Claim the Life is a six-year, comprehensive spiritual formation plan for youth Sunday school. The annual themes are Journey, Word, and Faith for younger youth; Promise, Story, and Call for older youth. Each year is divided into two 16-week semesters.
Each lesson begins with Tending, an intentional ritual that helps youth develop closer relationships through tending to one another and tending to God at work in their lives and the world.
The planned Teaching content is focused on one word (or phrase) that is significant to the Christian faith (Commitment, Suffering, Simplicity, Blessing, Peace, Abundant Life, for example).
Each lesson concludes with Sending, an intentional ritual that helps youth create SMART goals, ways in which they will practice some element of being a disciple.
* The weekly pattern of Tending, Teaching, and Sending is an intentional plan for spiritual formation, learning, and discipleship.
* Churches, parents, teachers, and youth will have a sense of progression and intentionality in teaching material that is important to the faith. In six years students will encounter 192 words and Scriptures.
* Sunday school classes will be able to complete the annual material and still have weeks they can fill with seasonal, timely (LinC, for example), or local-interest lessons.
* Youth will experience Christian community and participate in practices of the faith.
* Each youth will make the lessons relevant to him- or herself through the practice of developing his or her own SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Revealed, and Time-Limited).
* Teachers will have access to images, additional activities, training, denominationally specific material, additional background, and links to music at www.abingdonpress.com/claimthelife
*Teachers will be able to choose a lesson plan that suits them from the two provided.