This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission from purchased products at no additional cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
Choosing a curriculum for children’s Sunday school can seem like a huge feat for small churches. We spend a lot of time previewing options and a lot of money trying some, adapting others, and wishing for something else instead. Serving mixed-age classes with a few volunteers and inconsistent attendance is a challenge, but sometimes we make it harder than it needs to be. Learn about content in children’s Sunday school, and consider some bigger questions we should be asking as well.
Keep reading to learn:
- What’s more important than choosing a curriculum?
- What scope-in-sequence means and if it really matters.
- Why your curriculum choice matters less than you think.
- Some creative options to consider for your Sunday school content.
Sunday School Different For Small Churches
The value of children’s ministry in small churches isn’t less than children’s ministry in big churches, but it is very different! Most curriculum that’s on the market is designed for larger churches with consistent numbers, and enough numbers to have a full class of one age group. The reality is, big churches spend more money on curriculum, and publishers need to make money. However, some publishers, if they are smart, also will have options to adapt their curriculum for smaller numbers or mixed ages. Many of them are great ideas, and some of them could work great for your church, but there are a lot of reasons why this normally does not work out so great.
Why You Can’t Adapt Big Church Curriculum
More often than not, we don’t have the same kids from one week to the next. There is a lot more inconsistency based on percentages. In bigger churches, we have a class size of about 20. If one family is out with COVID. Maybe one child doesn’t show up for a week or two, but you are still left with a class size of 18. This isn’t the case in small churches. If you have a class of three mixed ages, and one family is out of town, you’re likely going to be left with one or maybe no children to teach! What do you do with the lesson you prepared?
Mixed ages is one of the biggest challenges that small churches face. In a truly small church, your mixed-age classes can be filled with a set of twins in third grade, a four-year-old, a ten-year-old with autism, and even a twelfth-grader in the same class! This is what I mean by mixed ages in a small church, and we’re going to be talking about that.
So, taking a children’s curriculum that is meant for big numbers and big churches, and adapting it for small churches isn’t easy. If you’ve been trying that and failing, it’s not just you, and there’s a better way! There’s a way to make Sunday School meaningful with just three kids.
The History Of Sunday School
Sunday school started during the Industrial Revolution when children were working long hours in factories. The Church saw a need. It wasn’t about getting kids to church, or even necessarily about the gospel message. They saw a need for children to learn to read and write. This is why Sunday school started in the first place! Isn’t that awesome that the church saw a need in the community and was determined to fill it?!
Sunday school today is considered one of the foundational ways to teach Biblical truths within the context of the church community. Whether your church has Sunday school that is only for the littles, or all the way through adulthood, it’s a common program in churches today. It’s important to understand that Sunday school is a culturally bound program. Nowhere in the Bible does God command Sunday school or even lift it up as a best option for sharing the Gospel or teaching His word. It isn’t mentioned. So, keep in mind that the program is meant for people, not the other way around! Now, providing that Sunday school is an avenue that you’ve chosen to share God’s word, how do we do it best in small churches?
What Is The Best Curriculum
Curriculum is technically a guide of study. It contains what will be studied, what course one will take, and what the content will be about. In practicality, when we talk about Sunday school curriculum, it’s a guide to serve teachers. The content is part of it, but the curriculum is more than the content. It provides teachers with the tools that they need to teach!
Many people, when looking at curriculums, will look at the scope and sequence of what’s being taught. However, if you want to choose the right Sunday school curriculum, the better question to ask is “What curriculum best helps my teachers?” You need to know your teacher and your needs, and this will vary for every person and every church. This is why there isn’t one BEST curriculum.
Serve Kids Instead Of The Curriculum
If you start looking into curriculum options, the chances are you’re going to hear the term ‘scope and sequence.’ If you’re an organized person, you’re going to love this! It lays out what should be taught from preschool through sixth grade, or even all the way through twelfth grade and adulthood. This sounds so perfect! By the time these children graduate, they’re going to have the whole core of the Gospel in their hearts and minds, and they will know how to apply it in their lives. However, if you’re in a small church, you are likely laughing by now, or you might be hanging your head in failure, thinking, “I wish that worked”.
In small churches, Sunday School is not compulsory, it isn’t required. Depending on the child’s circumstances outside of a Sunday service, it’s likely that they cannot come for weeks, months, or even years. So how does the scope and sequence serve us? It might not. We need to figure out how to serve the kids instead of trying to serve the curriculum.
Please understand, I’m not saying scope and sequence is wrong; it’s a beautiful thing. However, most small churches, and most churches everywhere, are pushing against a changing culture and trying to force what used to work. We need to look at the CURRENT needs of our people, and learn how to meet them.
Consider 3 Things When Choosing A Curriculum
1. Think About Your Teachers And What Would Help Them
This is the point of the curriculum. If one or all of your teachers are crabby and/or burnt out, consider canceling Sunday school for a while. You need to serve their needs. Pay attention to your teachers, who they are, what they need, and what they love. Learn their personalities before diving into finding a Sunday school curriculum.
2. Pay Attention To The Children You’re Teaching
In small churches, this might vary by the year, or even by the season. You might have to take this year by year and recognize that different ages have different needs.
3. Look At What Meets Your Needs
Don’t search for too long, because you can easily get sucked into the curriculum vortex of pros and cons and so much more. Remember that your Sunday school curriculum doesn’t matter nearly as much as your core beliefs and training your volunteers do.
5 Options For Your Small Church Curriculum
1. Big Name Curriculums Are An Option
Companies like Group, Grow, Orange, the Gospel Project, etc. create curriculum that you can buy. There are pros and cons to each, and they pretty much all weigh out the same. They’re brilliant. You would end up spending a bit more money, you would have to adapt it a bit, and you wouldn’t use it all. However, don’t choose something that your teachers wouldn’t like. Each curriculum has a personality and a certain feel to it.
2. Increase Sunday School Hands-On Learning Experiences
Some people would rather spend their money on better crafts, science experiments, or anything that will help children have hands-on learning experiences. This is a lot like cutting and pasting in order to create your own teachings from a variety of resources. There are tons of great options out there. We have a blog post out right now that talks about using the beginner’s Bible as a base for your curriculum lessons. This does take more time and teachers who love to delve into research.
3. Use Resources Created For Mixed Ages
Group has a series called All In One Sunday School, and it is set up from preschool through middle school. Cokesbury has one called The One Room Sunday School. Again, these are resources truly created with mixed ages in mind.
4. Use Last Year’s VBS Material
You can adapt your old VBS material to be your Sunday school for six or eight weeks. It’s free, it’s hands-on, and it’s fun! It is Gospel oriented and it is biblically based. I know churches that use VBS material all year round. They simply switch up their themes after six to eight months. It is a way to bring some life back into your Sunday school hours.
5. Write Your Own Small Church Curriculum
I want to caution you on this one. You might be tempted to take on this scope and sequence and write your very own curriculum that is able to meet your church right where it’s at. However, I want to give you a little word of caution about starting from scratch. I did this once. I gathered a team and we dug into the truth about Scripture. We became so excited about creating centers of science, music, and drama. But the problem here was that I was spending so much time preparing lessons, that I wasn’t spending enough time with people. I just want to remind you that there may be a little person out there who needs your presence more than your creative writing skills.
What They Remember From Sunday School
So, which one do you choose? Again, that’s going to come down to your teachers. In small churches, you may change your Sunday school curriculum choice by the year or even by the season. Keep in mind that, in the end, your curriculum matters a lot less than you think. It’s not necessarily what we teach. Rather, it’s about what they remember, and people will remember how you made them feel a lot more than the information that you taught. As much as we can use Sunday school as an amazingly successful tool, our call is to love people and grow disciples as Jesus did.
Looking for a Sunday school curriculum built for small churches?
We recommend Two or More™—a low-prep, Bible-rich curriculum created specifically for small churches. It works with mixed-age groups, flexes to fit whoever shows up, and makes it simple for volunteers to lead. Learn why we love it here.
Already using it? Check out our Two or More™ video guide for practical tips to get the most out of every lesson.
Read More:
5 Ways Your Small Church Can Save Time And Money On VBS
