
YPT Curriculum
Honoring the Lord with your Head, Heart, & Hands
We aren’t the first generation of Christians who are concerned about the next generation.
For nearly 2000 years, Christ’s Church made disciples through a framework called catechesis (pronounced “cat-uh-key-sis”). This discipleship plan was built around three branches of Christian maturity: Christian Doctrine (Head), Christian Spirituality (Heart), and Christian Living (Hands). The Youth Pastor Theologian Curriculum is reclaiming catechesis in order to invite youth into faith that’s big enough for them to grow into.
Most churches tend to be strong in one branch of catechesis, dabble in a second, and mostly overlook a third. Each year, the YPT Curriculum will release three series (usually 12 lessons long), one in each branch of catechesis. By teaching the YPT Curriculum, you will ensure that your teenagers see how the gospel shapes their whole life: head, heart, and hands.
Each lesson leads students into God’s Word and will equip to begin asking good questions like, “What does this passage teach me about God?” and “What does God want me to believe and desire in my relationships with Him?” The three-year plan below is subject to change but will give you a vision of what we have in mind for this curriculum’s development.
Finally, we’ve kept international youth workers in mind, too. This is why stories and illustrations are drawn from Church History and Scripture, rather than from pop culture. YPT want to empower faithful discipleship in youth ministries around the world.
Three Branches of the YPT Curriculum
Head: Christian Doctrine
what does it means to be a Christian?
Year One: Apostles’ Creed
Year Two: Attributes of God
Year Three: Union with Christ
Heart: Christian Spirituality
how can I have a relationship with God?
Year One: Lord’s Prayer
Year Two: Receiving the Word of God
Year Three: Praying the Psalms
Hands: Christian Living
how should I honor God with my life?
Year One: Ten Commandments
Year Two: Biblical Sexuality
Year Three: Conflict Resolution
YPT Curriculum will be available on July 28th!!
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The Apostles’ Creed has always been viewed as baseline Christianity, not advanced theology. If we want to call youth into lifelong faith, then we should make sure they know what it means to believe what Christianity has always taught.
The Ten Commandments have always been taught as a model of what it means to live a life that honors the Lord. The gospel gives us a new heart that desires to obey God’s commandments, and it clothes us in grace when we sin. This series will call youth to pursue holiness in the power of the gospel for the glory of God.
The Lord’s Prayer isn’t a magical incantation, but a pattern of prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. This series will guide your students to cultivate a personal and regular prayer-life, and to pray according to Jesus’ instruction.
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The YPT Curriculum is built around the framework of catechesis. This is the pattern of discipleship the Church has practiced for the last 2000 years, but churches moved away from it in the past century.
Catechesis is about so much more than encouraging kids to memorize a catechism! It’s relational discipleship that prioritizes Christian Doctrine (Apostles’ Creed), Christian Spirituality (Lord’s Prayer), and Christian Living (Ten Commandments).
The YPT Curriculum is built around those three branches in order to lead youth to honor the Lord with their head, heart, and hands. Each year, there will be a series under each branch, in order to help you disciple students well.
We have intentionally written the curriculum for an international audience. This is why our stories and illustrations are drawn from Church History and Scripture, rather than from pop culture. We want all youth workers to be able to use the YPT Curriculum to disciple the next generation.
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This curriculum was written with a 45 minute small group or Bible study in mind, for youth ages 12-18.
If you choose to use this series for a larger-group setting, you can turn the Introduction and Biblical Foundations sections into a message to teach, and then split into smaller groups to discuss the Living Theologically and Application sections.
Some of these lessons address difficult topics and confusing Bible passages. We have worked hard to give you tools in the Leader Notes and Explain portions of the Teacher’s Guide so you’ll be able to make the lessons understandable and applicable. Be patient and give your teenagers the chance honor God with their mind. They can do it. You can too!
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NO! We want to make biblically rich and theologically deep ministry accessible for every youth ministry. You’ll need to prepare and review the material before teaching it, but you should do that with every curriculum before teaching it!
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Since this is our first year, it took longer than expected to get a good system in place. We wanted to make sure we get this done right instead of rushing to get it done quickly.
This means our publishing timeline for this year is staggered. In future years the full curriculum will be available early/mid-Summer to give you ample time to prepare.
end of July: The Apostles’ Creed (12 weeks)
end of September: Ten Commandments (12 weeks)
end of November: Lord’s Prayer (12 weeks)
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Since each series is being released independently this year, they will cost $100 each. So, purchasing the full curriculum will cost $300.
Next year, we will add the option to purchase each series individually or to buy the bundle for a slight discount.
If the cost is too high for your church, please contact Mike to request a scholarship (email is on the About page).
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When you purchase a series, you’ll receive a file with two documents, a Leader’s Guide and a Student Guide. Each PDF has all 12 series so you can print it out fully, or lesson-by-lesson.
The Leader’s Guide includes robust leader notes to help you prepare to lead discussion. These leader notes aren’t intended for you to read aloud (although you may choose to do that on occasion, as necessary).
The Student Guide includes the opening story, biblical text (that way everyone can read the same translation together), and the discussion questions with room for them to write a response.
Frequently Asked Questions
Lesson Outline
Intro: a modern re-telling from either Scripture or Christian History that displays the importance of the lesson’s main emphasis.
Biblical Foundation: Exploring a foundational Scripture passage, including discussion questions and leader notes to help your students understand God’s Word.
Living Theologically: Questions that prompt students to think theologically about the Bible and their lives.
Applying the Bible: Questions that lead students to apply the lesson to their head, heart, and hands.
Closing Prayer