Learn
Choosing a Youth Discipleship Curriculum: Questions Worth Asking
If you've ever shopped for student curriculum, you know the feeling. Every option promises to be engaging, relevant and life-changing. Every sample looks good for the first five pages.
I'm going to be upfront: I wrote one of these curricula. But this isn't a pitch. These are the questions I'd want someone to ask me, and they're worth asking of anything you're considering, including mine. Plenty of good material exists. The goal is to find what's right for your students.
1. Is Scripture the loudest voice?
Open to any lesson and look at how the time is spent. Is the passage the center, with everything else serving it? Or is it a proof text sitting under a lot of stories, games and illustrations?
Students remember what gets the most time. If the illustrations get twenty minutes and the text gets two, you know which one will stay with them.
2. Is it aiming at behavior or belief?
Some curriculum is mostly about how students should act. Good behavior matters, but it's downstream. Look for material that goes after what students actually believe about God, themselves and the world. Romans 12:2 locates transformation in "changing the way you think." A curriculum should aim there too.
3. Does it start with identity?
Students who don't know who they are in Christ will hear every instruction as a rule. Material that establishes identity early, and treats it as received rather than achieved, gives everything else something to stand on.
4. Is it written for the age in front of you?
A sixth grader and a senior need the same truth delivered differently. Check whether the material is actually written for your age group, or written for a vague "student" and stretched across seven grades. Look at sentence length, examples and session length. Those tell you who the writer had in mind.
5. Does it take students seriously?
Read a lesson out loud and ask whether it sounds like it respects the kids hearing it. Watch for slang that will date quickly, forced enthusiasm and anything that talks down. Students can handle real theology if someone explains it. They can tell when an adult is performing.
6. Can the leaders you actually have run it?
Be honest about who will teach it. A volunteer small group leader or a math teacher covering advisory needs more than an outline. Look for clear teaching notes, help with the difficult parts of the passage, what questions to expect, and what pushback students are likely to raise. A good guide makes an ordinary leader effective.
7. Does it make room for questions?
Owned faith has been tested. If a curriculum only has room for the right answers, students learn to perform. Look for discussion questions that go somewhere and leader notes that welcome doubt instead of shutting it down.
8. Does it bring parents in?
What students hear in a youth room or classroom should be able to follow them home. Material that gives parents a simple way into the conversation each week is doing more than material that doesn't.
9. Does it go somewhere?
A good series has an arc. It starts somewhere, builds and ends with purpose. The best ones end outward, sending students into the world rather than just finishing a unit. Look at the last lesson. It tells you what the whole thing was for.
And the practical questions
Once the substance is right, the practical questions matter too.
- Length. Does it fit your calendar, such as a school quarter or a ministry season?
- Format. Does every student get something of their own, or is it slides and photocopies? A book a student writes in and keeps says something a handout doesn't.
- Cost per student. Look at the real cost for your group size, including leader materials, and whether group pricing is available.
- Theology. Does it fit your church's or school's doctrinal commitments? Read the leader's guide, not just the marketing.
Where 212 stands
For what it's worth, these are the questions I built 212: Knowing Jesus for Real around:
- ten weeks, anchored in Romans 12:2, that start with identity and end with John 20:21
- NLT Scripture throughout
- separate Middle School and High School editions
- a Leader's Guide written for non-specialists
- a workbook for every student
- a parent page every week
You can look through Week 1 and judge it by the same questions.
Whatever you choose, choose it on purpose. Your students are worth the extra hour it takes to read past page five.