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2007-05-15 issue:

Entire congregation can Gather ’Round

New curriculum lets children, youth and adults study the same Bible texts.

by Anna Groff

Print Article

St. Jacobs (Ont.) Mennonite Church attempted to coordinate the biblical text in Sunday school and worship for all ages in past years. But they only found success with Gather ’Round, a new Christian education curriculum jointly produced by Mennonite Publishing Network and Brethren Press.

Barb Smith-Morrison, a pastor at St. Jacobs, says Gather ’Round provided the tools to bring consistency between Sunday school and worship.

Now St. Jacobs opens its Sunday school hour with children—and sometimes adults—gathered to experience the Bible story together. With Gather ’Round, all ages study the same text and learn the memory verse’s sign language.

“It’s been a very moving, powerful experience to see everyone signing together,” says Lisa Carr-Pries, another pastor at St. Jacob’s and a Gather ’Round trainer.

The children’s time and sermon is also based on the Gather ’Round text. Repeating the story adds layers and creativity, says Mark Diller Harder, a third member of the pastoral team. With the familiarity of the text, sermons get at a deeper level, he says.

All the adults also study the Gather ’Round material in their Sunday school class.
Not only Mennonite churches use Gather ’Round. Anna Speicher, managing editor of Gather ’Round, says she has received calls, for example, from an Episcopal congregation in Indiana and a Baptist congregation in Texas interested in Gather ’Round for their churches.

Gather ’Round evolved from the Jubilee curriculum that ran for 12 years and “stands on the shoulders of Jubilee.” Speicher describes the new curriculum as a “thinking curriculum,” since it asks children to reflect and views teachers as “co-learners,” similar to Jubilee.

Jennifer Ulrich, Sunday school superintendent at Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Va., says one teacher reported that the lessons are easy for the children to understand, and the repetition is age-appropriate. However, teachers for the older children’s classes say they have experienced some difficulty with the lessons, such as discussing abstract ideas, such as the upside-down kingdom.

Unlike Jubilee, which was on a three-year cycle, Gather ’Round is ever-changing; each year new lessons are written.

“We can continue to make the curriculum evolve,” Speicher says, “changing with the world and keeping it fresh.”

Gather ’Round also offers a new feature for each quarter called a “Talkabout,” an interactive product for families that relates to the lessons. “Talkabouts” are daily tear-off calendars, refrigerator magnet puzzles and parable playing deck cards.

Eleanor Snyder, director of Faith and Life Resources, says that “Talkabout” receives mixed reviews. It needs more education about it, she says, since it is one of the curriculum’s “cutting edges” used to make the “home connection.”

Snyder says the “Jubilee diehard users for 12 years” are adjusting to the new curriculum, and those who were tired of Jubilee see Gather ’Round’s newness as exciting.

Photo on homepage by Larry Shantz

 

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