We have been using Orange Curriculum at our church for about four years and we have several reasons why this has been such a valuable resource for our staff, volunteers, parents, and kids/students.

Staff Benefits

My wife and I are the full-time family ministry staff at our church.  My wife oversees Children’s Ministry (birth-5th grade), and I oversee the Middle School and High School Ministries.  Orange Curriculum provides us with a great scope and cycle for our entire family ministry.  We have cohesive goals, strategies, and research that helps us move our kids through each phase of life from birth through graduation.  Orange Curriculum is based on one priority (Love God); three relational motives (Loving God through Wonder; Loving Life through Discovery; Loving Others with Passion); and nine core insights (Design, Image, Connection, Faith, Transformation, Truth, Restoration, Compassion, and Community).  This format allows us as a family ministry to build a solid biblical foundation in kids’ lives and prepare them to begin applying God’s Word to their lives in youth ministry. Here is a link for these resources: Orange Student Ministry Scope and Cycle.

Orange Curriculum also provides us with helpful resources to enhance our leadership and set us up for success in ministry.  As Orange subscribers, we have access to Orange Specialists who help answer any questions that may come up.  Along with the actual lesson plans, we also receive teaching tips, worship suggestions, Spotify playlists, presentation graphics and videos, audio teaching files, social media graphics, daily devotionals, games, and parent and volunteer resources.  As a leader in ministry, I feel fully equipped and prepared to lead our students, parents, and volunteers from the many downloadable files that Orange provides for us.

Volunteer Benefits

Our volunteers love using Orange Curriculum because it provides clear goals, information, and resources to help them succeed while leading.  Each week, there is an email template to use as you communicate to your leaders about the lesson for the week.  This also includes a leader devotional to inspire your volunteers with the scripture and lesson plan.  The leader guide provides your volunteers with prep information including the main point, scripture passages, lesson goal, and insights for relating to students in that particular phase of life.  The leader guide also has questions and activities to help students learn, discuss, and apply each lesson to their lives.  This information is also accessible through an app for leaders to use on their phones for extra convenience.

Parent Benefits

One of the main strategies for Orange is to help parents be the spiritual leaders in their kids’ lives.  They recognize the influence and impact that parents have.  Helping them continue faith conversations at home is a huge priority.  This is done through something called the Parent Cue.  Each teaching series has a Parent Cue document to help parents leverage simple everyday activities throughout their week to have faith conversations with their kids.  In addition to this document, parents can also access free resources through the Parent Cue app, podcast, and blog.  You can share these additional resources with your parents without a subscription to the Orange Curriculum.  Here is a link to parent resources: Orange Parent Cue

Kid/Student Benefits

Orange Curriculum has been successful in teaching our kids and students from the Bible.  Each phase of childhood/adolescence centers around three basic truths for kids/students to learn.  Each of those truths is based on loving God, loving others, and loving yourself.  Orange Curriculum provides application activities for students to actually live out those truths throughout the week.  As a leader and a parent, I love to see our kids/students share stories about how they experienced God in their everyday faith experience.  I love seeing my daughter memorizing scripture and retelling the Bible stories and concepts that she is learning at church.  Orange Curriculum helps our students develop an authentic faith, sexual integrity, technological responsibility, and healthy habits within each phase of life.

From reading this article, it is clear that I have a lot of positive information to share about Orange Curriculum.  It has been an amazing resource as a leader in ministry but also as a parent who desires to lead my own kids to know and follow Jesus.  It is the most complete curriculum that I have used or seen in my 15+ ministry career.  However, if I had to come up with any negative reviews, I would say that from a youth ministry perspective, this curriculum is not something that I would use in order to teach specific Bible stories or to take students through the entire narrative of God’s redemption plan.  When kids grow up learning from Orange, the curriculum for birth through 5th grade does a great job of building a solid foundation of biblical stories and concepts but the youth ministry curriculum typically focuses on teaching themes and making the Bible relevant and engaging within today’s culture. 

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Andy Juvinall has been serving in youth ministry for 15+ years and especially loves junior high ministry! He is also a DYM Author and enjoys encouraging other youth workers. Andy and his wife Melissa have two young kids (Maggie and Levi) and love serving in family ministry together at their church! If being a youth pastor wasn’t an option, Andy would most likely be a competitive eater or screaming in a rock band.

Instagram: @andy_juvinall | Twitter: @andyjuvinall | Facebook: @andy.juvinall | Email: andyjuvinall@gmail.com