Concept:
252Basics is a unique approach to curriculum for churches and Christian schools. It is built around three Basic Truths every child should embrace according to what Jesus modeled in Luke 2:52.

    I need to make the wise choice.

    I can trust God no matter what.

    I should treat others the way I want to be treated.

Each Basic Truth is amplified by a weekly key concept and systematically taught over a three-year track. The curriculum includes 150 Bible stories and is based on a Core Virtue and Memory Verse as the framework for each month.

Structure:
An online-based licensing agreement provides each church with the following:

• Large group notes for Bible story time, worship & prayer time
• Small group notes for activities & group discussion
• Production notes & drama sketches for multi-media family-friendly productions
• Directors audio notes to assist with drama for family productions
• Music to use during worship or music time
• Parent's notes to encourage parents to interact with and teach their children about faith and character
• Kid's notes to help children establish a consistent devotional experience

What We Offer:

• Quarterly & annual overview of curriculum plan
• Instant access to monthly content
• Secondary user registration which provides 10+ leaders immediate access from home or work
• Editable text files available for staff to customize curriculum
• Reproducible MP3 files for music or worship leaders
• Reproducible PDF wordsheets for original songs
• Online & reproducible devotionals for kids
• Online & reproducible notes for parents

The Church Environment:
The 252Basics curriculum was developed to meet the needs of churches searching for relevant materials geared toward children's small group environments.

The materials are accessible at any time and are easily downloadable from this web site.

Included in the program are:

• Children's Curriculum guides
  In PDF and MS Word Document form
• Accompanying music
  In MP3 form as presentation and performance tracks with and without background vocals, lyrics and hand motions as MS Word Document
• Family Production scripts and Directory notes
  In PDF, MS Word Document and MP3 form
• Production planning resources
  In PDF and MS Word Document form
• Kid's resources
• Parent's notes

The Christian School Environment:
252Basics is designed for a church environment, but is easily adaptable to the Christian school by providing clearly defined guides for small or large group settings.

Small group ideas may be implemented on a classroom-by-classroom basis or school-wide.

The large group guides give ideas for chapel or other school events.

Included with 252Basics are Family Production scripts, which can easily accommodate events for students and their parents and will showcase the quality and consistency of the program to enrolled families.

What We Teach:

3 Basic Truths
"...and Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and favor with
God and man."

Luke 2:52

Click here to view the 3 Basic Truths PDF

Adobe Reader is required to view the PDF!

Statement of Faith
ABOUT GOD
God is the one and only true God, yet He exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is the Creator, so everything belongs to Him and is under His control. God is holy, so He is righteous, majestic, and loving. God is all knowing and purposeful, so He's at work to bring about His will. No person, thing, or idea compares to God.

ABOUT THE SCRIPTURES
God reveals Himself to us through the Bible, and it is 100% accurate, reliable, and authoritative.

ABOUT PEOPLE
People are made in God's image and for His pleasure. But everybody falls short of God's intention, or ideal, for people. In other words, everyone has sinned. As a result, we are all separated from Him, even though He wants an intimate relationship with each of us.

ABOUT SALVATION
That's why Jesus-God's Son-came and lived on this earth, died, and rose again. God offers His free gift of salvation to all who believe in Jesus and accept Him as Savior-the only way to be forgiven and reconciled to God. Anyone who accepts this gift is adopted as a son or daughter into God's family and will live with Him forever in heaven.

Scope & Sequence

Needed Content

Staff Bios
(alphabetical order by last name)

Dawn Bradford
Dawn Zawoysky Bradford is a member of North Point Community Church where she has served as a KidStuf volunteer for five years. She studied childcare development at Clayton State University and has a professional background in marketing, training and account management. Dawn is also a former preschool co-director.

Crystal Clear
Crystal lives in Simi Valley, California, where she helps her husband run the family ministry environments at Discovery Church. They just welcomed their first child, Nash Clear, into their family in January of this year.

Jennifer Davis
Jennifer is our resident client service expert. She came to The reThink Group from Walk Thru the Bible where she managed the customer service team. She is also highly organized and efficient, and often finds herself helping other teams get projects to the finish line.

Amy Grisham
Amy worked on staff at North Point Community Church with UpStreet for several years as well as volunteered with the 5th graders since the doors opened in 1996. Since leaving Atlanta in 2004, Amy and her husband have been a vital part of a church plant in Dothan, Alabama, running their family ministry environments.

Sue Miller
Sue and her family moved to the Atlanta area in 2005 after 16 years of leading the Promiseland ministry at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. Her responsibilities included leading and directing a ministry that involved 3,000 children and 1,000 volunteers. Sue was instrumental in leading the change process that grew Promiseland into a cutting edge, contemporary children's ministry. The story of how all that happened is told in her book, Making Your Children's Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid's Week (Zondervan).

Sue's passion to reach unchurched children and grow them into fully devoted followers of Christ is absolutely contagious. She travels extensively nationally and internationally, motivating and inspiring church leaders and volunteers to raise the value of building effective ministries for kids.
Sue and her husband, Rick, live in Cumming, Georgia, and have two grown children: Holly and Ryan.

Brandon O'Dell
Brandon is a professional actor with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Theatre from Shorter College. He served as a host for KidStuf at Buckhead Church for four years, and he has worked freelance, writing Family Production scripts for two years before joining the staff of The ReThink Group. Most recently, he played a role in the Stephen King movie, The Mist.

Rachael Oswald
Rachael has a degree in Early Childhood Education and Development. She has worked as a schoolteacher, developing curriculum and creative units for her classroom. She comes to The reThink Group following her position as a Director of Children's Ministry for an Atlanta church. Rachael and her family currently live in Scotland.

Greg Payne
Greg is one of the original KidStuf actors as well as the first director and writer for the production. He was on staff at North Point Community Church for eight years in various creative capacities within Family Ministries.

Phil Pierce
Phil is a graduate of the Disney University Management Intern Program. After working at Disneyland, CBS & NBC Studios and in arena management, Phil served as a Children's Pastor for two different churches in Southern California.

Kelli Wallace
Kelli has a background in customer service for non-profit organizations and finds herself putting those skills to work in client service and accounting at The reThink Group. She has been involved in ministry at various North Point Ministries campuses since 2001 including Waumba Land, College Ministry, Xtreme and 7|22.

Melanie Williams
Melanie has been producing leading-edge curriculum materials for children for 18 years. She has a Masters of Education degree in early childhood education and has taught kids since graduating college, serving as both a volunteer and staff member in churches of all sizes.


 

Orange Strategy
The concepts and principles which guide The reThink Group are best described as a color--orange. Orange represents the idea that two forces working together will have exponentially more influence than either entity alone. For us, that means parents and church leaders working together to make a difference in the lives of children so that we can do more together than we do alone.

The reThink Group encourages churches to rethink the way they minister to families. We help people reconsider why they do what they do, the way they do it--partnering with churches as they partner with parents. We'll help you revolutionize the way you teach students, children and their parents through innovative Internet-driven curriculum and companion resources for the church and home.

252 Basics is a cornerstone element of that strategy. Companion elements include First Look for ages 1-5, XP3 for teenagers, and corollary studies for parents (coming soon).

Each of the curriculum approaches has a specific objective in mind. Through First Look, younger children discover that God made them, that God loves them, and that Jesus wants to be their friend forever.

Older children begin to implement specific virtues through a comprehensive approach to exhibiting the character of Christ. 252 Basics draws from the model of Jesus expressed in the Gospel of Luke. Luke 2:52 says, "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." The kind of growth modeled by Jesus happens by intention, not by accident. So children learn wisdom ("I need to make the wise choice."), faith ("I can trust God no matter what.") and friendship ("I should treat others the way I want to be treated.")

An extended element of 252 Basics is the Family Production, an interactive entertainment and teaching event designed to put children and parents in the same room to learn these principles together.

As the young person grows into a teenager, the emphasis becomes putting these traits into active practice. Through the XP3 curriculum, students experience the wonder of who God is, a discovery of their own place in His plan, and a passion for being involved in the lives of others.

Each of these three components is distinct in structure, designed to best complement learning styles for each age. For example, 252 Basics is designed around the three principles (wisdom, faith and friendship) but expanded into 36 timely lessons highlighting virtues that illustrate the three principles. XP3 is structured more independently, with flexibility for student ministries on the move.

In addition, parents understand their place as their children's primary spiritual leaders more fully through monthly Family Times virtue packs, small-group studies and more.

More than three thousand churches partner with The reThink Group through 252 Basics, First Look, XP3, the Orange Conference, Amber Sky Records (coming soon) and additional events and resources. We're committed to one guiding idea: Two combined influences make a greater impact than just two influences alone. Parents partnering with churches. The reThink Group partnering with you. Orange.