10 March 2014
Helping young people navigate the Bible
Why bother with the Bible? Can we trust it? What difference does
it make to life today? Navigate is a free resource designed to help
teenagers explore these questions and engage with the Bible.
Produced in partnership between the Methodist Church and Bible
Society, Navigate is designed for youth leaders to use with 11-15
year-olds as a basic introduction to the Bible.
"As Christians we take for granted that we should read the Bible,
but we often don't ask why or consider the challenges it presents,"
said Methodist Youth President Tamara Wray. "This course is a
fantastic introduction for young people to the most world-changing,
exciting and significant book the world has ever seen."
The five interactive sessions, each with an easy-to-use session
plan, contain discussions, quizzes, creative and reflective
activities as well as five short animations following the journey
of Bob as he asks questions about the Bible.
Bible
Society has recently conducted research which showed that 80
per cent of parents - 'religious' or not - thought it was important
for their children to know Bible stories and 65% of parents thought
that Sunday school teachers or church leaders should read Bible
stories to their children. However, a third of 15 year olds
indicated that they have not read, seen or heard the Nativity
story. This is why Bible Society has launched the Pass It On campaign to encourage parents and
children to engage with Bible stories.
James Catford, Group Chief Executive of Bible Society, said, "Our
research indicates that the Bible's brilliant and engaging stories
could be lost to future generations unless people take action. The
Bible's contribution to our culture - language, literature, the
visual arts and music - is immense. It doesn't matter who you are
or where you come from. The Bible enriches life, and every child
should have the opportunity to experience it. The Navigate course
is a great way of doing that."
Available to download for free, each session outline contains all
the information and resources needed and are accompanied by short
videos. For those working offline, a DVD (priced £2.50 plus
postage) of the resources can be pre-ordered from Methodist
Publishing online or by phoning 0845 017 8220.
Notes:
1. High resolution stills from the Navigate animations can be
downloaded here.
2. A high resolution photo of Tamara Wray can be downloaded here.