One Size Really Does Fit All: Adapting ABC to Your Congregation

One of the unique aspects of Answers Bible Curriculum (ABC) is that it’s for the entire church, from preschool right through adult. Each group learns the same thing each week at varying levels of depth, allowing families to easily talk about what they’ve learned.

But congregations differ in size and how they meet and break up, so how can you implement ABC in your church if it doesn’t run exactly how the curriculum is laid out? Here are three scenarios we’re commonly asked about.

1. Our church is small so I teach 2nd–6th grade. Which age unit should I teach?

   Pick an age unit somewhere in the middle of the two groups and teach that. You will likely need to modify it just a bit to meet the unique needs of the children above and below that age group. Perhaps divide the children into a younger and older category for games and crafts to ensure you have something planned that is at their level. Pick discussion questions aimed towards the younger children and some more difficult ones directed towards the older children.

2. Our adult Sunday school has a large group meeting, and then breaks into small discussion groups. Can ABC be adapted for that?

   Certainly! With a little creativity, ABC is flexible enough to be adapted to however your church meets. In this particular instance, you can do the teaching part as a large group and then break up into smaller groups to discuss the application section of the material.

3. We started ABC with just our middle schoolers, and now we love it and want to implement it throughout the whole church. What can we teach the middle schoolers while the rest of the church “catches up” to where they are in the curriculum so everyone is on the same page in scope and sequence?

   We suggest getting a different, shorter curriculum to use with that specific group while the rest of the church catches up to the same place in the curriculum (usually this is just for 4–8 weeks). Three suggestions for a short, but powerful, curriculum include Foundations, Demolishing Strongholds, or Answers Academy. All of these curriculums are available at AnswersBookstore.com.

For more examples of how to adapt Answers Bible Curriculum to your needs, visit our scheduling and flexibility page.