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Description

Description

“Teach us to pray.” This famous request to Jesus didn’t come from disciples who had never breathed a prayer in their lives. Rather, they most likely prayed at least three times a day and had been doing so the entirety of their lives. It was part of their story. And their story was interwoven with God’s. They recognized that as they learned to pray, they learned to act out their part in the story of how God continues to invite humans to partner with Him toward “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Jesus answered that famous request with the words of the Lord’s Prayer. A call to love and action, these well—known words are Jesus’s greatest commandment breathed out in prayer: an agreement to love God with heart, soul, and strength and love neighbors as ourselves. It’s fitting that Jesus’ greatest commandment (which we’ll refer to as the Jesus Creed) contains an even more ancient prayer, the Prayer of Shema.

Jesus’ disciples memorized The Lord’s Prayer and continued teaching it to others. In fact, they instructed early Christians to pray this prayer three times a day. Does this mean they never prayed with their own words? Of course not! But they were very comfortable praying words that had been given to them by someone else. In fact, it was one of the ways in which they were trained in the practice of prayer.

During this course, we’ll explore how the Lord’s Prayer invites us into a new partnership with God, made possible by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Your students will discover how learning to pray this prayer with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength will prepare them to submit to the power of the Holy Spirit and act out their part in God’s epic story of uniting heaven and earth.

About Teach Us to Pray

This curriculum offers families an opportunity to explore the biblical story through the Shema, the Jesus Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. While it was designed for families with students in 3rd-6th grades, we’ve found it can be easily modified to engage a much wider age range. Our goal is to help your students understand and experience the Bible as one unified story that leads to Jesus.

Teach Us to Pray is the first course in OneStory’s curriculum sequence, preceding Giver of Rest. While we recommend completing Teach Us to Pray before beginning Giver of Rest, these studies may be taught independently.

Lesson Schedule

Teach Us to Pray consists of 32 lessons that are 30-45 minutes each. Each unit consists of 4 lessons, and the last lesson in each unit is a review. We encourage you to choose the lesson schedule that works best for your family:

• 1 lesson per week over the entire school year
• 2 lessons per week over a semester
• 4 lessons per week over 8 weeks

What to Expect

We’ve designed this curriculum to be as easy to use as possible. Most lessons can be taught with no prep work at all on your part. At the top of each lesson, you’ll find a QR code and link to the video for that lesson as well as the name of the lesson worksheet(s) you’ll be using. During each 30-45 minute lesson, you will explore a new BibleProject video with discussion, practices, and prayers designed to increase understanding of the core ideas.

Our practice worksheets give students an opportunity to explore concepts and themes more deeply, while also giving them (and you!) a tangible reminder to celebrate all they’ve learned over the course. Printing them out ahead of time and placing them at the front of their OneStory Bible Binder (https://onestoryfamily.org/product/bible-binder/) will allow your students to quickly find (and then file) the worksheet(s) they need for each lesson.