Youth 'Field Test' New CT Curriculum

Almost two dozen young people, a few of whom asked tough questions about the role of religion in their lives, helped to field test a new curriculum for "Living Your Faith in a Messed-up World: A Look at the Contemporary Testimony."

Published by Faith Alive Christian Resources, the curriculum should be available by mid August in time for fall programs in churches. The course includes a book, teacher's guide, a DVD and other materials for teachers and students who want to delve more deeply into the teachings of the Christian Reformed Church. An on-line component also will be available soon from Faith Alive, the publishing agency for the CRC.

"We had a whole mix of students and they really helped to shape the course by their involvement," says Jane Vogel, one of the authors of the curriculum. While the curriculum provides a Reformed perspective, the course is geared for youth from many religious traditions or none at all.

Among the young people were several who had questions about their faith and their role in the local church.  All seemed to gain insight and faith as the result of participating in the process, says Vogel.

"The Contemporary Testimony is so rich in insight into the very issues facing young people today.  These are the issues they struggle with in their school courses, whether they are in a Christian school or a secular institution," says Mary Sytsma, the other author of the curriculum.

Vogel and Sytsma, who also have written other curriculum material for Faith Alive, field-tested this material at Wheaton Christian Reformed Church in Wheaton, Ill. Most of the students were in 11th or 12th grade. A couple of Wheaton College students also participated.

Concerned about the need to speak to issues of the day in strong but biblical language, Synod 2008 adopted a revised version of “Our World Belongs to God: A Contemporary Testimony.” An on-line version of the document is available at www.crcna.org/pages/our_world_main.cfm.

Based on text first published in 1986, the testimony provides a 21st Century look at how the Reformed faith addresses concerns facing people today, from end-of-life issues to issues of sexuality, the environment, terrorism, and peace and war. Written in free-verse poetry, the revised testimony contains much that was in the previous version.

The new course has 15 sessions that, Faith Alive says, work "to enable students to see how these confessions help us respond to the world in which we live, allow students to see the relevance of the testimony to daily life, challenge students to live out their faith and recognize that every aspect of life and our world belongs to God."

Session 1 is titled "What Gives You Hope?" and examines the first six stanzas of the Contemporary Testimony as well as asks students to read two of the Psalms.

The goal of this first session, says the Faith Alive material, is to "recognize evidence of the culture of despair in current society, explore how God offers hope, and identify specific ways Scripture and the Contemporary Testimony speak to their lives."

For more information or to order visit www.FaithAliveResources.org or call 1-800-333-8300.

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