Creating First Communion Curriculum

Yesterday was the last day of the 3 week First Communion class that I created.  I think that it went well; next week, we will celebrate the first communion of 3-4 children.

When I first started as the Synod Appointed Minister at Faith Lutheran in Bristol, TN, I noticed that one child wasn't taking part in communion, but other children of all ages were.  I asked his mom if there was a reason, and she said she wanted him to have first communion instruction before participating fully.  I could respect that, but I wasn't sure that it should be me.  Still, I started thinking about how we would do that.

I assumed that there are resources out there for people like me who are leading such a class for the first time.  As much as I can tell, there are not.  There are lots of books explaining communion on a level that small children can understand, but there isn't any curriculum that I've been able to find.  And more important, I haven't been able to find any sort of teacher's guide.  I wanted something that said:  On day one, do this, discuss this, and here are some Bible passages.  On day two, do this, discuss this, and here are some Bible passages.

I am part of a Facebook group of ELCA clergy, and a few months ago, they had a thread that talked about getting children ready for first communion.  The people who contributed to the thread had some great ideas, so I cut and pasted them into a document.  I started thinking about how I'd adapt them to my context.  And thus, I came up with an idea for a shorter kind of program, just a few weeks, to help children understand what we're doing.

I've been taking notes about what I said and did, and I'll polish it, and give it to my contact at the Synod, which will be part of my internship.  My internship director will post it to several website resources.  Even if it's not useful to any other person, it will be useful to me, should I need to remember what I did and why.

I do realize that many churches have moved away from this kind of instruction.  It makes me wonder about how we do Confirmation in the larger church--and how very small churches like Faith Lutheran can do Confirmation well.  I know that there's a lot more in the way of curriculum out there--or is there?  I used to think that we had lots of First Communion resources.

I think parents have a hunger for better instruction, and they should be able to expect the leaders of their church to do that.  I also realize that church leaders are expected to do lots and lots, especially if it's a small church with no real staff.  I am in a weird position, a clearly temporary position where many of the activities I'd be doing as a full-time, permanent person are not expected of me.  Creating curriculum makes me happy, and I'm glad to have time to do it.