13. The service is loosely modeled on the Jewish bar/bat mitzvah.
J2A: The middle portion of the program (8th & 9th or 9th and 10th graders), connects young people with the skills and critical thinking involved in adulthood. At the end of the two-year program the J2A group is given a course to prepare for Confirmation. After completing the fourth year, the youth plan and embark on a holy pilgrimage to seek and find Christ.
YAC (Young Adults in Church): A mentor-based program helps older teens (11th and 12th grade) discern and carry out ministries within their church or the larger community. Advisors assist the older teens in Bible study, development of service projects, outreach and ministry.

Other features:

Includes annual program additions and newsletters.
Leadership training is available through LeaderResources.

Living The Good News

Living the Good News, 800-824-1813, www.livingthegoodnews.com.

Age groups:

Young Teen (grades 7-9)
High School (grades 10-12)

This is a lectionary-based curriculum available in several versions including Episcopal (Book of Common Prayer lectionary), Lutheran, Catholic and Revised Common Lectionary. Sold by the quarter, fall through spring, it provides a lesson plan for each Sunday based upon the three readings and the psalm. For enrichment, the lesson plan also includes poems, art (on posters) and music (from CD).

In addition to the youth versions, this curriculum is available in all age levels from Nursery (ages 2-3) through Adult.

Curriculum parts for Young Teen:

Leader's Guide (quarterly)
On the Edge magazine (quarterly)
Poster Packet for Intermediate/Young Teen (quarterly)
Enhanced CD Set --music, stories, & teacher background (one set for all ages, annually).

Curriculum parts for High School:

Leader's Guide (quarterly)
Flash Point Journal (quarterly)
Poster Packet for High School/Adult (quarterly)
Enhanced CD Set -- music, stories, scripture background (one set for all ages, annually)

Seasons of the Spirit

Logos Production, 800-328-0200, www.spiritseasons.com.

Age groups:

Ages 12-14 (younger youth)
Ages 15-18 (older youth)

Seasons of the Spirit is an ecumenical, international lectionary-based curriculum that strives to build strong faith communities by integrating the ministries of Christian education, worship, and service. This curriculum invites the entire church community to imaginatively engage scripture through activities that pay particular attention to multiple learning styles, discussion of current events that are connected to each session theme, and the arts, which are at the heart of each bible study. In addition, Seasons of the Spirit uses art from many cultures for its posters and focuses on providing inclusive images, language and stories to promote the love of God to all. Online help is also provided.

In addition to the youth versions, Seasons is available for all ages, Birth through Adult.

Curriculum parts include:

Congregational Life. This volume is for parish leaders: clergy, worship leaders, Christian education leader, and more. Includes printed music; also data CD with song lyrics, poster images for projection, articles for church bulletin, etc.

Seasons Music CDs.

Quarterly 3-ring notebooks with lesson plans for each age level. Includes teacher's supplement, music and poster pack.

Supplemental resources are available for subscribers by download from the Seasons website.

TeenText

The Bible Workbench, 800-624-4644, www.bibleworkbench.com.

TeenText -- where God's Story and Teens' Stories Connect is a lectionary-based process that helps high school youth (9th-12th grades) connect the Gospel text on the page with events in their daily lives. The NRSV is used. Through discussions guided by a series of open-ended, text-related questions, participants begin to see the Bible as a relevant resource--one that can inform them throughout their lives. The open-ended questions are in three categories:

What's happening here? (Setting? Actors? Action? Theme?)
How is this happening in my world today? (Literally? Metaphorically?)
How is this happening in my life today? (Literally? Metaphorically?)

Each of the three major questions is supported by 12-20 questions which will help the group explore and understand the text. TeenText aims to meet youth where they are: the philosophy is that "the student is the curriculum."

TeenText is published by the Educational Center in St. Louis MO, publisher of the Bible Workbench. Editor is William L. Dols, an Episcopal priest with a PhD in biblical studies and psychology.

TeenText is sold by annual subscription. The weekly reflection questions can be handed out or emailed in advance to participants.

Velocity: a Bible Study for Teenagers

BlueFish TV, 972-560-5600, www.BlueFishTV.com.

Velocity is a 13-week youth Bible study program that combines DVD segments, group discussion and Biblical teaching from Doug Fields.   Five of the lessons are on DVD and feature youth telling their stories as well as music & interviews with Christian rock stars. The other eight lessons are based on Biblical texts and are outlined in a leader's guide.    The content is topics of interest to teens, such as relationships with parents, peer pressure, and coping with circumstances beyond their control.

BlueFish continues to publish new editions with new material: at this writing they are selling Velocity 3. BlueFish also publishes another youth Bible study curriculum series with Doug Fields called Revolution.

Fields, who has an M.Div from Fuller Theological Seminary, is known as the author of Purpose Driven Youth Ministry and numerous other books on youth ministry. He is Student Pastor at Saddleback Church in California.

Curriculum parts:

    DVDs (set of 5)
    Leader's guide

Youth Emmaus: for Growing Young Christians

Church House Publishing, London; www.chpublishing.co.uk. Available in the United States from Church Publishing, 800-242-1918, www.churchpublishing.org.

Following the success of Emmaus: the Way of Faith as a means to welcome adults into the Christian faith and the life of the Church, Youth Emmaus was developed to offer churches something similar for young people. It is a nurture course designed specifically for young people aged 11-16 who want to find out about the Christian faith. It is presented in three parts:

what Christians believe
how Christians grow
living the Christian life

There is material for 14 sessions of 60-90 minutes each. Putting on an Emmaus group means meeting people where they are and walking with them on their journey, sharing with them the good news of God's love.

Curriculum parts:

Youth Emmaus: for Growing Young Christians. This is a leader's guide for the 14 sessions and includes a free CD-ROM. For each session there are leader's notes and a handout for group members.
Youth Emmaus 2: Big Issues and Holy Spaces. This is a leader's guide with CD-ROM for a sequel course of 14 sessions. It is designed for young people who have taken Youth Emmaus or who have some foundation in the Christian faith. Its purpose is to help young people grow spiritually and think more deeply about their faith. Best suited for young people ages 13-16.