Three years after its introduction to the Atlantic Union Conference, the Adventurer Bible Game (ABG) continues to gain momentum. Now, a new pilot program is opening the door for the union’s youngest children to begin reading God’s Word even earlier.
ABG got its start as a pilot program in the Southern New England Conference, championed by Adventurer leaders Jennifer Hay and Lydia Rojas. From there, it spread quickly: Northeastern (NEC) and Northern New England (NNEC) conferences launched their own programs, and the Greater New York Conference (GNYC) joined the initiative after a presentation at the 2023 Atlantic Union Youth Summit. This year, GNYC hosted its first conference-level ABG.
As participation has grown, so has the program itself. Under the leadership of Aisha Edwards, NEC Adventurer executive coordinator and Atlantic Union Adventurer Advisory chair, the team has continued refining the union-level competition based on North American Division (NAD) guidelines and feedback from participants. One key adjustment streamlined the multilingual format: Questions are now displayed in English, Spanish, French, and Creole, but read aloud only in English, a change that lets the competition move at a pace better suited for young participants. The team also adjusted parent participation rules to better accommodate venue capacity.
With interest still growing, organizers are now exploring a larger venue and hope to eventually include the New York and Bermuda conferences in future union-wide competitions, with Bermuda potentially joining virtually.
That momentum has helped pave the way for a second initiative: a new Ducklings pilot program for children ages two and three.
Ducklings is designed to give children too young for the Little Lamb class a Christ-centered experience of their own. Rather than adopt an existing curriculum, the advisory team studied similar programs across the NAD and Brazil before building one tailored specifically to Atlantic Union Conference families.
Edwards explained that the result is a two-year curriculum built around monthly Bible themes, memory verses, crafts, songs, and age-appropriate activities that introduce biblical principles while reinforcing colors, shapes, and numbers. Children also receive specially designed “web feet” participation patches that recognize involvement rather than completed requirements, reflecting the developmental needs of toddlers.
“About 30 clubs are currently taking part in the pilot,” Edwards said. Once development is complete, the advisory team plans to present the finished curriculum to Enmanuel Contreras, Atlantic Union Conference vice president for Youth and Young Adult Ministries, for formal union approval.
Behind both initiatives’ success, Edwards credits Contreras’ willingness to trust the team and pointed to that trust as a turning point.
“Even though he had heard of the Adventure Bible Game, he wasn’t aware of how we as a team operated the union-level game, but he trusted us to do it. And I think that was huge,” Edwards added.
The original article was published on the Atlantic Union Conference news site.
