God the Father, Son, and Spirit is for us and with us, wherever we are and whatever we do. God is also for others — in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our churches, and all around the world. That is news worth sharing!

Why is Witness right for teachers and learners?
A two-year, undated semester structure gives Witness a distinct advantage in today's churches. Since Sunday school is the only place where many children hear Bible stories, repeating key themes and stories every two years is critical for biblical literacy. Over several years even children who attend inconsistently have a good chance of experiencing the richness of the whole salvation story, adding a layer of depth with each encounter.

Witness Is Easy for Teachers
Today's Witness is designed for teachers who are committed to nurturing learners' faith but have limited preparation time. The Teacher Guide includes a helpful planning chart at the beginning of each session, plenty of background information, easy-to-follow session pages, and lots of tips throughout. Bible backgrounds help teachers quickly understand the Bible story and its application for kids today. Everything teachers need is in the Teacher Guide with no additional training required.

Witness Is Engaging for Learners
Today's Witness is also designed with kids in mind. Colorful learner resources to use in class and share at home make learning about God's love fun. Hearing the salvation story told with a different age-appropriate Bible story each of 40 weeks a year gives children a rich survey of God's word. The know, grow, and show goals for each session are realistic and kid-friendly. And conversations about Faith Traits in Bible times and today help guide learners' explorations of what it means to be Jesus' disciples.


Theme and Goals

Theme

As God's children, young and old, teachers and learners, we are witnesses to God's action in the world. Our salvation story is a story of God's gifts of Word, faith, and service. Each of these gifts functions as both meaningful connection and joyful invitation.

Word connects us with the biblical story and invites us to use our minds to learn, make good choices, and communicate with others.

Faith connects us with God's family and invites us to explore and affirm our identity as the church.

Service connects us with our sisters and brothers, using Jesus as our model, and invites us to act lovingly for them.

Every session has three clearly stated goals — know, grow, and show — that carry out the Witness theme and broaden both teachers' and learners' understanding of the story. The goals match the characteristics of a witness and the job of witnessing.

A witness is someone who

• KNOWS the Word,
• GROWS in Faith, and
• SHOWS Service.

To witness is to respond to God's gifts of Word, faith, and service:

We share the Word.

The story of God's salvation through Jesus engages us in choices, judgments, and priorities that are shaped by the good news.

We express faith.

We are equipped to be members of God's family as we worship, pray, praise, and practice behaviors and attitudes that identify us as disciples.

We live service.

God's never-ending love energizes us to act in love for others.

What are Graces and Faith Traits?
Believers who accept God's gifts of Word, faith, and service also experience the gifts of God's Graces: love, trust, courage, and hope. And with the inspiration of Bible characters, the guidance of the Spirit, and the help of others who support us, we develop the following Faith Traits that strengthen us to be disciples:

• Love manifests itself as the Faith Traits of generosity, kindness, humility, compassion, empathy, respect, and thankfulness.
• Trust appears as the Faith Traits of cooperation, loyalty, obedience, boldness, and reverence.
• Courage shows itself as the Faith Traits of responsibility, self-discipline, perseverance, forgiveness, justice, honesty, and wisdom.
• Hope shines forth as the Faith Traits of harmony, stewardship, patience, peace, and joy.

A unique feature of Witness is the introduction of Faith Traits. Each session relates one Faith Trait to a Bible character and provides one or more activities that develop the trait in learners, during the Sunday school session, and at home.

How does a Witness Core session work?
A Witness semester includes 15 Core sessions. The Teacher Guide for every Core session follows the same five-page format: two pages of teacher preparation helps and three pages of step-by-step activities.

First page:

The first page of each of the 15 Core sessions provides an overview of what will happen in 60 minutes of class time together.

Second page:

The second teacher preparation page includes an insightful Bible Background and possibly a Bible story "Factoid." An Age-Level Connection paragraph helps teachers relate the three (KNOW, GROW, SHOW) learner goals to the needs and abilities of the learners. Discover additional segments that nurture teachers in the form of a Teacher Prayer for personal devotion and a Question for Reflection to guide teachers' own growth in faith.

Third page:

"Ready for the Story" welcomes young witnesses into the group and into God's family.

Fourth page:

In "Explore the Story" learners do just that — use their senses to discover what the Bible has to say to them.

Fifth page:

"Live the Story" activities take Bible learners beyond the classroom in age-appropriate ways.

Learner Resources are referenced throughout. For Ages 2-3, Pre-K/K, Grades 1-2, and Grades 3-4 these resources are sets of 15 nested leaflets and two sticker pages explored in class and taken home each week; for Grades 5-6 and 7-8 these Learner Resources are booklets that reinforce the learning in class.

How does a Witness Bonus session work?
The five Bonus sessions in each Witness course offer theme-based learning opportunities in a shorter, particularly flexible format. Bonus sessions offer the same set of categories represented by different Bible stories in each semester. The categories are:

• Jesus' Teachings: A look at one or more of the basics Jesus taught
• Old Testament/New Testament Connections: Comparisons and contrasts between related Old and New Testament texts
• Field Trip: An opportunity to explore a space outside of the classroom
• Seasonal Preparations: A session about Advent (Semester 1) or Lent (Semester 2)
• Worship: Time to investigate faith practices and worship styles

Bonus sessions can be plugged into the schedule at any time. The Sunday school coordinator should coordinate group plans, especially related to Seasonal Preparations. But individual teachers might consider using Bonus sessions on a day when their time is somewhat limited or they are looking for experiential learning with a different pace.

First page:

The first page of each Bonus session gets teachers and kids ready to learn. Pre-class preparation helps for the teacher and one or more "Ready for the Story" activities for kids launches the Bible story investigations.

Second page:

Page 2 provides "Explore the Story" and "Live the Story" options for digging into the Bible story and making life applications.

Bonus Learner Resources are reproduced from the Teacher Guide and Teacher Class Kit. The learner resource for the bonus sessions has two parts, neither of which is part of the core learner resource (leaflets or a booklet). Each bonus session has one reproducible page printed in the teacher guide and one reproducible sheet found in the teacher class kit.