Silver Spring, Maryland, United States …. [Ansel Oliver/ANN]
Young teenagers–ages 12 to 14–are in the second quarter of a new venture: “Real-Time Faith,” weekly, alternative Adventist Sabbath School lessons are aimed at their special interests and needs.
Several years ago all ages studied the same quarterly theme, adapted for each age group. However, ages 10 to 14 were lumped together. Now churches can offer a separate curriculum for ages 12 to 14.
“There is a difference when dealing with 10 and 11-year-olds versus 12 to 14-year-olds,” says Kathleen Beagles, “Real-Time Faith” editor.
“The younger kids have high energy. Junior high kids in Sabbath School may act tired and not say much, but they are listening. Their life is going through change,” says Beagles.
One addition to the curriculum is an Internet-based forum. Now, some 200 12- to 14-year old Seventh-day Adventists from around the world are online discussing the new lessons.
There’s never been a forum where Adventist teens could communicate like this, according to Troy Fitzgerald, online moderator for “Real-Time Faith” and associate pastor for youth at Walla Walla College Church in Washington. “There have been [online] communities, but not in the church,” he says.
“This is a great way to peek in and see what’s important for our kids.” He thinks many people would be surprised at their maturity level. Though, at other times, he thinks, “Whoa, they don’t understand what it means to be a church, or they don’t get grace.”
Fitzgerald says feedback from online discussions will influence future lesson studies.
“We’ve never been able to get initial feedback while we’re still writing the lessons,” he says. “Although its influence won’t be seen immediately, working six months ahead is better than four years, he says.
“They get to shape their curriculum; it’s not just a document that comes. Their curriculum is now a dialogue.”
Fitzgerald says kids can say what they feel since the forum is, to a certain degree, anonymous. “Let’s give them a chance to learn from each other around the world.”
Fitzgerald says a focus group is forming to analyze feedback from the lessons.
Many teachers join the forum as guests. Responses are coming from all over the map, says Fitzgerald: Western Europe, South Pacific, Australia, Philippines; but nothing so far from Africa, Eastern Europe, or South America. Fitzgerald cites language barriers as hindering communication from those areas.
For more information, visit www.realtimefaith.adventist.org.
Copyright © 2004 by Adventist News Network.
