Posted on November 8, 2009 - by rfrank
9 trends in CM leadership – part 7
Trend #7: Teaching is moving back to the teacher (Imagine that.)
Today’s kids are heavily influenced by screens—cell phone screens, computer screens, TV screens and movie screens. Over the past five years, there has been a big push to use screens when teaching today’s media-saturated kids.
Craig Jutila started creating videos in 1998 for his ministry at Saddleback Church. He told me, “We stumbled upon the media idea from a camp we did back in 1998. We would do a ‘camp news’ section each night. We had an idea to let the TV do the talking by having a child from the audience come up and play a game … entirely run by the TV. There was little set-up in advance for this, but we were amazed that the TV held the kids’ attention the way it did. From that, the idea was born to see if we could have a strong teaching element from the TV not only hold the kids’ attention but help them learn in a fun and creative way.” He went home and started creating video curriculum. By teaching in front of a camera, every child in the church could get the same Bible message in a format that they would relate to. He is recognized as a pioneer for video-driven curriculum in children’s ministry.
In 2003, the market was introduced to Kidmo. I remember seeing Kidmo for the first time at Children’s Pastors’ Conference. The company was marketed as “the reinvention of Sunday School.” At the time of this writing, Kidmo has 110 episodes (weeks) for elementary-age kids and 60 episodes (weeks) for preschoolers.
Thousands of churches have used Kidmo and other similar video curriculums in their children’s ministries. One concern that church leaders have voiced is whether it is healthy to use videos week after week. After all, hasn’t God gifted the local church with teachers? And aren’t teachers the ones who build solid relationships with the kids and their parents?
I am seeing a movement in the last year from media-driven curriculum to “teacher-led” media-driven curriculum. What sets teacher-led media-driven curriculum apart? The curriculum uses media elements (which kids connect with so well) but keeps the central focus on the live teacher, not the screen. Many children’s ministry leaders realize that nothing replaces a teacher opening God’s Word with relevance and teaching.
Companies like High Voltage Kids (www.highvoltage-kids.com) and the Willow Creek Association (www.willowcreek.com) are examples of companies marketing this type of curriculum.
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About Ryan
Ryan Frank is a husband, dad, children's pastor, creator of KidzMatter, and publisher of K! Magazine.
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November 8, 2009
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jonathan said:
Elevate Curriculum has taken the “teacher led media driven” model to another level. Of course, it also has the video-only format…
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November 9, 2009
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Kendra Golden said:
We started creating video curriculum for much the same reasons Jutila mentioned. Mainly a consistently engaging experience whether you’re in a fabulously themed room or a school with a big screen.
Since I also choose to serve in the room that I create curriculum for, I see the influence I’m able to add because of being a natural teacher (I taught for 11 years in public schools before joining my church staff). I spend time at every break reinforcing the lesson, checking for understanding, and making sure kids are getting it.
About a year or so ago, we also changed our line-up to add small group discussion time. I think we realized that some kids were leaving without ever having an adult talk to them or ask them what they were thinking about what they heard. We’ve had great responses from leaders with this. They love getting that face time with the kids.
Right now, we are in really high-level methodology talks about our entire curriculum from pre-school to high-school. I already see a shift from creating curriculum that any old warm body can pull off to an environment that only works if the right called and trained volunteers are in the room.
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November 10, 2009
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Roger Lubiens said:
I agree that a teacher led media format is a great tool for reaching children for Christ.
The children/youth best relate to their teacher when a lesson becomes inter-personal and relevant. Using the multimedia tools only enhances that relationship.
Building that relationship is crucial in leading a young life to Christ. I have used video clips, video lessons, video action music at my summer camps to lead children to Christ, to teach them, and to lead them into Christian service.
In one small VBS setting, we’ve grown from 25 families to 200 families in just 4 years; the youth have now started outreach showing (CIA) Christian In Action by serving at a local gospel mission and children’s hospital.