“I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints”
(Philemon 1:4-5).
• How can praying for and spending time with students build a firmer foundation for their lives?
• How can we inspire faith in students by forming relationships with them?
Think about your closest friends. How did you become close? Probably not by simply spending a short time together, making your friends call you by your last name. Most friendships are developed through quality time spent together.
Lots of quality time!
Over cups of coffee on rainy days. Getting together for dessert and games on weekends. Discussing the Big Life Questions together.Your kids deserve the same.
You probably can’t spend the same amount of time with each child in your class as you do with your closest friends, but you can find some time to get to know kids personally—and to let them get to know you.
Remember: It’s OK to interrupt a lesson to spend time on relationships. Try these ideas:
• Spend one-on-one time in class. If class size and volunteer numbers permit, take a few minutes out of each lesson to spend time with each child. Ask questions. Really listen to the answers. Find out what life is like for each student.
• Stop to play. Children love to play. They love to imagine. So do that. Bring in a game. Write a story together. Fire up your imagination!
• Work with them. We teachers often direct kids to do a project and then coach them through it. Instead, do the project with them. When kids are working in groups, join a group and take part. If kids are working alone, do the same project alone as well.
The more children experience healthy relationships at church, the more likely they are to have a healthy relationship with Jesus.
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• In number of minutes, how much time do you intentionally spend getting to know children in your class?
• Would your students say the same?
• How can you safely spend time with kids outside of class?
I can better connect to students by…
God has blessed you with a role in the lives of several children in your church. It’s an exciting thing and the more you embrace the idea of truly knowing and caring for your students, the more you will be a Christ-like presence and example in their lives. It’s a high calling, one that you are investing eternal treasure in.
With your students in mind, consider what it means to be a shepherd and friend in their lives. Plan something fun and unexpected to show them you thought about them during the week. For example, bring a special treat or make them each a special card. Tell them how much you enjoy spending time with them each week.
Don't Interrupt Me
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
• How will seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness help you be a wise and discerning teacher?
• What have you set as the primary goal of your ministry with children?
Four-year-old Kristen was fidgeting with her new name tag—concentrating more on the cute cotton-ball sheep than listening to a story about the Good Shepherd. The lesson came to a screeching halt when the name tag finally tore off and fell to the floor.
Kristen ran over to her teacher in tears—the whole class was distracted. But Kristen’s teacher turned the interruption into a God moment. She picked up the name tag, removed it from sight, and said, “Kristen, did you know our Good Shepherd, Jesus, knows our names even when our name tags fall off?”
Skillfully, the teacher transformed a distraction into a teachable moment, then returned to her lesson with the smoothness of a waltz.
These God moments are brief windows of time. God opens a door—but it’ll quickly close if you don’t walk through right away. The moments are disguised as distractions and off-topic questions. They’re hidden in interruptions.
As a wise teacher, remember that it’s OK to set the curriculum aside for these moments. Don’t put a God moment off to the end of the lesson. It might vanish before the lesson’s over. Or you’ll run out of time. You’ll lose that opportunity for kids to experience biblical truth in a unique way.
If you strap yourself to a lesson, you can deadlock the learning process. Instead of feeling guilty or frustrated about a twist, respond with a desire to use the interruption as a teaching tool.
This may not come naturally at first. Being frustrated is easy—being patient and focused on faith growth is not.
But here’s the good news: When you seek God’s direction, the Holy Spirit will provide spiritual “antennae” to help you recognize—and skillfully utilize—God moments.
Sometimes the back roads, the byways off the beaten path, are the ones that lead to the most memorable places.
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• How do you react to interruptions?
• How can you foster God moments in your classroom?
• What criteria will you use to discern if an interruption should take the place of the lesson?
Lord, help me prepare for teachable moments with my students by…
Children are not an interruption to the work. They are the work.
Jesus always recognized a learning moment. He knew when people were ripe for learning and he didn’t let the moment pass by. Read about the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), the storm on the lake (Luke 8:22-25), the man with the shriveled hand in the synagogue (Matthew 12:9-13).
How did Jesus take advantage of these opportunities? What impact did such lessons have? Make a list of ways those same principles could apply to your classroom. As a weekly reminder to “watch” for God moments, set out a pair of kid’s sunglasses where they’ll catch your eye as you interact with your students.
• How will seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness help you be a wise and discerning teacher?
• What have you set as the primary goal of your ministry with children?
Four-year-old Kristen was fidgeting with her new name tag—concentrating more on the cute cotton-ball sheep than listening to a story about the Good Shepherd. The lesson came to a screeching halt when the name tag finally tore off and fell to the floor.
Kristen ran over to her teacher in tears—the whole class was distracted. But Kristen’s teacher turned the interruption into a God moment. She picked up the name tag, removed it from sight, and said, “Kristen, did you know our Good Shepherd, Jesus, knows our names even when our name tags fall off?”
Skillfully, the teacher transformed a distraction into a teachable moment, then returned to her lesson with the smoothness of a waltz.
These God moments are brief windows of time. God opens a door—but it’ll quickly close if you don’t walk through right away. The moments are disguised as distractions and off-topic questions. They’re hidden in interruptions.
As a wise teacher, remember that it’s OK to set the curriculum aside for these moments. Don’t put a God moment off to the end of the lesson. It might vanish before the lesson’s over. Or you’ll run out of time. You’ll lose that opportunity for kids to experience biblical truth in a unique way.
If you strap yourself to a lesson, you can deadlock the learning process. Instead of feeling guilty or frustrated about a twist, respond with a desire to use the interruption as a teaching tool.
This may not come naturally at first. Being frustrated is easy—being patient and focused on faith growth is not.
But here’s the good news: When you seek God’s direction, the Holy Spirit will provide spiritual “antennae” to help you recognize—and skillfully utilize—God moments.
Sometimes the back roads, the byways off the beaten path, are the ones that lead to the most memorable places.
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• How do you react to interruptions?
• How can you foster God moments in your classroom?
• What criteria will you use to discern if an interruption should take the place of the lesson?
Lord, help me prepare for teachable moments with my students by…
Children are not an interruption to the work. They are the work.
Jesus always recognized a learning moment. He knew when people were ripe for learning and he didn’t let the moment pass by. Read about the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), the storm on the lake (Luke 8:22-25), the man with the shriveled hand in the synagogue (Matthew 12:9-13).
How did Jesus take advantage of these opportunities? What impact did such lessons have? Make a list of ways those same principles could apply to your classroom. As a weekly reminder to “watch” for God moments, set out a pair of kid’s sunglasses where they’ll catch your eye as you interact with your students.
Entertainment Expectations
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23).
• Why do you teach?
• How would you define your own ministry style?
• What do students expect of you?
Kids love to be entertained.
Everything in their world is fast-paced and readily accessible. Kids are surrounded by televisions, CD players, computers, e-mail, cell phones, text messaging, and MP3 players. Even very young children are fed a diet of fast-paced visual entertainment.
Now think about church. And about teaching biblical concepts like patience, humility, and prayer.
It’s not surprising that when your stimulation-saturated kids hear, “Be still and know that I am God,” you see some confused looks.
As a teacher you probably don’t have the latest technology or a Hollywood budget. But you do have something kids can’t find anywhere else—the Truth…and yourself.
As you’re genuine and vulnerable with your students, you’ll develop a trusting relationship with them. As you depend on God, he’ll guide your ministry and create opportunities to connect with kids.
If you’re careful to make your ministry creative, engaging, relevant, and fun, kids will be engaged—and entertained! And they’ll discover they can be friends of God!
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• What do your students expect of you?
• How realistic are those expectations?
• How can you meet kids’ expectations and still supply solid Bible teaching?
Lord, please help me remember the real goal of my ministry. Help me to focus on what you expect by…
Thank you for teaching. Thank you for stepping up when others decline. Thank you for being the one who tells kids about Jesus.
Write your description of a perfect teacher. What would that teacher accomplish? And how? How does that perfect teacher entertain as well as teach truth? How important is entertaining to you as you connect with kids?
• Why do you teach?
• How would you define your own ministry style?
• What do students expect of you?
Kids love to be entertained.
Everything in their world is fast-paced and readily accessible. Kids are surrounded by televisions, CD players, computers, e-mail, cell phones, text messaging, and MP3 players. Even very young children are fed a diet of fast-paced visual entertainment.
Now think about church. And about teaching biblical concepts like patience, humility, and prayer.
It’s not surprising that when your stimulation-saturated kids hear, “Be still and know that I am God,” you see some confused looks.
As a teacher you probably don’t have the latest technology or a Hollywood budget. But you do have something kids can’t find anywhere else—the Truth…and yourself.
As you’re genuine and vulnerable with your students, you’ll develop a trusting relationship with them. As you depend on God, he’ll guide your ministry and create opportunities to connect with kids.
If you’re careful to make your ministry creative, engaging, relevant, and fun, kids will be engaged—and entertained! And they’ll discover they can be friends of God!
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• What do your students expect of you?
• How realistic are those expectations?
• How can you meet kids’ expectations and still supply solid Bible teaching?
Lord, please help me remember the real goal of my ministry. Help me to focus on what you expect by…
Thank you for teaching. Thank you for stepping up when others decline. Thank you for being the one who tells kids about Jesus.
Write your description of a perfect teacher. What would that teacher accomplish? And how? How does that perfect teacher entertain as well as teach truth? How important is entertaining to you as you connect with kids?
Transferring DNA
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
• What kinds of things hinder you from teaching with perseverance?
• Think about the names and faces of some people in your “cloud of witnesses.”
What do you want them to witness?
All living things are filled with cells that grow and multiply. And it’s the DNA inside those cells that determines the characteristics and structure of the living things. When the DNA is healthy, the organism is healthy. When the DNA is damaged, there can be some health or structure problems.
We are all cells in Christ’s body. And we carry important DNA to transfer to the younger growing cells—our children. We have to do what we can to keep that DNA healthy and nourished.
However, when we hold on to sinful habits our spiritual DNA is damaged. Sin mars our character, and if we aren’t careful we’ll transfer our flaws onto the children we work with. For example, if you have an anemic prayer life, it’s impossible to transfer a vital prayer life into your students. If you harbor bitterness against someone, you can’t transfer the “joy DNA” to your students. That’s frightening.
But it’s a great thing that God is forgiving. He invites us to confess our sin and promises to heal our brokenness so he can create a new work in us. As God repairs our spiritual DNA, we become more effective teachers. We have a higher-quality spiritual DNA to transfer.
We don’t need to be perfect people in order to teach. If that were the case, there would be no teachers. But we do need to be people who are quick to turn to God with our shortcomings.
Hebrews 12:1 suggests that the spiritual health of your children will grow with these things in your life:
• You live your life as if children are watching. Because they are. They’re the
“cloud of witnesses.” There’s no such thing as privately struggling. The quality
of our spiritual DNA matters to everyone around us.
• You quickly confess your sins to God and set your heart on following him. This
is where you “throw off everything that hinders.”
• You follow Christ in every aspect of your life. By doing this you strengthen your
own DNA so you can transfer healthy DNA to your children. This is how we “run
with perseverance.”
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• Why do we tend to think that our struggles with sin are a “private matter”?
• How can you make repentance a more regular part of your friendship with God?
• What parts of your friendship with God would you like to transfer to your
children?
Lord, I need to confess…
Lord, help me build these spiritual qualities in the lives of the children I work with:
God has promised to complete the good work that he began in you! He knows your limitations, and provides the grace to make up the difference!
Make a list of the parts of your friendship with Jesus that you would like to pass on to your students. Next, list the parts of your friendship with Jesus that need to be repaired before you can pass them on.
Take a moment in prayer to thank God for how he has helped you mature in your friendship with Jesus. Talk to God about what it would look like to repair your spiritual DNA and what you will do to make that happen. Ask God to continue to transform you with Jesus’ spiritual DNA.
• What kinds of things hinder you from teaching with perseverance?
• Think about the names and faces of some people in your “cloud of witnesses.”
What do you want them to witness?
All living things are filled with cells that grow and multiply. And it’s the DNA inside those cells that determines the characteristics and structure of the living things. When the DNA is healthy, the organism is healthy. When the DNA is damaged, there can be some health or structure problems.
We are all cells in Christ’s body. And we carry important DNA to transfer to the younger growing cells—our children. We have to do what we can to keep that DNA healthy and nourished.
However, when we hold on to sinful habits our spiritual DNA is damaged. Sin mars our character, and if we aren’t careful we’ll transfer our flaws onto the children we work with. For example, if you have an anemic prayer life, it’s impossible to transfer a vital prayer life into your students. If you harbor bitterness against someone, you can’t transfer the “joy DNA” to your students. That’s frightening.
But it’s a great thing that God is forgiving. He invites us to confess our sin and promises to heal our brokenness so he can create a new work in us. As God repairs our spiritual DNA, we become more effective teachers. We have a higher-quality spiritual DNA to transfer.
We don’t need to be perfect people in order to teach. If that were the case, there would be no teachers. But we do need to be people who are quick to turn to God with our shortcomings.
Hebrews 12:1 suggests that the spiritual health of your children will grow with these things in your life:
• You live your life as if children are watching. Because they are. They’re the
“cloud of witnesses.” There’s no such thing as privately struggling. The quality
of our spiritual DNA matters to everyone around us.
• You quickly confess your sins to God and set your heart on following him. This
is where you “throw off everything that hinders.”
• You follow Christ in every aspect of your life. By doing this you strengthen your
own DNA so you can transfer healthy DNA to your children. This is how we “run
with perseverance.”
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• Why do we tend to think that our struggles with sin are a “private matter”?
• How can you make repentance a more regular part of your friendship with God?
• What parts of your friendship with God would you like to transfer to your
children?
Lord, I need to confess…
Lord, help me build these spiritual qualities in the lives of the children I work with:
God has promised to complete the good work that he began in you! He knows your limitations, and provides the grace to make up the difference!
Make a list of the parts of your friendship with Jesus that you would like to pass on to your students. Next, list the parts of your friendship with Jesus that need to be repaired before you can pass them on.
Take a moment in prayer to thank God for how he has helped you mature in your friendship with Jesus. Talk to God about what it would look like to repair your spiritual DNA and what you will do to make that happen. Ask God to continue to transform you with Jesus’ spiritual DNA.
September 9th 2007
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
Congratulations! As a teacher, you’re serving in a position of honor. You’ve been called—chosen—and with your curriculum in hand, you’re ready to go. Whether this is your first time teaching Sunday School or you are a veteran, you may find a few butterflies in your stomach. That’s OK…here are a few tips to banish those butterflies.
• Pray. Ask God to calm your nerves and use you to help children grow closer to him.
• Prepare early. Read the lesson early in the week. Gather supplies before Saturday night if you’re teaching on Sunday. Run through the lesson several times—aloud. In front of a mirror, if that’s helpful.
• Ask questions. Check to see that the supplies you’re assuming are in the room are really there. Make sure they work. Talk to someone if you have questions about policies or procedures.
• Arrive early. This gives you time to make preparations that can only be made at the last minute. Plus, you can make sure the room is as you expect it.
• Review guidelines and expectations. If you’re a new teacher, take time to establish guidelines and expectations. Setting two or three clear rules for your classroom will save you from conflict later.
• Focus on relationships. Learn names. Tell kids about yourself. Model the relaxed friendship you want children to have with each other.Any lesson is improved when you’ve prepared, when you’ve prayed, and when you’ve practiced!
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• What would a perfect day of teaching look like?
• What do you need to do to feel prepared and confident when teaching?
• If you were a child in your class, what would you expect from your teacher?
Spend a few minues with God:
Lord, my prayer for the next lesson I teach is…
The memories I want the children in my class to have are…
Lord, bless me with confidence as I plan for and deliver my next lesson. Help me think of everything I need to make this next lesson effective. I want to be a light to your children! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Lastly...
Set aside time in your calendar to prepare for your next lesson at least five days before you present it. If you develop this habit, you’ll find more time to tweak the lesson and ask any questions you have well in advance. The peace of mind is worth it!
Copyright © Group Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 481, Loveland, CO 80539. www.group.com
Congratulations! As a teacher, you’re serving in a position of honor. You’ve been called—chosen—and with your curriculum in hand, you’re ready to go. Whether this is your first time teaching Sunday School or you are a veteran, you may find a few butterflies in your stomach. That’s OK…here are a few tips to banish those butterflies.
• Pray. Ask God to calm your nerves and use you to help children grow closer to him.
• Prepare early. Read the lesson early in the week. Gather supplies before Saturday night if you’re teaching on Sunday. Run through the lesson several times—aloud. In front of a mirror, if that’s helpful.
• Ask questions. Check to see that the supplies you’re assuming are in the room are really there. Make sure they work. Talk to someone if you have questions about policies or procedures.
• Arrive early. This gives you time to make preparations that can only be made at the last minute. Plus, you can make sure the room is as you expect it.
• Review guidelines and expectations. If you’re a new teacher, take time to establish guidelines and expectations. Setting two or three clear rules for your classroom will save you from conflict later.
• Focus on relationships. Learn names. Tell kids about yourself. Model the relaxed friendship you want children to have with each other.Any lesson is improved when you’ve prepared, when you’ve prayed, and when you’ve practiced!
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• What would a perfect day of teaching look like?
• What do you need to do to feel prepared and confident when teaching?
• If you were a child in your class, what would you expect from your teacher?
Spend a few minues with God:
Lord, my prayer for the next lesson I teach is…
The memories I want the children in my class to have are…
Lord, bless me with confidence as I plan for and deliver my next lesson. Help me think of everything I need to make this next lesson effective. I want to be a light to your children! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Lastly...
Set aside time in your calendar to prepare for your next lesson at least five days before you present it. If you develop this habit, you’ll find more time to tweak the lesson and ask any questions you have well in advance. The peace of mind is worth it!
Copyright © Group Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 481, Loveland, CO 80539. www.group.com
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