| abstract |
The purpose of the project is to examine the methods of teaching the Bible for children who attend military churches. Children who attend military churches are exposed to poor educational environments and this is due to the fact that they have no choice but to move every time their parents are relocated. Also, military churches are predominantly focused on the senior soldiers, meaning that the education of kindergartens and children are often less prioritized or sometimes neglected. This can be seen in the statistics of low numbers of Bible teachers and pastors for children. Recognizing that this is a major problem, I have studied the methods to effectively teach the Bible for children who attend military churches.
The text that I used was 'Tong Bible for Children' and I set aside two years to practice this with children. This project reports on the methods that were used to teach the Old Testament for one year and then the New Testament for another year.
One of the teaching methods used was 'Reading the Bible' which is part of the Tong Sermon program. This method stresses that although listening to sermons is important, it is essential to read the Bible using one's own voice. The following steps were taught: first, to read the Bible out loud. Second, to record the reading onto one's mobile phone and post it on a group chat. Third, to read the Bible together as a community. Fourth, to compliment and encourage one another to continue. The purpose of such steps were to create an atmosphere of reading together and to make the Bible reading enjoyable.
Another step I expected from the children was to think about the stories within the Bible and to reproduce the Tong Bible story. For example, a section was made specifically to study the story of Moses in the Pentateuch within the Old Testament. The six categories that emerged were: 'The Law of Creation', 'Follow the Path of Exodus', 'The Law of Food', 'The Law of Meeting', 'The Law of Obedience', and 'The Law of Fair Distribution.' The overall aim of this method was to encourage children to embrace the whole Bible as One Story and to consider the Heart of God. The motivation of conducting this study was to provide practical help that is active and systematic to children in military churches
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