How our courses are designed

Pictures

Each Unit has a Picture containing several parts which symbolize the key points being taught. An adjacent page explains what each symbol in the Picture means. Since “A Picture is worth a thousand words”, these Pictures visualize Biblical truths, making them easy to recall. As a memory aid, they condense the study to a few essential points. It will be important to review the Picture each day a particular Unit is being studied, asking “What does this mean? What does that mean?” Some students might like to draw an enlargement of the Picture on poster board for mounting on an easel or on the wall, making it even more memorable.

Overview

Your favorite verse or your pastor’s favorite text may not appear in this course. That’s because it’s designed to present an Overview of the Old and New Testaments, not including every passage or every teaching. Necessarily much is left out that can be filled in later. Overview is like standing on a high mountain and looking out over the valley below on a clear day. You see the main features of the landscape: a river, a road, a farm, a village, a forest. But not many details, not how many squirrels are running around down there, or what each person in the valley is doing today. The advantage of Overview is getting the Big Picture, in our case, the Main Story of the Old or New Testament.

Bible Reading

The prescribed Bible reading does not attempt to cover the entire Old and New Testaments, but to familiarize the student with significant portions of it. Answering questions about a passage being read is intended to be an aid to comprehension, a help in remembering what was read. You can decide whether it’s more beneficial for the student to read assigned Scriptures by himself or with the teacher. Be advised that the Bible reading is not necessarily coordinated with the Unit under study. For those texts, see the Narrative for that Unit.

Narratives

The Narrative for each Unit is background material for the teacher, who can teach as much or as little of it as desired. Scripture references in the text provide a Biblical basis for what is being said. You may or may not take the time to look them up yourself, though reading at least some of them will increase your confidence in what you are teaching.

Format

Courses are delivered through an easy to download ebook. If you wish to print the course material please note they are formatted for duplex printing, so some pages are blank. Suggested layout of printed books is in a 3-ring binder.