According to responding congregations, the most widely-used PCUSA curriculum is Bible Discovery--49% indicated that they currently use this package for some part of their educational programs. One-quarter (26%) use Celebrate, and 18% use the Adult Foundational Curriculum. (Note that some respondents reported that their congregations use more than one of the PCUSA-produced packages.)
Use of PCUSA curricula materials was higher among congregations located in the South than among those located elsewhere. Fully 66% of churches located in the South reported using Bible Discovery, while only 34% of congregations in the West, 34% in the Northeast, and 42% in the Midwest reported so. Use of Celebrate materials and the Adult Foundational Curriculum was also higher than average in the South (33% and 26% of southern congregations reported using these two packages, respectively).
As Table 5 shows, all three curriculum packages are much less likely to be used in small-membership congregations. In fact, less than 20% of congregations with 250 or fewer members reported that they use either Celebrate or the Adult Foundational Curriculum. Use of Bible Discovery is somewhat more common than use of the other packages in smaller congregations; 44% of small congregations reported using this package.
Use of PC(USA) Curriculum Materials by Congregation Size
Church Size
Curriculum Used 250 or less 251 to 600 more than 600
Bible Discovery 44% 61% 58%
Celebrate 18% 41% 43%
Adult Foundational Curriculum 14% 27% 31%
Research Services