The mission of Shepherds College is to equip students with IDD to reach Appropriate Independence through the development of vocational, social, and life skills. We believe God created these students on and for a purpose, which is why Shepherds College aims to equip them while inspiring a lasting awareness of God’s plan for their lives.
In order for students to have this lasting awareness of God and His plan, I believe they must be taught the foundation of Christianity: the Gospel. Students should uncover the Word of God and see the truths about sin, forgiveness, redemption and the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a para-church ministry called Dare2Share, whose mission is to help youth leaders energize their students to relationally and relentlessly make disciples. It’s a ministry about teaching and sharing the Gospel. As I’ve worked in youth ministry in the local church, and worked in Residential Life at Shepherds College, I have found one of their methods of communicating the Gospel to students to be astonishingly effective and impactful. Specifically, I teach Dare2Share’s acronym of “gospel”.
God created us to be with Him.
Our sins separate us from God.
Sins cannot be removed by good deeds.
Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again.
Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life.
Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever.
The purpose of this acronym is to use the word “gospel” to specifically lay out truths about creation, humanity, Jesus’ death and resurrection, and eternal life. Using the acronym as a framework, lesson plans can be created that walk through the points of the Gospel. For the purposes of our spiritual formation program during residential life at Shepherds, I teach this in six lessons over six weeks (one lesson for each letter).
At this point, the teacher can and should truly make the lessons their own to fit their teaching style and the group they have. This is an example of how I teach, “God created us to be with Him.”
I start by having students write or draw what they think of when they hear the word “creation.” My particular group of students enjoys expressing themselves through words and art. In addition to some sort of creative opening, I try to ask at least one discussion question for each lesson. For this lesson, the question is “why do you think God created people?” After discussion we read some verses from Genesis as well as Psalm 100:3, which says, “Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” This verse directly correlates with the idea that God created us to be with Him. Between the creative aspect of the lesson, the discussion question, and the scriptures, the lessons tend to run about 20 minutes each. I find this length of time to be ideal for getting the information across while still maintaining student attention.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful, and life change comes through bearing witness to Christ. The Gospel acronym is simply a tool to help the teacher pinpoint key parts of the Gospel, and a helpful memory device for the students. At Shepherds College, I have found this tool be helpful in communicating the hope we have in Christ. There are helpful teacher resources and ideas for constructing lessons based on the Gospel on Dare2Share’s website and mobile app. My prayer is that effectively communicating the Gospel to students is what will springboard them having a lasting awareness of God’s plan for their lives.
 | Alex Hayes |
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