Carly Haas
I did not know very much about the Christian Church Calendar before this assignment, so I had to do some background work. I am attaching the source I got my information from on here so if you want to get some background you can. http://www.cresourcei.org/chyear.html
In thinking about the church calendar I did not realize how purposely laid out it is to tell the story of Jesus. The website above talks about how the Christian calendar revolves around the life and ministry of Jesus from start to finish and it also touches on the Great Commission and Jesus’ return. With thinking about the Church Calendar in association with teaching the children, I think it is a great way to connect them with the stories of Jesus. A lot of the time the children are learning something different than the congregation in “big church”, but I think if the children, youth, and adult ministries all teach and learn from the Christian Church Calendar then they can connect with each other, while learning about the life and teachings of Christ. We don’t, however, want to loose the other important stories within the Bible and only focus on the Gospel. The other stories are also part of our Christian history. In what ways can we implement the use of the Christian Calendar in teaching the children, but not loosing sight of the other stories within the Bible as well?
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That was a very interesting post, Carly. I had never really thought that much about using the Church Calendar as sort of a curriculum for kids. And I think you are exactly right about how it works perfectly for teaching about the life and ministry of Jesus.
ReplyDeleteOne way to still use the Christian Calendar idea and still teach about other aspects of the Bible might be to use the "Ordinary Time" or the time between Pentecost and Advent. Since it is a time to focus on other aspects of the faith and on missions, I think it would be a perfect time to tie in the other stories of the Bible.
I'm sure there are certainly other ways to as well, but that is the first thing that jumped out to me to answer your question.
Christian calendar helps us to focus on day to day event of what we should know about the times and events in the bible and remember it.
ReplyDeleteIf we make our children know about Christian calendar, it will help them not so much
to focus on the fun and happy moment of it only but understand and know the importance of it. For example, I remember when I was a
child I used to go to church in April and my mother will give me a palm tree leaf and tell me that it's a palm Sunday, and I did not know what it represented and the importance of it then. I later found out that it was for Jesus to
die for us . I think we should sit our children down and let them know
about these truths and observe it and not just to celebrate it. Because Christian calendar that children are aware of only happens on happy days example Christmas and Easter.
Ben
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you had to say in your post. We cannot lose the other stories of the Bible, but we also need to be sensitive to the Christian calendar. I never really encountered the calendar growing up outside of Christmas, Easter, and somewhat Pentecost. I believe that we could take the different main dates in the Christian calendar and use those days to explain just what they mean and why they are important to us today. That way, we still have time for the other stories in the Bible while still maintaining the different Christian calendar dates.
I agree that it would be good for us to align what the children, youth, and adults are learning around the Christian calendar, and keep them all learning the same thing so that hopefully they will go home and discuss it together. One way we can not lose sight of the other important stories in the Bible is to possibly pair them up, do the story that the calendar reflects but also do an "ordinary" story that kinda goes along with it. It will help children to see that the Entire Bible is focused on Jesus.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Church calendar is far too often overlooked. And to unite the church by teaching the same things in the adult, teen, and children church would have many positives(such as their parents just learned/refreshed on that story so can answer questions and the unifying factor), and the easiest way to do that is go by the church calendar. I think the best way to keep the balance would be to have a shorter maybe 5 minute lesson on what Jesus was doing this time of the year, and then later have the main lesson on some of the other stories in the Bible.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Colby with the idea that the calendar is overlooked. I am not sure if being Nazarene has anything to do with it, but growing up I knew a very few people that recognized the Calendar, but also wasn't exposed to it until I had become a teenager. I think that if exposed to it at a younger age that a person would be more likely to associate a time of the year with something religious rather than something secular or pagan. I do not think that the Calendar should take the place of or overpower other stories, but maybe just be added to the normalcy of Christian life. We can acknowledge the Calendar and study the Bible without taking importance off of Scripture. But we really should at least acknowledge the Calendar more.
ReplyDeleteI like what Justin said about acknowledging the calendar and studying the Bible without taking importance off of Scripture. It is a great way to help kids and adults relate their everyday lives to Jesus' life. I think it would be a great way to keep the different age levels in a church interconnected as to what they are learning. I also think that the other stories in the Bible can be interwoven with the calendar because so often one story in the New Testament directly correlates and is affected by a story in the Old Testament. If anything the church calendar should help us to look at scripture through Christ and to see the Bible as a whole story.
ReplyDeleteso, i remember reading your post carly but idk how I didnt post when we were supposed to.... oh well, before coming to mv, i didnt really know much about the church calender, and I am still learning a lot about it and this is def. a good thing becuause there is a lot of intentialty that goes into it, as I am still learning. For waht I do know about the way the church calender is often used, I think there may be a few things that need to be added in in order to cover EVERYTHING.
ReplyDeleteRachel Elder
ReplyDeleteI have never been taught to learn in detail about the Christian calander but there were still lessons that were taught to me while i was in church. I feel if I could incorporate more of of an importance on the Christian calander that would really help children as they grow and develop in their faith.