What is the Student Ministries Curriculum Plan?

The Rise Curriculum is a six-year curriculum map meant to engage students with the Bible within their context of a broken world. We believe God has sufficiently provided a book to teach us godliness, and it is our responsibility to communicate his Word in a clear, compelling, and creative way.

We understand that this curriculum will not create godly students. Yet, our hope that as we present these truths to students, they would grow in physical, emotional, social, and spiritual maturity. We pray that God raises up a generation of marketplace workers, administrators, educators, trade workers, pastors, and missionaries.

What are the goals of the curriculum?

Gospel-Centered Worldview – Our hope is to teach the gospel and biblical doctrine in a way that provides a framework for students to see the world.

Christ-Centered Bible Literacy – We want students to know their Bibles, but not for the sake of knowing their Bible. Our prayer is that students see and engage Christ in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Counter-Cultural Lifestyle – We want to speak into subjects that students are dealing with in their regular lives. This is not for the sake of being relevant. Rather, it is so students gain the wisdom to navigate a tragically broken world with grace and truth.

Life-Long Habits – We know that students can’t depend on our ministry or the church to feed them for the rest of their life. In light of that, our goal is to help them create rhythms to practice the Christian life on their own as they head into the workforce or college. This curriculum will build in practices to help students do just that.

Fourfold Curriculum

 Story- God has written a story through his Word, and that story’s main character, plot, and climax is the person and work of Jesus. In the Rise Curriculum, we will cover the entire story line of Scripture as we see Jesus throughout. We will zoom out at times and zoom in at times while continually seeking to understand God’s Word and follow Jesus in his commandments. 

Doctrine - Within this story is the theology that informs us of who God is, what he has done, and how we should worship him. Sometimes it is hard to understand these doctrines by only looking at one passage. Throughout church history, theologians have systematized principles taught in the Bible so that we can better understand and worship God. If a student stays in our ministry for all six years, he or she will have been taught eight-core doctrines of the Christian faith. 

Wisdom - As we read God’s story and understand right doctrine, we find help to navigate a broken, complex world. Nothing about life is simple, and the Bible never makes it out to be. In the Rise Curriculum, we seek to apply biblical truth to students’ lives. This thread of the curriculum will discuss worldview, ethics, culture, depression, and other topics that our teenagers to engage with. 

 Practice – The overarching goal of this truth is not mere information. Our hope is that students will prepare and practice godliness where they are and in what they do. In the Rise Curriculum, we will push students toward living out their faith.