"PREPARATION FOR TEACHING:  
One Of The Most Important Jobs You Will Ever Have!"


WORKSHOP PART ONE – THE TASK AHEAD…


Throughout the Bible, we find many passages that remind us of the importance of teaching and learning about God, His Word – the Bible – and His will for our lives. We also find many scriptures where God directed His people to teach others. In Deuteronomy 31:12, for example, God instructed Moses to “Call them all together – men, women, children, and the foreigners living in your towns – so they may listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the terms of this law.” In Matthew 28:20, Jesus in His final earthly instructions to his disciples said, “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.”

From its beginning, over 230 years ago, Sunday school has always been primarily concerned with teaching people of all ages about Jesus Christ, His love and the Way of Salvation that is available through Him. One of the other traditions of the Sunday school has been that is a “lay movement,” relying primarily on the un-ordained, lay members of the church to serve as teachers and leaders.

In recent years, many Sunday schools have seen rather dramatic decreases in attendance. Over the past 20 years, Sunday school attendance in the U.S. has decreased over 25%. Many people wonder why this is happening. Certainly there are many possible reasons; however, statistics tell us that a large part of the blame must be placed at the feet of those persons who serve as teachers and leaders in our Sunday schools.

Several years ago the Pennsylvania State Sunday School Association conducted a survey of over 400 church and Sunday school leaders across the state and asked them about the problems that they had in their Sunday schools. The results listed many different things, such as a lack of space, a lack of money, a lack of good curriculum materials and a lack of spiritual commitment. However, the number one problem that these church leaders saw was the lack of training for their Sunday school teachers and leaders.

Other surveys have indicated that the Sunday school teacher has the greatest influence over whether or not a Sunday school class – and ultimately the entire Sunday school – will grow or not. And, the number one reason that people give when they leave a Sunday school or a Sunday school class is that they didn’t like their teacher.

Being a Sunday school teacher is not an easy job. In fact, it is one of the most important jobs a person could ever have. It takes a lot of time, hard work and commitment. It is not something where a person can just show up on Sunday morning and expect to do a good job. Teaching Sunday school takes a lot of thought, preparation and prayer.

It is also important to remember that in Sunday school we are not just teaching trivial information that can be learned today and forgotten tomorrow; we are teaching the Bible, the Word of God, information that has life-long and eternal implications.

It is quite clear that if our Sunday schools are to grow, both in numbers and in their effectiveness in helping persons of all ages learn about God and His Word, Sunday school teachers must play a central role. The Sunday school teacher is the leader of the class. He or she will, to a large degree, determine what people will learn, whether or not people will be invited to accept Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior, and even whether or not some people will or will not attend Sunday school.

Sadly, most Sunday school teachers and leaders are satisfied with the job that they are currently doing. Even though the average Sunday school teacher has little or no special training or preparation for their task, they think they are doing a good job and are not interested in making any effort toward improvement.

As individual teachers, we must never stop learning. We must realize that even though God, the Bible and the Way of Salvation do not change, the world and people have changed! And, there are many things related to Christian education – the ways that people learn, the teaching methods and tools available, and the ways we should be teaching these unchanging messages to people of different ages – that do change.

Many things have changed in the world over the past 25 years. During that time the ways that children and youth are being taught in the public schools have changed greatly. Education has been greatly affected by computers, the Internet, TV and other media. Still, most Sunday school teachers teach the way that they were taught. And, in many churches, few things have changed from the way they were done 20, 30 or even 50 years ago.

If our Sunday schools are to grow, if our churches are to grow, if we are to reach the people of our communities and help them learn about Jesus Christ, we must do a better, more effective job of preparing our Sunday school teachers for this great and important task to which they have been called.

This “Preparation For Teaching” workshop is designed to help all current and prospective Sunday school and other Christian education workers learn more about the importance of Sunday school and the other forms of Christian education that take place within the church, and why serving as a teacher or leader in the church and Sunday school is certainly one of the most important jobs that a person could ever have!

Well known Christian educator and author Dr. Howard Hendricks tells the story of a woman that he met some years ago. He was attending a Christian education conference in the Chicago area. At lunch he sat at the same table as an 83-year-old woman who had traveled all night on a bus just to attend the event. Upon inquiry, she told him that she was a Sunday school teacher, teaching a class of 13 boys in a Sunday school that had only 65 members.

Hendricks said that after the convention, he went on to discover the amazing fact that over the years, 84 boys from that woman’s classes had gone on to become ministers. He said that as he talked with her, he discovered that she had a true passion for the Bible. She had a desire to communicate God’s Word with others and had come to the convention to hear speakers and be part of workshops so that she might learn and grow as a teacher. That’s the kind of desire and commitment that every Sunday school teacher should have!


QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT…


1. Why are you taking this workshop?


2. Are you now a teacher in your church or Sunday school? Why or why not?


3. What other duties do you have within your church and Sunday school?