Grade 7 Christian Religious Education Study Notes

Welcome to Christian Religious Education — Grade 7

You have been learning CRE since lower primary. At Grade 7, you take a step back and ask a bigger question: Why does this subject exist, and what is it doing for you?

This strand answers that question. You will define CRE, explain why studying it matters, understand how it shapes your morals, and see how the values it teaches help you live well with the people around you.

What this strand covers

• The meaning of CRE — what it is and what it aims to do
• Importance of learning CRE — six reasons why it matters in daily life
• How CRE promotes moral and religious values — through stories, poems, and reflection
• How CRE values promote harmonious living — at home, in school, and in the community

The Meaning of Christian Religious Education (CRE)

Christian Religious Education (CRE) is the study of religious beliefs and practices that are based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

That definition has three parts:

• Religious beliefs and practices — CRE covers what Christians believe about God, how they worship, and what guides their decisions. It is not just facts to memorise; it is a way of understanding life.
• Based on the teachings of Jesus Christ — everything in CRE traces back to what Jesus taught and what his life means for Christians. The Bible is the main source of these teachings.
• A learning area — CRE is a recognised school subject with content to learn, skills to develop, and values to practise.

CRE is also a learning area that:

• guides you to develop values — the principles that shape how you think, speak, and act
• guides you to develop a positive attitude towards yourself, others, and life
• guides you to build a healthy relationship with yourself, other people, and God

CRE is not only about knowing the right answers. It is about growing into a person who lives by what they have learned. Every lesson in CRE is an opportunity to understand yourself, understand others, and grow into the person you are meant to be.

Importance of Learning Christian Religious Education (CRE)

Studying CRE is important because the knowledge it provides matters in daily life. Here are six reasons why.

Reason 1: Better understanding of God

CRE helps us to have a better understanding of God — who he is, what he values, and how he relates to people. Without it, your picture of God may be incomplete or based on guesswork.
Example: A learner who studies CRE can explain why God is described as loving and just, rather than simply saying "God is good" without knowing why.

Reason 2: Strengthened faith

CRE helps to strengthen our faith in God. Faith grows through learning, reflection, and experience. CRE gives you stories, teachings, and examples of faith that deepen your trust in God over time.
Example: When a learner faces a difficult situation, lessons about God's faithfulness from CRE give them a reason to keep trusting rather than give up.

Reason 3: Self-worth and respect

CRE helps us to develop a sense of self-worth and respect for ourselves and others. You learn that your value comes from being created and loved by God — and that every other person has the same worth.
Example: A learner who has learned this will refuse to bully a classmate or allow themselves to be put down, because CRE has taught them that every person deserves dignity.

Reason 4: Better understanding of Christianity

CRE allows us to have a better understanding of Christianity and our beliefs as Christians. Your faith becomes informed, not just inherited without thought.
Example: A learner who studies CRE can explain to a friend why Christians believe Jesus is important, rather than simply saying "because my parents told me."

Reason 5: Moral growth

CRE helps us to grow morally by developing values like honesty, hardwork, kindness, and love, which help us relate well with others. These values are not just discussed — they are practised.
Example: A learner who has developed honesty through CRE tells the truth to a teacher even when it is easier to lie.

Reason 6: Discerning right from wrong

CRE helps us to discern right from wrong, which helps us to think critically before taking any action. A learner who has studied CRE pauses, weighs options against what they know to be right, and then acts.
Example: When a classmate pressures a learner to cheat in a test, CRE gives them the framework to recognise that cheating is wrong and the confidence to say no.

Each of these reasons is a reminder that what you learn in CRE is not just for class — it shapes the kind of person you are becoming.

Development of Values and Morals

Values are the principles that guide how a person acts. Morals are the standards of right and wrong behaviour. CRE develops both.

When you study CRE, you do not just hear about values — you are invited to reflect on your own behaviour and apply what you learn. A learner who has grown through CRE begins to:

• Tell the truth even when it is uncomfortable
• Treat others with kindness even when they are difficult
• Take responsibility for their actions rather than blaming others
• Show love and patience in relationships at home and school

Moral development is not instant. It is a gradual process that happens through learning, practising values, and choosing well over and over again. Take a moment to consider one value that CRE has already begun to develop in you — that is moral development at work.

Making Career Choices

CRE shapes your sense of purpose and can guide the kind of work you choose in future. Many careers require the values and knowledge that CRE teaches.

Jobs and occupations where the knowledge of CRE is important include:

• Religious leaders — pastors, priests, bishops, and deacons whose work is directly based on Christian teachings
• Counsellors — professionals who help people through personal problems, drawing on values like empathy, honesty, and compassion
• Social workers — people who serve vulnerable communities, guided by love, responsibility, and care for others
• Teachers — especially those who teach religious education or work with young people
• Healthcare workers — nurses and doctors who practise compassion and respect for human life
• Community and NGO workers — those who serve society, motivated by values of justice, service, and love

Understanding these connections helps you see that what you learn in CRE can point you toward a career where your faith and your work go together.

Your Relationship with God

A relationship with God is personal — it is built through knowing him, trusting him, and choosing to live in line with his teachings. CRE supports this in several ways:

• It introduces you to who God is through scripture and Christian belief
• It gives you the language and framework to pray, reflect, and respond to God meaningfully
• It deepens your understanding of what God expects of you — not as a burden, but as a guide for living well
• It encourages spiritual growth — the gradual process of becoming more aware of God, more trusting of him, and more aligned with his values

Spiritual growth happens quietly, lesson by lesson, as you reflect on God's word and begin to live it out.

Ways in which Christian Religious Education (CRE) Promotes Sound Moral and Religious Values

The story below shows how CRE values work in a real situation.

The Story of Rhoda and Dorcas

Dorcas had bought groceries from Mr Mambo's shop. She gave him a thousand-shilling note. He mistakenly gave her nine hundred and fifty shillings as change — fifty shillings more than she was owed. Dorcas was happy and planned to use the extra money to buy a pair of jeans she had always wanted.

Rhoda said: "That is not right, Dorcas. You should have returned the extra money to Mr Mambo. He will suffer a big loss because of you. Don't you remember what we learnt about honesty and self-control during the CRE lesson yesterday?"

Dorcas replied: "You are right, Rhoda. I now regret what I did. Let us take the money back to Mr Mambo."

This conversation shows two values Rhoda and Dorcas had learned in CRE:

• Honesty — being truthful and fair in your dealings with others; returning what is not yours; not taking advantage of another person's mistake
• Self-control — choosing to resist a temptation that pulls you toward a wrong action; setting a selfish desire aside to do what is right

Dorcas did not need a teacher present. The CRE lesson she had already received came back to her through Rhoda's reminder. This is the mechanism by which CRE promotes moral values: the subject teaches values in the classroom, those values take root in the learner, and they surface again when a real situation calls for them. The classroom lesson becomes a life lesson.

The story also shows how studying CRE can help us live a life free of sin. When you have learned what is right and are reminded of it, you have the knowledge needed to choose well.

Values Promoted by CRE

A poem recited in class identifies the values that CRE promotes. The poem expresses a desire to live a happy life and recognises that living well with others requires Christian values. God is pleased when a person lives by these values.

The values identified in the poem are:

• Honest — being truthful in all dealings with others
• Loving — genuinely caring for others and acting in their best interest
• Peaceful — choosing calm, fairness, and resolution over conflict and anger
• Respectful — treating every person with dignity, regardless of their status
• Integrity — acting consistently in a right way, whether or not anyone is watching
• Responsible — owning your actions and their effects on others

These six values are what CRE teaches and what it means to live a morally upright life.

Values Taught in CRE

CRE teaches a wider set of values, all rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ. These values help us to live a morally upright life.

A morally upright life is not about being perfect — it is about choosing, each day, to live by these values.

How These Values Help in Living a Moral Life

A moral life is a life guided by clear principles of right and wrong — one in which your behaviour towards others is consistently good, not just when convenient.

These values work together — a person of integrity is also likely to be honest; a person who loves others will also try to live at peace with them. CRE earns its place in your timetable not because of what you memorise, but because of what it makes possible — a life guided by values that are good for you and good for the people around you.

Ways in which Values Acquired through the Learning of CRE Promote Harmonious Living

Harmonious living means living in peace, cooperation, and mutual respect with the people around you — a life where conflicts are few, relationships are healthy, and people treat one another well.

Harmonious living does not happen automatically. It requires effort, self-awareness, and the regular practice of values. CRE equips learners with the values needed to make this kind of life possible.

These values work across every relationship in a learner's life:

• With family members — respecting parents and siblings; taking responsibility for household roles; showing love even during disagreements
• With classmates — being honest in group work; supporting friends who are struggling; resolving conflicts without fighting
• With teachers — showing respect through attentiveness and politeness; being responsible with assignments; using integrity in class and examinations

The Personal Journal

One practical way of seeing how CRE values affect your daily life is by keeping a personal journal — a short daily record of moments where a CRE value guided your behaviour.

A journal is a written personal record. It is not a formal essay. It is a private, honest account of what you noticed about yourself each day.

A five-day journal might look like this:

Keeping a journal does two things. First, it shows you that CRE values are not just classroom content — they are already working in your real life. Second, it builds the habit of wanting to live by these values every day, not because you are told to, but because you have seen for yourself what they produce.

Key Points — Sub-Strand 1.1

Use this summary to revise the whole sub-strand.

• CRE is the study of religious beliefs and practices based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. It develops values, a positive attitude, and a relationship with self, others, and God.
• There are six reasons for studying CRE: understanding God, strengthening faith, developing self-worth and respect, understanding Christian beliefs, growing morally through values, and discerning right from wrong.
• CRE supports three dimensions of a learner's development: moral development, career guidance, and deepening relationship with God.
• The story of Rhoda and Dorcas shows the mechanism of CRE: values taught in class — especially honesty and self-control — take root and guide real-life decisions.
• CRE promotes six values for moral living: honesty, love, peace, respect, integrity, and responsibility. These shape daily behaviour.
• For harmonious living, CRE identifies five key values: respect, integrity, responsibility, unity, and love — applied in relationships with family, classmates, and teachers.
• A personal journal helps the learner track how CRE values are working in daily life and builds the habit of wanting to live by them.

Welcome to Strand 2: Creation

To create means to make something happen or exist. You already know from earlier grades that human beings are co-workers with God and stewards of His creation. In Grade 7, you will go deeper — studying the two biblical accounts of creation, what they agree on, how they differ, what they reveal about God's character, and why all of this matters to us today.

What this strand covers

• Sub-strand 2.1 — Accounts of Creation: The two creation accounts, their similarities and differences, the attributes of God, and the importance of learning about them.
• Sub-strand 2.2 — Stewardship: What it means to be a good steward of God's creation.
• Sub-strand 2.3 — Responsibility over animals, fish and birds: Our duties towards living creatures.
• Sub-strand 2.4 — Use and misuse of natural resources: How we use, misuse, and conserve God's creation.

The second biblical account of creation

The second biblical account of creation is found in Genesis 2:4(b)–25. It tells the story of creation differently from the first. Here God is a hands-on creator — personally shaping, planting, and breathing life into what He makes, rather than simply speaking things into existence.

How God created man

When God created the heavens and earth, there were no plants yet because no rain had fallen. Water came up from below the ground. There was no one to cultivate the land.

God then created man using soil from the ground — the same brown earth you can hold in your hands.

After forming the man's body from soil, God breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils. The man became a living human being. This is very different from the first account, where God created by spoken command.

The environment as God's creation

The environment is made up of soil, rocks, plants, birds, fish, animals, insects, and natural features such as hills, mountains, and water bodies. Everything in the environment is God's creation — He made all of it.

When you look at the world around you — the soil under your feet, the trees, rivers, birds, and sky — you are looking at what God created.

The Garden of Eden

After creating man, God planted a beautiful garden in the east of Eden and placed man there. The garden had all kinds of fruit trees — beautiful and producing food. In the middle stood two special trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A stream flowed through the garden and watered it. Beyond the garden, the river divided into four rivers: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates.

God put man in the garden to cultivate it and take care of it. Man could eat from every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned that eating from it would bring death.

The first biblical account of creation

The first biblical account of creation is found in Genesis 1:1–31 and Genesis 2:1–4(a). In this account, God created everything through the spoken word — He gave commands, and each thing came into existence. God created in a specific order over six days, then rested on the seventh day. God is a God of order.

From this account, we can see that God built the foundations first — light, sky, and land — before filling the world with living things. Observing the sky, trees, rivers, and soil around us is a way of seeing God's work in action.

How God created woman

God noticed that man was lonely. He first created all the animals and birds from the ground and brought them to man, who gave them names. But even with all these creatures around, man was still lonely — none of them was a suitable companion.

God decided to create a more suitable companion. He made man fall into a deep sleep. While man slept, God took out one of man's ribs and covered up the place with flesh. A rib is one of the curved bones that form the chest wall, protecting the heart and lungs.

God used the rib to create a woman. When man woke up and saw her, he said: "At last, here is one of my own kind — bone taken from my bone and flesh from my flesh." He called her woman because she was taken out of man.

In the second account: man was created first, then all the animals and birds, and woman was created last. It is therefore our responsibility to continue with God's work of creation by taking care of our environment.

Human beings as a special creation

Among all of God's creation, human beings are special. Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created human beings in His own image and likeness — both male and female. No other creature received this honour, which is why human beings are superior to the rest of creation.

Responsibilities given to human beings — Genesis 1:28

Because of their special position, God gave human beings clear responsibilities:

• Be fruitful and multiply — fill the earth with people.
• Subdue the earth — take responsible authority over it.
• Rule over fish of the sea.
• Rule over birds of the air.
• Rule over every living creature that moves on the ground.

These are not just privileges — they are responsibilities. Human beings are placed in charge of God's creation to take care of it on His behalf.