Of all our curriculum components, one that is often overlooked or “left-behind” is the Parent Resource Pages (or Growing in Faith Together/GIFT pages) that accompany each lesson. Yet, these pages might be the most important component of each curricula. How so? Because…
…the primary responsibility and privilege of nurturing the faith of youth rests on parents (Deuteronomy 6:5-9). Parents also have the greatest opportunity for “teachable moments,” situations that arise in everyday life that can be opportunities to apply the truth of God. Faith-nurturing should not be seen primarily as a classroom experience, but rather as a consistent weaving of spiritual truth with everyday life in the context of the home. Real “heart” application of biblical truth, which changes lives, usually takes place in the context of relationship and everyday life.
Therefore,since this most naturally occurs in the home in the context of loving relationships, teachers and small group leaders should make significant efforts to connect the classroom teaching with daily parental involvement in the student’s life.
The Parent Resource Pages and GIFT pages are one tool for teachers and small group leaders to do the above. These pages were specially designed to help parents by communicating the main ideas and texts used in each lesson and providing suggestions for applying the truths learned to real-life heart application. Here are samples of GIFT Pages for two of our revised curriculum, Jesus, What a Savior! and How Majestic Is Your Name.(Image courtesy of photostock at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)
