Elimu ya Kikristo — Sehemu ya 9: Shughuli za Kujifunza BibliaChristian Education — Unit 9: Bible Learning Activities

Mbinu saba za Sehemu ya 7 na ya 8 zina nguvu, lakini zote zinatumia njia moja: maneno. Hotuba ni maneno. Majadiliano ni maneno. Hadithi ni maneno. Swali ni maneno. Hata kujifunza kwa uzoefu ni maneno pamoja na tendo ambalo mwanafunzi analieleza baadaye kwa — maneno. Mwalimu wa Elimu ya Kikristo aliye na maneno peke yake anakosa njia nyingine kadhaa ambazo Mungu mwenyewe amekuwa akizitumia kuwafundisha watu wake kwa miaka elfu nne. Mawe katika mto. Mlo ulioliwa watu wakiwa wamesimama, pamoja na mboga chungu. Wimbo ulioimbwa baada ya Bahari ya Shamu kufunga. Gombo lililoliwa na nabii ili kuufundisha mji.The seven methods of Units 7 and 8 are powerful, but they all use the same channel: words. Lecture is words. Discussion is words. Story is words. Question is words. Even experiential learning is words plus an action that the learner reports back in — words. The Christian Education teacher who has only words is missing several other channels through which God himself has been teaching his people for four thousand years. Stones in a riverbed. A meal eaten standing up with bitter herbs. A song sung after the Red Sea closed. A scroll eaten by a prophet to teach a city.

BWANA hakuwahi kutegemea maneno peke yake. Aliwapa Israeli vitu vya kushika, milo ya kula, nyimbo za kuimba, maigizo ya kutenda na kazi za mikono za kutengeneza. Aliwaamuru watu wayafunge maneno yake mikononi mwao na malangoni mwao, na kukifundisha kizazi kijacho kupitia vitu ambavyo mikono yao ilikuwa imevigusa. Agano la Kale lote ni kitabu cha kiada cha kile tunachokiita sasa shughuli za kujifunza Biblia: kitu chochote ambacho mwanafunzi anafanya, anaona, anasikia au anatengeneza kinacholileta Neno la Mungu kupitia njia nyingine zaidi ya sikio peke yake.The LORD never relied on words alone. He gave Israel objects to handle, meals to eat, songs to sing, dramas to enact, and crafts to make. He commanded the people to bind his words on their hands and on their gates and to teach the next generation by the things their hands had touched. The whole Old Testament is a textbook of what we now call Bible learning activities: anything the learner does, sees, hears, or makes that brings the Word of God into a channel besides the ear alone.

Vifungu sita vinafuata. Kifungu I kinauliza shughuli ni nini na kwa nini ni muhimu kwa kila umri. Vifungu II, III na IV vinashughulikia makundi matatu makubwa — somo la kitu halisi, maigizo na kutenda, na muziki na kukariri — pamoja na mfano mmoja tajiri wa Biblia kwa kila kundi. Kifungu V kinashughulikia uchoraji, ramani, chati na kazi za mikono kama familia ya nne ya shughuli. Kifungu VI kinaziunganisha familia hizi na kuuliza mwalimu anachagua vipi kati yake. Sehemu hii yote ni maandalizi ya Sehemu ya 10, ambapo mahubiri ya watoto yatakusanya kila mbinu na kila shughuli katika dakika tano zilizojaa kwa ajili ya wanafunzi wadogo kabisa walio chumbani.Six sections follow. Section I asks what activities are and why they matter for every age. Sections II, III, and IV take three large categories — the object lesson, drama and enactment, and music and memorization — with one rich biblical example for each. Section V handles drawing, mapping, charts, and crafts as a fourth family of activities. Section VI brings the families together and asks how the teacher chooses among them. The whole unit is preparation for Unit 10, where the children's sermon will gather every method and every activity into five concentrated minutes for the smallest learners in the room.

Shughuli ya kujifunza Biblia ni kitu chochote kinacholileta somo ndani ya mwili wa mwanafunzi. Hotuba inaleta somo sikioni. Majadiliano yanaleta somo kinywani. Shughuli inaleta somo mkononi, machoni, katika sauti inayoimba, katika mguu unaotembea, katika kitu kilichotengenezwa ambacho mtoto anakwenda nacho nyumbani na kinakaa dirishani kwa mwaka mzima.A Bible learning activity is anything that brings the lesson into the body of the learner. The lecture brings the lesson into the ear. The discussion brings the lesson into the mouth. An activity brings the lesson into the hand, the eye, the singing voice, the moving foot, the made object that goes home with the child and sits on a windowsill for a year.

Sababu tatu zinaonyesha kwa nini shughuli ni muhimu. Kwanza, mwanafunzi ni mwili, si ubongo tu. Mungu hakuumba ubongo ndani ya chupa; aliumba mtu. Mwanafunzi aliyetumia mikono yake kushika kipande cha mkate usiotiwa chachu, au macho yake kufuatilia njia ya safari ya kimisionari ya Paulo, ameguswa kwa kina ambacho hotuba peke yake haiwezi kufikia. Pili, kumbukumbu ina milango mingi. Mstari uliokaririwa kwa wimbo hukumbukwa miaka ishirini baadaye wakati mstari uliokaririwa kimya umesahaulika. Ramani iliyochorwa kwa mkono wa mtoto mwenyewe hukumbukwa wakati ramani iliyoonyeshwa kwenye skrini imetoweka. Shughuli haichukui nafasi ya kufundisha; inaimarisha mafundisho ambayo tayari yametolewa. Tatu, masomo mengine hayawezi kuelezwa bila kuonyeshwa. Fundisho la upatanisho wa kibadala linafundishwa vizuri zaidi kwa mlo wa Pasaka, na ndiyo sababu hasa BWANA aliweka mlo wa Pasaka. Uaminifu wa Mungu katika agano lake unafundishwa vizuri zaidi kwa kukumbuka kuvuka kwa Yordani, na ndiyo sababu hasa BWANA aliamuru yale mawe.Three reasons make activities matter. First, the learner is a body, not a brain. God did not make a brain in a jar; he made a person. A learner who has used his hands to feel a piece of unleavened bread or his eyes to trace the route of Paul's missionary journey has been engaged at a depth the lecture alone cannot reach. Second, memory has many doors. The verse memorized in song is recalled twenty years later when the verse memorized in silence is forgotten. The map drawn by the child's own hand is remembered when the map shown on a screen is gone. The activity does not replace teaching; it deepens the teaching that has already been done. Third, some lessons cannot be told without being shown. The doctrine of substitutionary atonement is taught best by a Passover meal, which is exactly why the LORD instituted a Passover meal. The covenant faithfulness of God is taught best by a remembered crossing of the Jordan, which is exactly why the LORD commanded the stones.

Wakati mwingine husemwa kwamba shughuli ni za watoto tu. Kwa sehemu kubwa ni za watoto, kwa sababu watoto hujifunza vizuri zaidi kupitia miili yao na hisia zao. Lakini watu wazima pia hujifunza kupitia shughuli. Watu wazima watakumbuka safari ya kimisionari waliyoifanya kwa miaka arobaini. Watu wazima watakumbuka shajara ya maombi waliyoiandika kwa msimu mmoja. Watu wazima watakumbuka wimbo wa kiroho waliouimba kwenye mazishi wakati kila neno la kila hubiri waliloliwahi kulisikia limefifia. Mwalimu anayekataa kutumia shughuli na watu wazima anawatendea watu wazima kana kwamba wamekua na kuacha kuwa viumbe wa mwili na roho, jambo ambalo si kweli.It is sometimes said that activities are only for children. They are mostly for children, because children learn best through their bodies and their senses. But adults also learn from activity. Adults will remember the missions trip they took for forty years. Adults will remember the prayer journal they kept for one season. Adults will remember the hymn they sang at a funeral when every word of every sermon they have ever heard has faded. The teacher who refuses to use activities with adults is treating adults as if they had grown out of being made of body and soul, which they have not.

Onyo moja linahitajika. Shughuli si mbadala wa Neno la Mungu. Mwalimu anayejaza saa nzima kwa kazi za mikono na michezo na kusahau kufungua Biblia ameandaa sherehe, hajafundisha somo. Shughuli lazima daima itumikie kweli, isichukue nafasi yake. Lengo la somo, lililoandikwa katika Sehemu ya 6, ndilo bwana; shughuli ni mtumishi; kweli ni lile tufaha, na shughuli ni picha nyingine moja ya fedha ambamo tufaha linaonyeshwa.One warning is needed. An activity is not a substitute for the Word of God. The teacher who fills the hour with crafts and games and forgets to open the Bible has thrown a party, not taught a lesson. The activity must always serve the truth, not replace it. The aim of the lesson, written in Unit 6, is the master; the activity is the servant; the truth is the apple, and the activity is one more silver picture in which the apple is shown.

Yoshua 4 kuna somo la kitu halisi lililo zuri kuliko yote katika Agano la Kale. Waisraeli walikuwa wamevuka Yordani tu katika nchi kavu. Maji yalikuwa yamesimama kama chungu wakati makuhani waliobeba sanduku walisimama katikati ya mto. Mtoto wa mwisho alipokanyaga ukingo wa magharibi, BWANA alisema na Yoshua: "Twaeni watu kumi na wawili katika watu hawa, kila kabila mtu mmoja, mkawaamuru, mkisema, Tukueni mawe kumi na mawili hapa toka katikati ya Yordani, mahali pale miguu ya makuhani iliposimama imara, mkayavushe pamoja nanyi, na kuyaweka katika makao yenu, mtakapolala usiku huu" (Yoshua 4:2–3).Joshua 4 contains the most beautiful object lesson in the Old Testament. The Israelites had just crossed the Jordan on dry ground. The waters had heaped up while the priests carrying the ark stood in the riverbed. As the last child stepped onto the western shore, the LORD spoke to Joshua: "Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, and command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night" (Joshua 4:2–3).

Yoshua aliwachagua wale watu kumi na wawili nao wakatii. Kila kabila liliwakilishwa na jiwe moja. Kila mtu aliinama katika mto uliolowa maji, akashika jiwe, akalibeba begani mwake hadi Gilgali, ambapo mawe yalirundikwa kuwa ukumbusho. Kisha BWANA alisema maneno ambayo yameunda Elimu ya Kikristo tangu siku hiyo: "Ili jambo hili liwe ishara kati yenu, hapo watoto wenu watakapowauliza baba zao siku zijazo, wakisema, Ni nini maana yake mawe haya? Ndipo mtakapowaambia, Ni kwa sababu maji ya Yordani yalitindika mbele ya sanduku la agano la BWANA" (Yoshua 4:6–7).Joshua picked the twelve men and they obeyed. Each tribe was represented by a stone. Each man bent down in the wet riverbed, reached for a stone, and carried it on his shoulder to Gilgal, where they were piled in a memorial. Then the LORD spoke the line that has shaped Christian Education ever since: "That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD" (Joshua 4:6–7).

Angalia kila sehemu ya somo kamili la kitu halisi katika mistari hiyo. Kitu kilikuwa halisi — mawe kumi na mawili ya kweli kutoka mtoni wenyewe, si kielelezo, si picha. Kitu kilikuwa kinaonekana — kimerundikwa wazi huko Gilgali, mahali ambapo mtoto yeyote akipita angeyaona. Kitu kilizaa swali — watoto wangeuliza, Ni nini maana yake mawe haya? Bila swali, somo lingekuwa hotuba tena; pamoja na swali, watoto wenyewe wangefungua mlango wa kujifunza kwao. Na jibu walilotoa wazazi lilikuwa mahususi na la kihistoria — si funzo la jumla la maadili, bali hadithi halisi ya kile Mungu alichokifanya mahali pale pale. Kitu, kuonekana, swali, jibu mahususi. Sehemu nne; somo moja lililofanya kazi kwa vizazi vingi.Notice every element of a perfect object lesson in those verses. The object was real — twelve actual stones from the riverbed itself, not a model, not a picture. The object was visible — piled in the open at Gilgal, where any child walking past would see them. The object provoked a question — the children would ask, What mean these stones? Without the question, the lesson would be a lecture again; with the question, the children themselves would open the door of their own learning. And the answer the parents gave was specific and historical — not a general moral, but the actual story of what God had done at that exact place. Object, visibility, question, specific answer. Four elements; one lesson that worked for generations.

Mwalimu wa Elimu ya Kikristo anayetumia somo la kitu halisi hujifunza muundo huo huo. Leta kitu halisi kila inapowezekana. Kifanye kionekane kwa kila mwanafunzi. Acha kitu kizae swali, hata kama mwalimu atalazimika kulipanda swali hilo darasani. Kisha jibu swali hilo kwa kweli mahususi ya Maandiko, si kwa funzo la maadili lisilo wazi. Mkate usiotiwa chachu ulioletwa mezani ni somo bora zaidi la kitu halisi kuhusu utakatifu wa Mungu kuliko aya kumi kuhusu chachu. Punje ya ngano iliyoshikwa juu kati ya vidole vya mwalimu ni somo bora zaidi kuhusu ufufuo kuliko hoja ndefu kuhusu kifo na uzima. Kitu chenyewe, mkononi, kitahubiri kile ambacho hakuna hubiri linaloweza kuhubiri.The Christian Education teacher who uses an object lesson learns the same architecture. Bring a real object whenever possible. Make it visible to every learner. Let the object provoke a question, even if the teacher has to plant the question in the room. Then answer the question with a specific, scriptural truth, not a vague moral. A loaf of unleavened bread brought to the table is a better object lesson on the holiness of God than ten paragraphs about leaven. A grain of wheat held up between the teacher's fingers is a better object lesson on the resurrection than a long argument about death and life. The thing itself, in the hand, will preach what no sermon can preach.

Masomo mengine hayawezi kuelezwa tu. Ni lazima yatendwe. Mlo wa Pasaka ndiyo shughuli ya kujifunza Biblia iliyodumu muda mrefu zaidi na iliyobuniwa kwa uangalifu zaidi katika historia ya watu wa Mungu. Kutoka 12 inaeleza jinsi ulivyowekwa usiku ule watu wa Mungu walipotoka Misri. Walimchoma mwana-kondoo. Waliweka damu kwenye miimo ya milango. Walikula wakiwa wamesimama, viuno vyao vimefungwa, viatu miguuni mwao, fimbo mikononi mwao — tayari kuondoka. Walikula mikate isiyotiwa chachu kwa sababu hawakuwa na muda wa kuuacha unga uumuke. Walikula mboga chungu kwa sababu maisha yao huko Misri yalikuwa machungu. Kila tendo la mlo lilibeba maana. Kila maana ilifungamanishwa na wakati fulani katika wokovu ambao Mungu alikuwa ameutenda hivi punde.Some lessons cannot be told. They have to be done. The Passover meal is the longest-running, most carefully designed Bible learning activity in the history of God's people. Exodus 12 records its institution on the night God's people came out of Egypt. They roasted the lamb. They put blood on the doorposts. They ate standing up, with their loins girt, their shoes on their feet, their staves in their hands — ready to leave. They ate unleavened bread because they had no time to let the bread rise. They ate bitter herbs because their lives in Egypt had been bitter. Every action of the meal carried a meaning. Every meaning was tied to a moment in the salvation God had just performed.

Kisha Mungu alifanya jambo la kushangaza kuliko yote. Aliamuru mlo huo urudiwe kila mwaka, milele, kwa vitu vile vile, kwa mpangilio ule ule, tarehe ile ile ya kalenda, hadi mwisho wa nyakati. "Na itakuwa, watoto wenu watakapowauliza, Ni nini maana yake huduma hii? Ndipo mtakaposema, Ni dhabihu ya pasaka ya BWANA, kwa kuwa yeye alizipita nyumba za wana wa Israeli huko Misri" (Kutoka 12:26–27). Ni maneno yale yale ya Yoshua 4. Watoto wangeuliza. Wazazi wangejibu. Mlo wenyewe ungekuwa swali lililofungua jibu.And then God did the most striking thing of all. He commanded that the meal be repeated every year, forever, with the same elements, in the same order, on the same calendar date, until the end of the age. "And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt" (Exodus 12:26–27). The same line as Joshua 4. The children would ask. The parents would answer. The meal itself would be the question that opened the answer.

Angalia kwa nini maigizo na kutenda ni muhimu sana katika kufundisha. Pasaka haikueleza tu Kutoka; iliwaweka watoto ndani ya Kutoka. Mtoto aliyesimama mezani akiwa na mkate ambao haukupata muda wa kuumuka alikuwa, kwa saa moja, mtoto wa Kutoka, mtoto aliyekombolewa. Alihisi katika mwili wake kile ambacho mababu zake walihisi katika miili yao. Fundisho la ukombozi halikupewa kwake kama wazo; alipewa kama uzoefu ambao angeweza kuukumbuka kila mwaka kwa maisha yake yote. Kufikia wakati alipokuwa babu, Pasaka ilikuwa imechorwa ndani yake mara nyingi sana hivi kwamba mlo wenyewe ulikuwa aina ya somo linaloendelea katika kila nyumba ya Kiyahudi duniani.Notice why drama and enactment matter so much for teaching. The Passover did not just describe the Exodus; it put the children inside the Exodus. The child standing at the table with bread that had no time to rise was, for an hour, a child of the Exodus, a child who had been delivered. He felt in his body what his ancestors had felt in their bodies. The doctrine of redemption was not given to him as an idea; it was given to him as an experience he could remember every year for the rest of his life. By the time he was a grandfather, the Passover had been impressed on him so many times that the meal itself was a kind of teaching unit running through every Jewish home in the world.

Mwalimu wa Elimu ya Kikristo hawezi kuweka maagizo mapya ya kanisa. Meza ya Bwana, tuliyopewa usiku ule kabla ya msalaba, ndiyo Pasaka inayoendelea ya Agano Jipya. Lakini mwalimu anaweza kutumia maigizo madogo kila wiki. Waache watoto wasimame na kuigiza kugawanyika kwa Bahari ya Shamu. Waache vijana waigize nafasi za Yusufu na ndugu zake na kuuhisi wakati ule wa msamaha. Waache watu wazima wasome kwa sauti hotuba ya Yoshua huko Shekemu na mmoja wao achague kwa niaba ya nyumba yake. Maigizo si michezo ya jukwaani; maigizo ni teolojia pamoja na mwili. Mwalimu anayeyatumia vizuri atawajenga wanafunzi ambao mafundisho yao ya ndani kabisa yanakumbukwa katika misuli yao, si akilini mwao tu.The Christian Education teacher cannot institute new ordinances. The Lord's Supper, given to us on the night before the cross, is the New Testament's continuing Passover. But the teacher can use small dramas every week. Have the children stand and act out the parting of the Red Sea. Have the youth play the parts of Joseph and his brothers and let them feel the moment of forgiveness. Have the adults read aloud the speech of Joshua at Shechem and let one of them choose for the household. Drama is not theater; drama is theology with the body included. The teacher who uses it well will form learners whose deepest doctrines are remembered in their muscles, not just in their minds.

Kati ya mbinu zote za kufundisha ambazo Mungu ametumia pamoja na watu wake, ile iliyodumu muda mrefu zaidi katika kumbukumbu ya mwanadamu ni wimbo. Maneno peke yake hufifia. Maneno yaliyowekwa katika muziki hudumu vizazi vingi. Hubiri la kwanza kabisa lililohubiriwa kumsifu BWANA, siku ile jeshi la Farao lilipozama, lilikuwa hubiri lililoimbwa. "Ndipo Musa na wana wa Israeli wakamwimbia BWANA wimbo huu, wakanena, wakisema, Nitamwimbia BWANA, kwa maana ametukuka sana; farasi na mpanda farasi amewatupa baharini" (Kutoka 15:1). Israeli wote waliimba. Miriamu aliwaongoza wanawake kwa matari na michezo. Ukombozi ulihubiriwa kwa njia pekee ambayo ukombozi wa taifa zima unaweza kuhubiriwa — na taifa zima, kwa sauti moja, kwa wimbo.Of all the methods of teaching God has used with his people, the one that has stuck longest in human memory is the song. Words alone fade. Words set to music last for generations. The first sermon ever preached in praise of the LORD, on the day Pharaoh's army drowned, was a sung sermon. "Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea" (Exodus 15:1). All Israel sang. Miriam led the women with timbrels and dances. The deliverance was preached the only way a national deliverance can be preached — by the whole nation, in unison, with melody.

BWANA alijua jinsi kumbukumbu inavyofanya kazi. Miaka arobaini baadaye, muda mfupi kabla Musa hajafa, aliwapa Israeli wimbo mwingine mmoja. Kumbukumbu la Torati 32 wakati mwingine huitwa Wimbo wa Musa; unafupisha hadithi nzima ya agano, historia nzima ya uasi wa Israeli, uaminifu wote wa BWANA. Naye BWANA akamwambia Musa, "Basi sasa jiandikieni wimbo huu, ukawafundishe wana wa Israeli; ukautie vinywani mwao, ili wimbo huu uwe shahidi kwangu juu ya wana wa Israeli" (Kumbukumbu la Torati 31:19). Angalia kitenzi. Ukautie vinywani mwao. Si ukautie vitabuni mwao. Si ukautie akilini mwao. Utie mahali ambapo maneno yanaweza kuimbwa, kurudiwa, kupitishwa kutoka kizazi kimoja hadi kingine. Kitabu kinaweza kupotea. Akili inaweza kusahau. Wimbo ulio kinywani hudumu.The LORD knew how memory works. Forty years later, just before Moses died, he gave Israel one more song. Deuteronomy 32 is sometimes called the Song of Moses; it sums up the whole covenant story, the whole history of Israel's rebellion, the whole faithfulness of the LORD. And the LORD said to Moses, "Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel" (Deuteronomy 31:19). Notice the verb. Put it in their mouths. Not put it in their books. Not put it in their minds. Put it in the place where words can be sung, repeated, passed from one generation to the next. A book can be lost. A mind can forget. A song in the mouth lasts.

Agano la Kale lote limejaa nyimbo zilizotiwa vinywani mwa watu wa Mungu. Zaburi ni nyimbo 150, zilizopewa kanisa katika kitabu kikubwa kuliko vitabu vingi vya manabii, kwa sababu BWANA alijua watu wake wangehitaji kuimba kile ambacho hawangeweza kukumbuka kila wakati. Hana aliimba. Mariamu aliimba. Malaika waliimba huko Bethlehemu. Paulo na Sila waliimba gerezani Filipi usiku wa manane. Mbingu zinaimba katika Ufunuo. Mwalimu wa Elimu ya Kikristo ambaye kamwe haimbi pamoja na wanafunzi anafundisha kinyume na kielelezo cha Biblia nzima.The whole Old Testament is filled with songs put into the mouths of God's people. The Psalms are 150 songs, given to the church in a volume bigger than most of the prophets, because the LORD knew his people would need to sing what they could not always remember. Hannah sang. Mary sang. The angels sang at Bethlehem. Paul and Silas sang in the Philippian jail at midnight. Heaven sings in Revelation. The Christian Education teacher who never sings with the learners is teaching against the pattern of the entire Bible.

Ndivyo ilivyo pia kwa kukariri. Mstari uliokaririwa utotoni ndio mstari unaoibuka moyoni akiwa na miaka sitini, wakati maisha ni magumu kuliko wakati wowote na hakuna Biblia chumbani. Mwalimu wa Elimu ya Kikristo anayeweka kukariri ndani ya somo — hata mstari mmoja kwa wiki, unaokaririwa pamoja na ishara za mikono kwa watoto, unaoimbwa kwa umri wowote, unaorudiwa na darasa zima kwa sauti moja — analitia Neno mahali ambapo haliwezi kupotea. Wimbo na mstari uliokaririwa karibu havigharimu chochote kufundisha, na vitadumu kuliko kila shughuli ya ujanja ambayo mwalimu angeweza kubuni. Mwalimu anayejifunza kuvitumia vizuri amepata mbinu ambayo imekuwa ikifanya kazi kwa kanisa tangu siku ile lilipoimba wimbo wa kwanza wa sifa kando ya bahari.The same is true of memorization. The verse memorized in childhood is the verse that surfaces in the heart at sixty years old when life is hardest and a Bible is not in the room. The Christian Education teacher who builds memorization into the lesson — even one verse a week, recited with motions for children, sung for any age, repeated by the whole class in unison — is putting the Word into a place where it cannot be lost. A song and a memorized verse cost almost nothing to teach, and they will outlast every clever activity the teacher could design. The teacher who learns to use them well has gained a method that has been working for the church since the day it sang the first hymn at the seaside.

Masomo mengine hukaa vizuri zaidi pale mwanafunzi ameyachora. Familia ya nne ya shughuli ni familia ya mikono kazini: kuchora, kuchora ramani, kutengeneza chati na kazi za mikono. Kila moja inachukua kweli iliyofika kama maneno na kuipitisha katika macho na mikono ya mwanafunzi hadi inatokea upande wa pili kama kitu ambacho mwanafunzi mwenyewe amekitengeneza. Kutengeneza ndiko kujifunza.Some lessons land best when the learner has drawn them. The fourth family of activities is the family of the hands at work: drawing, mapping, charting, and craft. Each of them takes a truth that arrived as words and presses it through the learner's eyes and hands until it comes out the other side as something the learner himself has made. The making is the learning.

Kuchora ndiyo rahisi zaidi katika familia hii na isiyotumika vya kutosha kuliko zote. Mtoto anayepewa karatasi na kuombwa achore siku ile Yesu alipotuliza dhoruba analazimika kuifikiria dhoruba. Analazimika kuchagua mashua itakuwa wapi, mawimbi yatakuwa makubwa kiasi gani, Yesu atasimama wapi, nyuso za wanafunzi zitaonekanaje. Kufikia mchoro unapokamilika, mtoto amefanya kazi ya kuiwazia picha nzima ambayo asingeweza kuifanya kwa kusikia tu. Watu wazima nao wanaweza kuchora — si picha kila mara, bali michoro ya muundo. Liombe darasa la watu wazima lichore muundo wa kanisa la Antiokia kutoka Matendo 11–13, nao watalifikiria andiko kwa bidii zaidi kuliko hotuba yoyote ingeweza kuwafanya wafikiri.Drawing is the simplest of the family and the most underused. A child handed a sheet of paper and asked to draw the day Jesus calmed the storm has to think about the storm. He has to choose where the boat will be, how big the waves will be, where Jesus will stand, what the disciples' faces will look like. By the time the drawing is finished, the child has done the work of imagining the scene that he could not have done by hearing it. Adults can draw too — not always pictures, but diagrams. Ask an adult class to draw the structure of the church at Antioch from Acts 11–13, and they will think harder about the text than any lecture could have made them think.

Kuchora ramani ni namna ya mtaalamu wa jiografia ya kuchora, nayo inaleta faida kubwa sana katika Elimu ya Kikristo. Mtoto aliyechora ramani yake mwenyewe ya safari za kimisionari za Paulo anakumbuka Antiokia, Ikonio, Listra na Derbe kwa namna ambayo mtoto aliyesikia tu majina yake hatakumbuka kamwe. Ramani ni halisi; zinaipa umbo hadithi ambayo vinginevyo inaelea hewani. Mwalimu anayeweka ramani ya nchi za Biblia ukutani na kuionyesha katika kila somo anafanya kwa jiografia ya wanafunzi kile ambacho wimbo hufanya kwa kumbukumbu yao: kugeuza kilichokuwa cha kinadharia kuwa kitu ambacho jicho linaweza kukipata.Mapping is the geographer's version of drawing, and it pays back enormous dividends in Christian Education. The child who has drawn his own map of Paul's missionary journeys remembers Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe in a way the child who has only heard them named never will. Maps are concrete; they give shape to a story that otherwise floats. The teacher who keeps a Bible-lands map on the wall and points to it during every lesson is doing for the learners' geography what the song does for their memory: turning what was abstract into something the eye can find.

Chati hufanya kazi kwa namna hiyo hiyo kwa wakati na muundo. Chati rahisi ya wafalme wa Israeli na Yuda, kando kwa kando, pamoja na jina la kila mfalme na jambo moja kumhusu, itakaa akilini mwa mwanafunzi kwa dakika ishirini kile ambacho miaka ishirini ya mahubiri huenda isingekiweka. Vizazi vya familia kutoka Mwanzo. Mistari ya wakati ya manabii. Ulinganisho wa Mathayo na Luka kando kwa kando. Kila moja huchukua muundo wa kinadharia wa Biblia na kuuweka mahali ambapo jicho linaweza kuuona wote kwa pamoja. Jicho huona kwa mifumo. Chati hulipa jicho mfumo wa kuona.Charts work the same way for time and structure. A simple chart of the kings of Israel and Judah, side by side, with each king's name and one fact about him, will fix into a learner's mind in twenty minutes what twenty years of preaching may not have fixed. Family trees from Genesis. Timelines of the prophets. Side-by-side comparisons of Matthew and Luke. Each of them takes the abstract structure of the Bible and lays it out where the eye can see it whole. The eye sees in patterns. The chart gives the eye a pattern to see.

Kazi za mikono huleta somo nyumbani. Mtoto aliyejenga hema dogo la kukutania kwa udongo wa mfinyanzi amelifikiria hema hilo. Kijana aliyekunja mashua ya karatasi na kuiita Mayflower wakati anajifunza historia ya Mahujaji (Pilgrims) amefanya kile ambacho hakuna hotuba ingeweza kufanya. Mtu mzima aliyenakili mstari wa Maandiko kwa mwandiko wake mwenyewe kwenye kadi na kuibandika juu ya sinki la jikoni ameuweka mstari huo mbele ya macho yake mwaka mzima. Hakuna kati ya kazi hizi za mikono iliyo ya kitaalamu. Hakuna kati yake iliyo lengo lenyewe. Kila moja ni mpini mdogo ambao kwa huo mwanafunzi anaweza kulishika somo muda mrefu baada ya mwalimu kurudi nyumbani.Crafts bring the lesson home. The child who has built a small clay tabernacle has thought about the tabernacle. The youth who has folded a paper boat and named it the Mayflower while studying Pilgrim history has done what no lecture could do. The adult who has copied a verse of Scripture in his own handwriting onto a card and pinned it above the kitchen sink has put the verse in front of his own eyes for the rest of the year. None of these crafts is sophisticated. None of them is the point in itself. Each of them is a small handle by which the learner can pick up the lesson long after the teacher has gone home.

Familia nne zimeelezwa: somo la kitu halisi, maigizo na kutenda, muziki na kukariri, na kazi za mikono. Mwalimu aliye na zote nne katika mkoba wake lazima achague, kwa namna ile ile alivyochagua kati ya mbinu saba za Sehemu ya 7 na ya 8. Uchaguzi huundwa na mambo matatu yale yale: somo, mwanafunzi na wakati.Four families have been laid out: the object lesson, drama and enactment, music and memorization, and the work of the hands. The teacher with all four in his kit must choose, the same way he chose among the seven methods of Units 7 and 8. The choice is shaped by the same three factors: the lesson, the learner, and the moment.

Somo bado linakuja kwanza. Kifungu kuhusu hekalu kinaweza kuhitaji kazi ya mikono (kujenga hema dogo la kukutania) au chati (kuchora nyua). Kifungu kuhusu wokovu kwa njia ya msalaba kinaweza kuhitaji kitu halisi (msalaba mdogo wa mbao unaogawiwa) au igizo (kusoma mazungumzo ya yule akida pale Kalvari). Kifungu kuhusu sifa kinaweza kuhitaji wimbo. Kifungu kuhusu kutekwa kwa Kanaani kinaweza kuhitaji ramani. Umbo la andiko mara nyingi huashiria umbo la shughuli, ikiwa mwalimu yuko makini. Shughuli inayolingana na andiko hugeuza andiko kuwa kitu ambacho mwanafunzi anaweza kukishika; shughuli inayopingana na andiko hugeuza somo kuwa saa ya kazi za mikono yenye mstari wa Biblia juu yake.The lesson still comes first. A passage about the temple may call for a craft (build a small tabernacle) or a chart (map the courts). A passage about salvation by the cross may call for an object (a small wooden cross handed out) or a drama (read the dialogue of the centurion at Calvary). A passage about praise may call for a song. A passage about the conquest of Canaan may call for a map. The shape of the text often suggests the shape of the activity, if the teacher is paying attention. The activity that fits the text turns the text into something the learner can hold; the activity that fights the text turns the lesson into a craft hour with a Bible verse on top.

Mwanafunzi huunda uchaguzi kwa nafasi ya pili. Watoto wanapenda kila kitu katika sehemu hii na wangefurahi kufanya familia zote nne kila Jumapili. Vijana huchagua zaidi — wataimba, lakini huenda wakakataa kazi za mikono wanazoziona kuwa za kitoto; watapenda maigizo na majadiliano ya visa. Watu wazima watavumilia au hata kukaribisha shughuli zilizochaguliwa kwa kuheshimu hadhi yao. Mtu mzima atachora kwa furaha mchoro wa hoja ya waraka; mtu mzima huyo huyo angekataa kupaka rangi kondoo wa karatasi. Mwalimu anayewajua wanafunzi wake huchagua shughuli ambazo hazitawafanya wajisikie wamedharauliwa.The learner shapes the choice second. Children love everything in this unit and would happily do all four families every Sunday. Youth are more selective — they will sing, but they may resist crafts they consider babyish; they will love drama and discussion of cases. Adults will tolerate or even welcome activities chosen with respect for their dignity. An adult will gladly draw a diagram of an epistle's argument; the same adult would refuse to color a paper sheep. The teacher who knows the learners chooses activities they will not feel insulted by.

Wakati huunda uchaguzi kwa nafasi ya tatu. Mwanzo wa somo mara nyingi hufaa zaidi kwa wimbo au somo la kitu halisi, ili kuvuta usikivu. Kiini cha somo kinaweza kutumia ramani, chati au igizo, ili kuikuza kweli. Mwisho unaweza kutumia mstari uliokaririwa, wimbo wa kiroho au kazi ndogo ya mikono ya kwenda nayo nyumbani, ili kulikaza somo katika mwili na nyumba ya mwanafunzi.The moment shapes the choice third. The opening of the lesson is often best with a song or an object lesson, to gather attention. The body of the lesson can use a map, a chart, or a drama, to develop the truth. The closing can use a memorized verse, a hymn, or a small craft to send home, to fix the lesson in the learner's body and house.

Neno moja la mwisho. Shughuli iliyofanywa vibaya ni mbaya kuliko kutokuwa na shughuli kabisa. Kazi ya mikono inayochukua dakika thelathini na kutoacha muda wa Biblia imeliiba somo. Igizo linalogeuka kuwa upuuzi na kamwe halirudi kwenye kweli limelizika somo. Wimbo uliochaguliwa kwa ajili ya burudani badala ya mafundisho umelipoteza somo. Mwalimu huiandaa shughuli kwa uangalifu ule ule anaoandaa mpango wa somo, kwa sababu shughuli ni sehemu ya mpango wa somo. Matufaha ya dhahabu hukaa katika picha za fedha. Bakuli ni muhimu kwa sababu tufaha ni muhimu zaidi.One last note. An activity badly done is worse than no activity at all. The craft that takes thirty minutes and leaves no time for the Bible has stolen the lesson. The drama that becomes silliness and never returns to the truth has buried the lesson. The song chosen for entertainment instead of instruction has wasted the lesson. The teacher prepares the activity with the same care he prepares the lesson plan, because the activity is part of the lesson plan. Apples of gold rest in pictures of silver. The bowl matters because the apple matters more.

Sehemu tisa ziko nyuma yetu. Kozi ilianza na wito wa mwalimu wa Elimu ya Kikristo na kielelezo cha Mwalimu Mkuu. Ikapita kwa wanafunzi na mazingira ya kujifunzia. Ikajenga mpango wa somo na kuujaza kwa mbinu saba. Sasa imeongeza familia nne za shughuli za kujifunza Biblia, na mwalimu aliyepitia kozi hii yote si mtu wa mikono mitupu tena.Nine units lie behind us. The course began with the calling of the Christian Education teacher and the example of the Master Teacher. It moved through the learners and the learning environment. It built the lesson plan and filled it with seven methods. It has now added the four families of Bible learning activities, and the teacher who has worked through this whole course is no longer empty-handed.

Podo la mwalimu limejaa. Kuna mishale ya hotuba na majadiliano, ya hadithi na swali, ya maswali na majibu, ya kisa cha kujifunzia na kujifunza kwa uzoefu, ya kitu halisi na igizo na wimbo na kazi ya mikono. Kuna malengo ya kuchagulia, mipango ya kufundishia, na maombi ya kumtegemea Yeye ambaye ndiye Mwalimu pekee wa kweli aliye chumbani. Mwalimu aliyefanya kazi ya sehemu hizi tisa yuko tayari, kwa neema ya Mungu, kwenda kufanya kazi ambayo BWANA alimwitia katika Sehemu ya 1.The teacher's quiver is full. There are arrows of lecture and discussion, of story and question, of question and answer, of case study and experiential learning, of object and drama and song and craft. There are aims by which to choose, plans by which to deliver, and prayers by which to depend on the One who is the only real Teacher in the room. The teacher who has done the work of these nine units is ready, by God's grace, to go and do the work for which the LORD called him in Unit 1.

Imebaki sehemu moja ya mwisho. Sehemu ya 10 ni kilele cha kozi nzima, na umbo la kilele hicho ni mahubiri ya watoto — dakika tano zinazosemwa kwa wanafunzi wadogo kabisa walio chumbani, Jumapili asubuhi wakati kusanyiko lote likitazama na kusikiliza. Mahubiri ya watoto ni madogo kiasi kwamba kila mbinu na kila shughuli inaweza kujaribiwa ndani yake. Ni mafupi kiasi kwamba mwalimu hawezi kupoteza sentensi hata moja. Ni ya uzito mkubwa kiasi kwamba mwalimu mvivu atashindwa na mwalimu aliyejiandaa atahubiri hubiri dogo ambalo kanisa litalikumbuka kwa miaka thelathini.One last unit remains. Unit 10 is the capstone of the entire course, and the form of the capstone is the children's sermon — five minutes spoken to the smallest learners in the room, on a Sunday morning when the rest of the congregation is watching and listening. The children's sermon is small enough that every method and every activity can be tested in it. It is short enough that the teacher cannot waste a sentence. It is high enough in stakes that the lazy teacher will fail and the prepared teacher will preach a small sermon that the church will remember for thirty years.

Sehemu ya 10 itakusanya yote haya pamoja. Lengo la Sehemu ya 6, mbinu za Sehemu ya 7 na ya 8, shughuli za Sehemu ya 9, wanafunzi wa Sehemu ya 4, mazingira ya Sehemu ya 5, Mwalimu Mkuu wa Sehemu ya 3, mwalimu wa Sehemu ya 2, na wito wa Sehemu ya 1 — yote yanakutana katika dakika tano za kuzungumza na mtoto. Mahubiri ya watoto ndiyo kipimo kidogo kabisa cha Elimu ya Kikristo na kipimo cha kweli zaidi cha kila sehemu nyingine ya kozi. Mwalimu anayeweza kuhubiri mahubiri mazuri ya watoto anaweza kuhubiri. Mwalimu asiyeweza bado yuko mafunzoni.Unit 10 will gather all of this together. The aim of Unit 6, the methods of Units 7 and 8, the activities of Unit 9, the learners of Unit 4, the environment of Unit 5, the Master Teacher of Unit 3, the teacher of Unit 2, and the calling of Unit 1 — all of it converges in five minutes of speaking to a child. The children's sermon is the smallest unit of Christian Education and the truest test of every other unit in the course. The teacher who can preach a good children's sermon can preach. The teacher who cannot is still in training.