What’s your preschooler’s favorite book? If your preschooler is anything like mine was back in the day, they love Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. . .
Kidding, of course. When it comes to the books we read to our preschoolers, we choose stories that are written for them, using vocabulary they can understand and concepts that reflect their growing understanding of the world.
As those preschoolers grow into kids and then into teenagers, we continue to expose them to literature that they are able to understand as their minds develop.
This is true of literacy development, but what if the same was true in how we should approach their growing understanding of their faith?
If you are a part of a local church, they have about one hour with your kid or teen every week you attend. And that’s not even factoring in their attention span (which we all know is less than that).
Knowing that, if you were a church planning the content you’d cover during that hour, what would you hope to share? Would you try to tell them everything they need to know about life? Would you cram all the info you could into that hour?
Or like how you read books to your preschooler, would you try to simplify things so they can understand and eventually build on what you say?
At each age and stage (or as we say, Phase), kids process that truth in a way that fits with how their brains are forming. This is as true for Biblical truth as it is for literacy and mathematics.
This is a process God set up for how the human mind develops, at whatever pace that looks like.
That means, not every story or every fact needs to be conveyed at every age.
There are some details of a topic that you can discuss with your high schoolers that you would leave out until a more appropriate time when talking with a preschooler.
There are topics that are relevant for a middle schooler that aren’t relevant to a kindergartner.
This sounds simple, but the application and rigorous prioritization of what is taught each week is part of a ministry leader’s toughest job. This is why many curricula include a plan for everything they’ll teach in a year.
Because, while all of the Bible is important, not all of it can be fully processed and applied at every age.
If the goal as a parent is to help your kid develop a growing, deep, and resilient ongoing faith—it matters both what and when we teach our kids.
Who Is Orange?
Orange is a leading provider of strategy and age-specific curriculum for thousands of churches across the country, and the world. Orange is more than just a color. It’s a concept that combines the influence of two primary influences in a child’s life: the family (represented by the color red, symbolizing God’s love) and the church (represented by the color yellow, symbolizing we are the light of the world). When these two entities come together, the result is Orange—a powerful partnership that helps children experience and form a holistic well-rounded faith. Founded in 2006, Orange has become a leading resource for church and family ministries across the globe.
At its core, Orange is a strategy aimed at synchronizing the efforts of church and home. The philosophy behind Orange is simple but impactful: two COMBINED influences make a greater impact than just two SINGLE influences. Whether present or not, parents will always have influence in some form. But, when parents and churches work together, children are more likely to develop a faith that sticks.
Parent Cue is the parent strategy of Orange, integrating a stronger bridge between the church and the home to raise a generation with deep faith and character.
What Does Orange Teach?
For any curriculum, this will be one of the biggest questions you have to answer. Specifically, what will you teach, and what won’t you teach? You want to teach a kid everything—but with the limited time you have, how will you choose what’s most important?
Orange uses a few tools to organize its strategy for teaching. Let’s unpack each one.
Prioritizing Developmental Research
Everything that happens in the Orange curriculum filters through this one idea of being developmentally appropriate. Many say they’re developmentally appropriate—but still use language, concepts, and methodology that go over a kids head. Even puppets can’t fix unclear theological concepts.
The curriculum and strategy a church uses should bring a holistic understanding of each age group, not just sprinkle in ideas.
Orange has partnered not only with biblical scholars but also with teachers, counselors, psychologists, parents, and other ministry workers to understand how to communicate God’s truth in a way that reaches them exactly where they are developmentally. And, we partner with The Phase Project to dive deeper into how kids’ brains work and how we can help them understand God’s truth.
Three Basic Truths
A kid’s relationship with God, others, and themselves (as Jesus taught in Matthew 22:37-40) is life-changing—but only if they understand those relationships in a biblical context. So, there are core theological insights we want to make sure a kid doesn’t miss.
Orange calls these the “three basic truths”, and every lesson, story, and topic re-enforces one of these truths.
For preschoolers those truths are
God made me.
God loves me.
Jesus wants to be my friend forever.
For kids, those are:
I need to make the wise choice (which is Wisdom),
I can trust God no matter what (which is Faith).
And I should treat others the way I want to be treated (which is Friendship).
Prioritizing simple, repeatable truths about God ensures that kids don’t just believe the right things; these truths begin to transform their lives and become the foundation of an everyday faith.
For teens, those are:
I will trust what Jesus did to transform who I need to become.
I’m created to pursue a relationship with my Creator.
I exist to demonstrate God’s love to those around me.
Nine Theological Insights
Orange also prioritizes nine theological insights. They are simple truths that kids and teenagers will need to keep coming back to over and over again.
They are:
- Truth according to God’s Message
- Design of God’s Creation
- Transformation By The Power of God’s Spirit
- Faith in God’s Son
- Identity-Based in God’s Image
- Connection Because of God’s Loves
- Restoration Through Participating In God’s Story
- Community In The Context of God’s Family
- Compassion That Reflects God’s Character
Orange includes these concepts in what they teach, and they revisit these insights consistently to help kids and teenagers rediscover their meaning at each stage of life.
Scope and Cycle
Finally, churches get practical into the actual plan of how they’ll integrate these concepts, and strategically repeat and reinforce them over time. Orange calls this plan a “scope and cycle”. This is different than a “scope and sequence” many other curriculums use. Faith formation isn’t sequential. Many topics need to be revisited consistently over time for true faith formation and to grow in understanding of the topic at each age. To “cycle” concepts means you are reintroducing the topic strategically over time.
Orange gives leaders annual plans of what they’ll teach—allowing leaders to adapt as they need and offering a roadmap that integrates with other ministries in the church.
What Does Orange Believe?
You can read Orange’s full here. Orange and Parent Cue partner with churches and families, but we never want to usurp the theology and authority of the local church. Our commitment is to equip local churches to serve and lead their unique congregations well by resourcing them with high-quality, developmentally appropriate, Jesus-centered tools. We believe that the better we serve The Church, the better the local church can be empowered to serve their church.
Is Orange Controversial?
Orange has its share of critics. Some parents, church leaders, and ministry professionals may express concerns about certain aspects of the curriculum. After all — what we teach our kids is important! These critiques can range from strategy to how Orange handles theological teachings or the role it places on the partnership between church and home. But, is Orange curriculum bad? It’s important to unpack these concerns and understand the full picture of what Orange actually teaches.
Character and Virtues
One consistent criticism of Orange has been around its teaching of virtue. Orange defines virtue as “something God is doing in us to change the world around us.” In an article called “Why Faith and Character Matter” — Orange explains their priority on not just knowing about Jesus, but trusting and practicing an everyday faith that reflects the love Jesus commanded in Matthew 22:37-40. At Orange, a virtue isn’t about behavior modification. It’s about transformation. It’s about evidence of life-change in response to the question: “How will my life look different as I discover that God is trustworthy?” The language of virtues gives a parent and easy and super practical way to incorporate spiritual truth into conversations at home.
Child Development
Orange emphasizes how kids are changing mentally, physically, spiritually, relationally, morally, and emotionally at every phase. Kids are smart enough to understand big concepts, if we are smart enough to understand how to connect to them where they are now. This will impact terminology and language used to teach kids, and the frequency and volume of which concepts they’ll learn. As a way to organize the theological foundation they teach, Orange identifies nine core theological insights to prioritize and return to over and over again.
Science and Education.
Another area of critique is how Orange will elevate learning from non-Biblical sources. For some, this is seen as less spiritual or even progressive. Orange stands by a commitment to learn about child development, technology, leadership, parenting, emotions, anxiety, and more. They believe it’s possible to integrate learning in all these areas—and still center on one big goal of instilling deeper faith in the next generation.
How Does Orange Curriculum Prioritize Parents?
Orange Curriculum is designed not just to support churches in guiding children and teens but also to actively engage and equip parents, acknowledging that parents are the most influential spiritual leaders in a child’s life.
There are four ways the curriculum can help support you in the critical role of faith development for a kid.
- Parent Communication Tools: Orange provides resources like weekly emails, take-home activities, and parent guides that give parents insight into what their child is learning at church. This enables parents to continue the conversation at home, reinforcing key spiritual lessons and biblical truths.
- Phase-Specific Guidance: Orange understands that children’s needs change as they grow. Their curriculum offers phase-specific advice to help parents better connect with their child at each unique stage, from preschool through high school. These resources allow parents to understand their child’s emotional, social, and spiritual development.
- Parent Cue App: Orange’s integration with the Parent Cue App provides parents with real-time prompts to have meaningful conversations with their children, based on their current curriculum. Whether it’s a quick question or an activity suggestion, this app ensures parents stay engaged in their child’s spiritual journey throughout the week. Plus, you’ll also get your weekly curriculum content delivered directly through the app. Miss a week? The bible story video is available directly on the app!
- Family Experiences: Orange encourages churches to host family events and experiences that bring parents and kids together for shared learning and worship. These events are designed to foster deeper connections and allow parents to model their faith in a community setting.
With these resources, parents and churches can align to create a more powerful faith influence on a kid’s life.
Prioritize Faith at Home
At the end of the day, you, not your church, are the primary faith influence in your kid’s life.
Raising kids with faith and character is tough, but you don’t have to do it alone. First, God cares about your kids even more than you, so God wants to help you every day. And so does your church. They are positioned leaders and content to speak truth in a way that any kid at any stage can not only understand it but make it personal.
And Parent Cue cares too. Parent Cue wants to give you resources that equip you to raise kids with faith and character. Kids who not only believe something but live it out.
At every age and stage of your child, there are opportunities.
Opportunities to communicate truth in a way they understand and live.
Opportunities to connect with who they are now, not just who they were or going to be.
And opportunities to nurture their faith and character . . . and maybe even yours too.
Want to learn more about the theology behind Orange Curriculum? Click here to learn more.
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