Bible Investigators: A Program for Elementary Children

copyrighted Photo – purchased

Last year Amanda and I put together a program we called Bible Investigators for the summer quarter at Seven Oaks.  I wanted to share it with others in case your church might be interested in the program.  You might want to take the idea and improve upon it and use it at your congregation.

The Idea

The inspiration for the program came from several different places.  We used models for the program the Awana program, Lads to Leaders, Boy / Girl Scouts, and traditional Sunday School.

How the Program Worked

The program focused on children ages 4 through the 6th grade.  Each child received a booklet at the beginning of the quarter which was their mission journal.  The booklet contained the tasks they were to accomplish during the quarter (more on that in a moment).  Each Wednesday night the kids would start out in a large room and would meet in groups of about 4 or 5 students with a couple of Jr or High School students.  After a student lead devotional, they would say their assigned memory work and do record keeping on all of the tasks they got accomplished during the previous week.  Then after 20 minutes in this room, the students would go with their teacher (they were broken into their regular Bible classes) for their lesson.  The teens would then go to their classes.

The Tasks

The tasks or missions were divided into three categories.  They involved memory verses, general memory work, and service projects.  The memory work was assigned on a weekly basis with a given task set to be done each week.  The program is designed were the student can do extra and achieve what is more naturally geared to their skills and interests.

The Rewards

Parents, teens, and adult volunteers kept up through the quarter when a student would meet their mission.  Originally we wanted to do patches upon a sash or vest, but opted for doing a bulletin board and putting the task with the student’s name on the board.  Each age group had an assigned color.  Then at the end of the summer on a Sunday evening we had a cookout outside where we had lots of games and activities for the students and their families as a reward.  Finally on the last Wednesday night of the quarter the students presented some of the basic memory work to the church in a program.  Then we recognized each student that had accomplished at least 10 tasks with a medallion and certificate.  Everyone who did at least one got a certificate.

The Benefits

Our church received several benefits from the program.

• Students memorize portions of scripture!
• Students memorize basic Bible facts.
• Students have excitement about the summer quarter.
• Teens get to serve as mentors and build relationships with the kids.
• More service projects are done and encouraged.
• There is increased opportunities for parents to be involved with helping with memory work and getting the tasks completed.
• The overall church is encouraged by the program and the knowledge the kids gain.

Plans for 2013

We plan on doing the program again.  We hope to correct some of the minor difficulties with it and believe this year will be even smoother.  The summer may not be the best time to do the program, because kids are often traveling and the teens are gone regularly with camps and youth trips. But we haven’t come up with a better time, so will do it in the summer again. We also will not buy curriculum for the teachers this year, but will allow the teachers to reinforce the Bible Investigator content.

Would your Congregation Like to do Bible Investigators?

If you would like to do this or a modified version of this program at your home congregation, I would be happy to share more details with you.  I plan on getting the student booklets printed professionally this year for a modest cost.  Feel free to contact me if I can help you in any way.  If you would like to take our booklet document and modify it for your church and then print it yourself that is also possible.

I would add one last thing.  You need at least one or two coordinators for the program.  Most likely this will be a lady who has experience working with kids.  I organized and put most of the program together, but Amanda, my wife, deserves the credit for running the program.  She worked with the students, teachers, parents, teens, made plans and kept records.  She did a great job and made it succeed.

What questions do you have?