Let’s get organized!
The most critical part of the Passport journey is gaining understanding of the content available to you and organizing it for yourself in a way that meets your group’s specific circumstances and priorities.
In order to help you with this process, we’ve put together some information that will guide you as you make decisions.
But honestly, it’s really as easy as 1,2,3!
STEP 1: UNDERSTAND the 8 content areas
So here’s the deal. It all boils down to the 8 content areas:
{Here’s a little video tutorial to help with that}
- SHARE – every year of Passport curriculum includes a kid-sized gospel presentation that prioritizes a different aspect of the Gospel:
- Friends with God {Latin America} – we’re created to be in a relationship with God
- Gospel Threads {Africa} – basic tenants of Christianity (and how this compares to Islam)
- God’s Big True Story {Europe} – the storyline and Hero of the Bible
- The Joy Project {Asia} – knowing God and being in a relationship with him is a joy!
- MAP – Kids can’t care about the nations, unless they know who and where the nations are; so this section is chock full of activities and games designed to help kids learn the countries of the world
- PRAY – Imagine this: EVERY year, kids pray for EVERY country in a continent; complete the series of continents, and kids will have prayed for nearly EVERY country in the world!
- SERVE – let’s be doers of the Word, not hearers only
- God is Creator – learn about the people, animals, and physical features of each continent
- God is Provider – God provides for his people, often through his church
- God is Ruler – Learn about the primary religions of the world, as well as unreached people groups
- God is Savior – Missionary stories of life on mission
STEP 2: PRIORITIZE your goals
Begin by asking yourself some questions. Your answers to these questions will help you determine which content to choose.
- Will we do this over the summer or during the school year? How often will we meet? How much time do we have to spend on each lesson?
- What are our priorities? Are they more educational or spiritual?
- Are we prioritizing a fun experience with the content or are we prioritizing academics?
Your answers to these questions should guide you and help you as you make content choices. For example, if the primary objective is for students to grow in their ability to share the gospel and pray for the nations, then focus on the following sections: PRAY, SHARE, SERVE. If your priority is academic, then spend time on MAP, God is Creator, and God is Provider. If your priority is that you want your program to be fun and experiential, then MAP, God is Creator, God is Provider sections, and SERVE sections offer lots of hands-on activities.
STEP 3: BUILD your program week by week
Yeah, so here’s the Bottom line: based on the time you have available and the priorities you have for your group of kids, choose what you use!
- Go to Learning Community.
- Click on your continent of choice.
- Then Click on a section in the sidebar and browse the content from that section.
Here is an example of how you might fill a 1 1/2 hour class time:
- 5-10 min: Introduce new country(ies) with country cards, classroom maps, info from Prayercast website
- 10-15 min: Present portion of gospel presentation and provide opportunities for students to practice.
- 10-15 min: Memory verse game/activity
- 30 min: Featured activity – Map it, God is Creator, Provider, etc.
- 15 min: Pray; stamp blue passport books
- 5 min: Clean up
SAMPLE SYLLABUS:
The following is an example of how you can organize a year’s worth of lessons using elements from all 8 blocks. Note: the featured activity is being driven by the pattern in the Featured Section of blocks: 4 weeks – Map It; 3 weeks – God is Creator, 3 weeks – God is Provider, 3 weeks – God is Ruler, 3 weeks – God is Savior. Material from the Share and Pray blocks is included every week, and projects from the Serve block are included as desired. Content from the other five blocks is interspersed throughout the year in the Topic section. 
Another way to organize the content from all 8 blocks is included below. Note: Other than beginning with mapping activities the first 4 weeks, the featured country(ies) drive the corresponding activity. For example, when Russia is the featured country, pray for Russia, choose the Russian nesting dolls project, fix a traditional Russian food, and/or content from Window on the World – Russia. If a country-specific activity is not available, fill in with any other available content that is of interest to you.
Here’s the thing… there’s really no wrong way to do this. Both of the above schedules guide you through completing the Gospel presentation, memory verses, and praying through and stamping all of the countries of Europe. Use either syllabus above as starting places for adding in the additional content blocks.
Ready to build your own Passport experience? Download the blank syllabus provided and lead your group on your own individualized Passport journey!
(Note: circle the block of content covered each week under the Section column.)
