Gospel Centered...life.

A sweet friend sent me an article entitled "Gospel-Centered Children's Curriculum" by Yancy Arrington.  It takes a look at moral-based teaching vs. Gospel-Centered Teaching.  This is a great article for anyone who teaches the Word of God (at any level) and wants to get to the heart of the scripture and into the heart of the student. 

Here are a few of my favorite excerpts: 

"What does gospel-centered curriculum look like? Simply put, gospel-centered curriculum is material which demonstrates how the entire Scripture ultimately highlights the beauty, worth, centrality and supremacy of God’s saving action in Jesus’ Person and Work. It reveals how Jesus is the ultimate end of every story, every book and every letter of Scripture. Gospel-centered curriculum takes seriously the approach Jesus took to the Bible when he demonstrated to his disciples in Luke 24:14, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” In Jesus’ mind, the Bible was about him. Gospel-centered curriculum capitalizes on this idea by responsibly demonstrating how everything in the Scriptures points to Jesus, promises Jesus, parallels Jesus, prefigures Jesus, proclaims Jesus, etc. Hopefully, as the listener/learner witnesses the glory of the gospel, his affections will be deeply and profoundly moved for Christ. Put another way, the individual’s heart will  grow for Jesus!"

I love this:

"Are you morality-based or gospel-centered? It’s a question you must ask honestly. Look at the curriculum you teach, the songs you sing, the banners you hang. Question: how much of what you teach, sing and display on Sunday could be taken over by someone from another faith? Could a Muslim step right in and pick up where you left off on nine Sundays out of ten? What about a cult? Could a Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness use your curriculum without batting an eye because it is so overly moralistic that it has basically squeezed out the gospel? Don’t take the morality based road. It’s easier for a reason. As sinners, we like the Law. It appeals to our desire to feel in control. It’s more “practical”, right? It is also less difficult to

teach. It’s easier to put lessons together when we focus only on “how to’s” for morality. But the real question is, is it better?"

This figure shows the difference of depth with moral-based teaching and gospel-centered teaching: "How to's" affect their behavior for a short time but the Gospel affects their heart.

Check out the actual article here: http://sojournkids.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Gospelcntrcurrarticle.pdf  
it's so worth the 10 minute read!