Customer Reviews

Why Nobody Learns Much of Anything at Church: And How to Fix It

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a student at Lutheran Bible Institute of Seattle, I have spent several hours studying why kids today do not pay attention in Sunday School anymore. This book digs into that question and acts as a bridge between teachers and students to better relate their lives to the Bible and make learning truly enjoyable. For Sunday School teachers, parents, and Public or Private School teachers; I recommend reading this book at least once a year.

The bottom line message of this book seems to be that traditional church education often lacks focus, doesn't relate to real life, and doesn't assist learners to actually apply biblical principles to their lives. In some cases, this accusation is partially justified. Much of children's Sunday school session consists of coloring, pasting, rote cliches, songs that make little sense, etc. I think the Schultz's make a legitimate point.

However, I was a little uncomfortable with the impression that no one church knows how to teach effectively besides the Schultz's. I realize the book title and some of the content may be seeking to use exaggeration for effect. However, it may alienate many of the pastors and church leaders who could most benefit from helpful principles they espouse.

Also, it becomes obvious that the authors are using the book to promote their own curricula. There's not necessarily anything wrong with this. It's just that one can get the impression that, of all the materials available, they think only their curricula is worthwhile and effective.

If you need some curricula that is well thought out, good quality, and designed to apply biblical principles to kid's lives, then Group Curricula is worth looking at. But it is not the only well produced and effective stuff around.

I remember attending Sun. school as a little girl and that is about it. I do recall sitting quietly and memorizing stuff. When I grew up and had kids of my own I was not very excited about sending them into the same environment in which I grew up in. I knew there had to be a better way for kids to learn about Jesus so they would fall in love with the Creator and desire a relationship with Him. This is what led me to Children's Ministry. "Why nobody learns much of anything at church and how to fix it" puts into words what I have felt for years. This book covers why the traditional learning procedure of sitting still and filling ourselves full of head knowledge doesn't necessarily give us heart knowledge. Although I am reviewing this from a children's standpoint, the book also covers the adult level as well. At the end of each chapter practical ways are given on how you can implement more meaningful lessons, lessons where active learning takes place. I have used the principles in this book for 10 years now and I see how effective they are-kids are excited about going to class to learn. Most of my childhood memories are the ones where I was an active participant~this book helps you to make that possible for all children no matter what their learning style may be.

When my church's youth pastor loaned this book to my roommate, I read it too--and was appalled. By the way, I gave it two stars rather than just one because it has some good ideas along the way and because the author obviously put a lot of care into it. But the author is trying to change the way teachers teach, so he is dealing with some pretty significant stuff. Before a person teaches, he or she needs to ask some important questions about the purpose for teaching. And I think those questions are answered by Scripture better than by popular culture. Since the authors instead rely mostly on secular research, it's no wonder many of their answers are flawed scripturally.

Problems in the book include these: (1) The author (the publisher of Group curriculum--which is taking over the curriculum market as I write) comes pretty close to mocking the idea of Scripture memory. (2) The author includes a chart of "how people learn" that has books (Scripture?) dead last and TV several steps up. That contradicts Scripture's assertion for Christian teaching: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." It's also ironic that the author chose a BOOK to give this philosophy. (3) The author is deliberate about following trends in public schooling. That strikes me as pretty odd considering the larger debate about why public schools fail to teach kids when they teach constantly-changing trendy ideas. (4) The author encourages teachers to be on equal footing with kids, to get rid of the authority structure as much as possible. Yet Scripture clearly tells adults to teach children. We are to do so humbly and lovingly, but we should not pretend that we're all on an equal level starting out. (5) The book ends up being an extended advertisement for using Group curriculum, which does not have a very solid biblical foundation. (Several years ago I refused to use their material after reviewing it.)

For a more complete critique of this book and much of today's curriculum, read the book Spiritual Junk Food (Mickels and McKeever). Or for a book about teaching that respects Scripture more, read Follow Me As I Follow Christ (Dunlop).

I'm a homeschool mom with a very compliant, bright 7-yo who can sit and listen/do the traditional "story, memorize & regurgitate" method we all learned when I was young in Sunday School. She's a breeze to teach--no props, games, weird songs; whatever are necessary. Then, I was called on by the Lord to take on the task of organizing and teaching a Children's Church program in our small church. What an eye opener. Many of my kids are from broken homes. Many have learning disabilities, etc. Most are "unchurched". I learned very quickly that what works with my compliant little girl WILL NOT work with a bunch of strong-willed and emotionally damaged children (mostly boys) who have learning and behavioral problems. So I set out to find a decent curriculum package that would help with this group of kids. What I have found that has worked involves very little memorization (these kids can barely read yet, much less memorize anything over 5 words in length--and they're in the 3rd grade), and if I get one important point across to these kids about God and His plan of salvation, I feel I've done my job for the day. Every week is a struggle!

I'm considering the Group curriculum for that very reason. I've seen the samples and have the full Children's Church teacher's guide, and I've seen nothing so far that suggests that it's not scriptural. So far, I haven't seen anything disrespectful towards God. I'd be very interested in seeing the materials from Group that he's refering to?

I think the reviewer who's appalled is taking Scriptures to an extreme in it's interpretation, also. Yes, of course it's God's truth that 'Faith cometh by hearing...', but "hearing", IMHO is a condition of the heart, not just words spoken and intercepted by ears. (Frankly, without the Holy Spirit involved in opening hearts, no one will "hear" anything, period!) If my children "hear" the word of God acted out through a game or a funny skit, then so be it! Then I have a time of Bible reading to reinforce the point learned. Our goal as educators is to lead folks, young and old, to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.

I do agree that Humanism is everywhere and even in the Church. I would certainly be watchful for anything taught that's not Biblical.

Jesus himself used stories and object lessons and examples. He didn't have anyone stand up and recite His monologue verbatim after a "lesson" that I recall. A better analogy would be Paul, who taught the Gentiles about Jesus. They had no background in the Torah like the Jews. Paul said, "Corinthians 9:22.'To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made All things to all men, that I might by all means save some.'" Amen.

I plan to check out "Why Nobody Learns". I probably won't agree with all of it. But I plan to get the good meat out of it and spit out the bones.

I leave you with this: Many of the kids I grew up with in Sunday School are no longer in church. While I had thrived on the programs, I remember many of them being bored and restless while the teacher stood there and lectured. That should be enough reason for anyone to see that we need to rethink how we do Sunday School, etc.

A great book for pastors, Sunday School leaders and teachers! Even though I cannot completely recommend all the contents, it is definitely a thought provoking book. I used it as a textbook in my Church Growth class in seminary.