As you are busy searching for a curriculum that fits, or in the process of tweaking or creating resources of your own, I hope you will consider the following suggestions. Too often in the haste to get our lesson done for the week we forget to think holistically of what we are sharing with our students over the long run. Keeping the following in mind as you are planning should help to ensure your students are well-rounded. 

1. A Basic Understanding of the Bible 

I had several students at Jr. High Way Camp at Lazy F this summer who had never read the Bible and did not have their own. It is far more common for students to have Bibles they are not inspired to read and understand. Students have a hard time finding books of the Bible, even understanding basic things like Old and New Testament. It is not enough for our churches to give young people Bibles, they need to educate them on how to read them. When these same students run into others in college who are more familiar with the Bible; they are easily persuaded to ideological beliefs because they lack the tools to understand the foundations of what they learned at our churches. 

2. A Basic Understanding of Christian Theology 

While this often happens as part of Confirmation, most churches hold confirmation classes for students while they are in Middle School and are just beginning to conceptualize things abstractly. Returning to theological topics during high school, and relating them to their lives, is critically important. 

3. A Basic Understanding of United Methodism 

Many of our students are proud to be United Methodist but this pride is not always grounded in an understanding of our faith tradition or even an awareness of John Wesley and his methods or thought. Even a basic understanding of the church and the way we connect to each other today would help to give them tools to know how they can make it their church (and effect positive change within the structure). Its great that many of our students love their local church and/or one of the camps they attend. But most of them will move away at some point and be lost to us if they know as much about the UMC as they do another denomination. 

4. A Basic Understanding of Practical Theology 

While it is great when our students have a good grounding in their faith, we also need to help them to think for themselves. The most practical way I have discovered to get students to think about the basic principles of Christianity is by using the world around us as a chalkboard. Youth groups should regularly discuss current affairs and be encouraged to ask what would Jesus want me to do in a variety of situations. This is also a good way of reinforcing that God calls us to use our heads along with our hearts in striving to be faithful disciples. 

With all this in mind, here are a couple of curriculi you may wish to use and/or review. These are not resources that will fit every group or situation; nor is it an exhaustive list. If you have suggestions that have worked well for you, I would be happy to hear about them and hope you would share them with us!