1. Promotion of the Trivial: The lesson is based on what is a passing comment in the text (Josh 9:13, they did not consult the Lord), a casual observation about the text (Moses persevered in going back before Pharaoh over and over) or even a deduction supplied in the text (Joshua and Caleb were brave and strong). The Bible is not being properly taught if we are teaching virtues that the text does not have in focus in that passage. We would like children to be virtuous, but we dare not teach virtues rather than the Bible. The plague narratives are not teaching perseverance nor is the feeding of the multitude teaching sharing (as done by the little boy in one of the accounts).

2. Illegitimate extrapolation: The lesson is improperly expanded from a specific situation to all general situations (God helped Moses do a hard thing, so God will help you do a hard thing. But the hard thing Moses was doing was something commanded by God whereas in the lesson the hard thing becomes anything the child wants to achieve). In these cases what the text is teaching is passed by in favor of what the curriculum wants to teach and biblical authority is neglected.

3. Reading Between the Lines: This occurs when teachers or students are asked to analyze what the characters are thinking, speculate on their motives, or fill in details of the plot that the story does not give. When such speculations become the center of the lesson, the authority of the biblical teaching is lost because the teaching is centered on what the reader provided.

4. Missing important nuance: This occurs when the curriculum pinpoints an appropriate lesson but misses a connection that should be made to drive the point home accurately. It is not enough, for instance to say that God wants us to keep his rules—it is important to realize that God has given us a sense of who he is and how we ought to respond in our lives. It is not just an issue of obeying rules—God wants us to know him and respond to him by following in his ways and being like him.

5. Focus on people rather than God: The Bible is God’s revelation of himself and its message and teaching is largely based on what it tells us about God. This is particularly true of narrative (stories). While we are drawn to observe the people in the stories, we cannot forget that the stories are intended to teach us about God more than about people. If in the end, the final point is “We should/shouldn’t be like X (= some biblical character)” there is probably a problem unless the “X” is Jesus or God. Better is “we can learn through X’s story that God . . .”

If we are negligent of sound hermeneutics when we teach Bible to children, should it be any wonder that when they get into youth groups, Bible studies and become adults in the church, that they do not know how to derive the authoritative teaching from the text?

We all have a working hermeneutic, even though most have never taken a course. Where do we learn it? We learn it from those we respect. For many people this means that they learn their hermeneutics from their Sunday school teachers. Teachers in turn teach what is put into their hands. Perhaps we ought to be more attentive how Sunday school curriculum is teaching our children to find the authoritative teaching of God in the stories.

What has been your experience in your church?
Have people in your church recognized this problem and what are you doing about it?
Comment back with your thoughts!

I found this article here.  Ali Thompson, who now lives in Colorado working for Group Publishing made me aware of this.

For more of Dr. Walton’s thoughts on this topic go to his curriculum website.

I had the real privilege of taking classes in my grad problem at Wheaton from Dr. Walton.  Great scholar, and really great at teaching his students.  I appreciate all he passed on to me including a top notch course in Ancient Near Eastern Backgrounds.

This has led me to thinking, if I were 25 years into ministry how large would the temptation be to rely on preexisting material as a crutch and do ministry as a resource guru with tons and tons of file cabinets and no longer as a shepherd? My guess is that it would be pretty enticing.

25 years from now will I seek to hear the voice of God afresh, or be content with a handy-dandy handouts whose effectiveness has been approved by church x and church y? Will I care to listen and have a breaking heart for my people, or can I solve all issues of sin with another photocopied handout?

Even already at this point in ministry I find myself giving people handouts or some canned material I prepared in the past. Sure, this CAN BE fine AT TIMES, but it is never a substitute for hearing afresh the voice of God. And sometimes after these meetings, I wonder, was this what they really needed? Did I hear their heart, then God’s heart, and then respond? Or maybe I just heard, well, this works for 1.3 million people (or at least the back covers say it), and let me slap this on you too.

Canned curriculum although it is good at times is also a negative for sinful scheming humanity. This happens when I’m dry on God’s voice in a particular passage and have nothing to say, and therefore look to the canned curriculum gods and collected materials and handouts over the years and let them speak. That way I can do ministry without ever having to do the dirty work of listening to God in my own heart.

If handouts from 1962 are being repeated far beyond their useful years, throw them out. Don’t let them become a crutch hindering you from hearing God’s voice. Throw them out. Keep the LEAN, throw out everything that hinders the vibrant voice of the Lord in the pastor’s life.

Jesus didn’t go through canned cirrculum too often, at least I don’t think. Jesus said, “follow me.” And so today, let us THROW OUT THE LIVELESS WORDS ON COUNTLESS PAGES, and follow instead. Maybe today Jesus will pick up a muster seed and teach from that, maybe tomorrow he’ll examine a vine and it’s branches, we’ll play it by ear each day. Hear afresh God’s voice everyday. Each day Jesus heard from his Father and responded to his disciples saying, “ok, I’m ready, follow me.”