EDucationally SPEAKING

I recently found this poem and thought that it has some great points about teaching…

When God was designing talents and gifts…  He carefully crafted each one
but the Heart that He made for the Gift of Teaching…  was beyond comparison!

He saved this important gift for last…  spending time on every feature
creating His very best design  for the special Heart of a Teacher

It’s a Heart of Humility focused on others…  unselfish in all its ways
with a spirit of love and gratitude  never seeking to receive the praise

It’s a Heart of Generosity…  that gives more than the job will pay
It’s not about money…  but touching lives that may change the world someday

It’s a Heart of Joy that makes learning fun…  and finds delight in teaching
creating and capturing teachable moments  for exploring…learning…reaching

It’s a Heart of Wisdom that teaches truth…  and accountability too
building character and integrity  so each child will know what to do

It’s a Heart of Kindness that’s sensitive…  to the feelings of a child
adding value and building self-confidence  with encouraging words and a smile

It’s a Heart of Compassion that reaches out…  to the child with special needs  helping to overcome challenges  making sure that he succeeds

It’s a Heart of discernment that understands…  and has the insight to see  beyond what a child is like today  to his potential…and what he can be

It’s a Heart of Purpose that knows that matters…  is the treasure inside every heart  helping each child to find his own way  to play a significant part

It’s a Heart of Passion that inspires greatness…  by lighting a fire within  empowering a child with the inner strength  to help a child learn and grow

It’s not easy being a Teacher…  and this Heart takes a beating each day  sometimes it breaks for a hurting child  and a piece is given away

But here’s strength in the Heart of a Teacher…  and a special vision to see  the difference you make in the heart of a child  …can affect eternity!

I know teachers who teach the word can affect eternity whether they teach preschoolers, children, students or adults.

Thank you God for being allowed to share in the discipleship of your people!

Sourche: Heart of a Teacher – Paula J. Fox

In a lot of Sunday School leaders minds there seems to be a general misunderstanding of the purpose of the Sunday School. This should not be a surprise when most churches have seem to have lost their reason for being. The same mandate for being is the same for the church and for the Sunday School organization.

Jesus gave His disciples the mandate before he ascended to heaven. Jesus said…

“Then Jesus came near and said to them, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20 – HCSB).

Steve Parr said in Sunday School That Really Grow. “A Healthy Sunday school is focused on engaging the congregation in fulfilling the Great Commission…A healthy Sunday School ministry focuses on the lost being reached, lives being changed, and leaders being sent. When a congregation intentionally focuses on these aims., the result is health and growth.”

Jesus gave us a mission, let continue to fulfill that mission!

Reference from, Sunday School That Really Works; Steve Parr; Kregel Press; 2012; page 31.

People attend Sunday School for many reasons on Sunday morning. Some attend out of habit and it is a good habit. Many attend for fellowship, for networking, and developing friendships. Whatever reason they attend, our focus should be on the study of God’s word. Remembering the words of scripture, “Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Hebrews 10: 23-25).

W. L. House once wrote, “The Bible is no ordinary book and no Sunday School class session is an ordinary period of time. When the teacher reads the Bible, God speaks. When one takes this library of 66 books into a classroom and teaches it, he or she is dealing with the most unusual book in the world, the most unusual message in the world, and is spending the most important time in the world.”

For whatever reason people come, our intent is to lead them in a life changing encounter with God through his word. Dr. Robert Gehering is a practicing physician and a professor at Baylor University Medical school in Texas. He’s also an ex-alcoholic and former drug-addict. In giving his testimony once, he said, “I spent $22,000 on psychologists to no avail. Then I found all the help I needed in a $10 Bible.” Like countless others he discovered that there is amazing power in the words of the Book we teach from in Sunday School each week. As Jesus said, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. (John 6:36)

If we as leadership expect to see changes in peoples lives, then our lives ought to be changed in the process. Teachers have got to give preparation the time needed. The amount of time given to the Bible on Sunday morning is directly impacted by the amount of time the teacher spent during the week in personal study and preparation for the Bible study during the week.

Years ago I was given this simple plan for lesson preparation similar to this which has always helped me.

Sunday night – Prepare for next weeks lesson by simply reading the Bible passages and reading the Lesson outcome.
Monday – Read the Teacher’s/Leaders Guide. Read all the material for that week. Be alert to news items that you can use in teaching the lesson.
Tuesday – Enrich your understanding by reading two or three additional commentaries or lesson guides.
Wednesday – Participate in a group study and discussion of the lesson if available at your church. Or, study an alternative teaching plan to Prepare. (Such as Extra from LifeWay or the Josh Hunt lesson outlines).
Thursday – Arrange your teaching plan. Develop an outline for the study.
Friday – Relate the lesson to life. Develop the two or three action steps of application for the group.
Saturday – Engage in prayer. Ask God to speak through you.
Sunday – Direct the Bible study and enjoy doing it!

Using this plan or developing a similar plan will lead to an improvement in teaching and learning. Another benefit is that the Bible will be at the core of your Sunday School. And when that happens, lives will be changed. After all that is what we are after!

Thanks to Tim Smith with the Georgia Baptist Convention for some of the material.  See the original article at :  http://www.gabaptist.org/FAITHNETWORK_UserFileStore/filecabinet/ministries/237e6518-ae1d-4db3-844a-2959aa6966fc/ssog/March%202012.pdf

By: Alan Taylor; Minister of Education; First Baptist Church; Woodstock, GA.  (Borrowed from Josh Hunt at allstarsundayschool.com)  Hope you enjoy it!

Reaching people is an ongoing process. Oftentimes we reach out to a prospect with a visit or phone call, and then that prospect never hears from us again. Essentially we have implemented a hit-and-run outreach strategy. We hit them with the gospel, and then they never hear from us again. Now, let me be quick to say that this is better than never hitting them with the gospel. However, it is usually an ineffective way to reach them. Most people are not going to respond to a gospel message or an invitation to church from a person they have just met for the first time. People today are skeptical and need to have a trust level with the messenger before they buy in to his message. Therefore, outreach must be seen as a process, a relationship-building process. The ones who should build that relationship are those in their life stage, which would be someone in their prospective Sunday School class. This is the reason we have implemented the MTV strategy at First Baptist Church Woodstock.

This strategy provides an easy way to employ continual “touches” on the prospect that will help build a relationship. When a class receives a prospect, we ask them to make an initial visit. After the initial visit we ask them to follow up each week thereafter with sequential contacts of Mail, Telephone, and Visit. The “touches” on the prospect look like this:
Week 1: Make initial visit.
Week 2: Mail them a note (can be e-mail).
Week 3: Telephone them.
Week 4: Visit them again.

If we still have not gotten them connected, then we continue the Mail, Telephone, Visit cycle over and over again until we do get them connected in Sunday School or they instruct us to leave them alone. The MTV strategy gives every class a hands-on, practical way to carry out the church’s mandate to be Great Commission people. It also gives every person a means by which they can get involved in reaching others. Some will not be comfortable making a visit, but they might be comfortable writing a note or making a phone call.

Taylor, Allan (2009-06-01). Sunday School in HD: Sharpening the Focus on What Makes Your Church Healthy (pp. 50-51). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Steve Parr has just had a new book published by Kregel Press, entitled Sunday School That Really Responds. The subtitle of the book is “Wisdom for Confronting 24 Common Sunday School Emergencies.” This is a book that ought to be in the library of one who has a passion for Sunday School, whether that is a Minister of Education, Pastor or a layman who wants to see their Sunday School grow. One of the book’s great premises is that “a healthy Sunday School is focused on engaging the congregation in fulfilling the Great Commission” (page 31).

Steve Parr wrote the book out of his experience, and his passion. He understands the local church and he understands how Sunday School will either grow the church or hinder it’s growth. The book has two sections with the first addressing “larger” organizational issues and the second section focusing on specifics faced by smaller Sunday School situations or small (class) groups. Each chapter is divided into five sections showing Steve’s understanding of Sunday Schools and their importance. The sections are…

∙ THE EMERGENCY: this is an introductory section which contains the situation with plenty of good teaching, sermon or newsletter material along with some suggestions for immediate actions.
∙ TRIAGE: this section will help you identify the severity of the situation and whether this is a quick fix or one that requires additional work.
∙ PRESCRIPTION: this section gives three to five scripture references giving spiritual direction in directing your Sunday School.
∙ FIRST AID: this section deals with the immediate actions that can be taken.
∙ REHAB: this section deals with the long term actions that need to be taken and implemented to resolve the problem.

Some common organizational emergencies covered are: Our Sunday School is Dying; We are going through a Slump; Our teachers Will Not Participate in Training; We have a Teacher Who Needs to Step Down; We are Completely Out of Space and We Have a Class That Will Not Cooperate. Do any of these sound familiar to you or are you dealing with any of these now? If not, I only listed six of the twelve listed, so I am sure there are some on this list that you are dealing with.

However as a Minister of Education I could identify with most, if not all of the “Common Class/Group Emergencies.” My favorite is: They Want to Split (or Change) My Class. (How many times has that been said in my 42 years of Sunday School work)? Others include: Our Guest Never Return; No One Wants to Help with Outreach; I Cannot Get Anyone Involved in Discussion; My Class is Not Growing and I Want to Quit. Have you ever heard any of those from your workers? If not there are seven other emergencies you can read about and if your Sunday School has any life at all you have a least one of these emergencies.

I do own a Kindle and have been trying to use it more and more the older I get. Books do take up a lot of room. But when you find a book you will use over and over; and being an “underliner” you buy the book! For me this is one of those keepers. I marked too many pages and underlined too many passages to list them under this blog, but some that stick out as I flip though the book are:

∙ The pastor and key leaders must declare that they are personally committed to making the necessary adjustments of time, priorities, and practices, and then call on the remaining members to do likewise (Page 30).

∙ A quality Sunday school ministry will require high standards and you’ll have high expectation of your leaders. They will grow weary at times. Encouraging your leaders is the equivalent of filling the gas tank in our car. If you are not intentional about refueling, the car will run out of gas and sputter to a halt (page 44).

∙ A failure to emphasize and elevate the Sunday school as a key ministry in your church will only exacerbate the situation. Your congregation must know that Sunday school is not an add-on, not a grogram, and not an additional activity, but rater a key strategy for your church to reach the lost, lead members to grow, develop leaders, and minister to the congregation (page 92).

∙ A lack of personal spiritual growth on the part of teachers will result in passionless or boring teaching. The best teaching comes from overflow, and overflow is the result of growing in knowledge and intimacy with Christ…They cannot lead the members where they are not going themselves (page 123).

∙ A healthy class is characterized by these three qualities: (1) Lives are being changed…(2)The lost are being reached…and (3)Leaders are being released (page 160-161).

∙ Leadership is not a word to be feared by believers…You are to develop and utilize your skills in spiritual leadership to influence your group to more them from where they are to where they need to be (page 202).

Sunday School That Really Responds is one book you need it your library! This is not the last time you will find it mentioned in this blog or in my Sunday School Leadership training presentations!

I recently read the following letter to my congregation.

November 27, 2011

First Baptist Church of Douglas

Forty Five years ago almost to the date, I stood before my home church and shared with them I felt like God was leading me into full time Christian service. That decision changed the direction I had laid out for my life and gave me a future I had not planned on. Looking back on these forty two years of ministry they have been incredible. Recently Brenda and I had to make another one of those major life changing decisions.

As some of you know, about two years ago I was diagnosed with several forms of Arthritis. Last spring I had to have surgery on my right knee because of this disease, and for whatever reason I have had a total of five different surgeries in three years. I have found it to be very frustrating to carry on effective ministry and have successful recovery at the same time. Recently I found out that I have to have double knee replacement surgery in the near future and I find this totally unacceptable.

So, after much prayer, Brenda and I have decided that it is now appropriate to announce my intention to retire on or near my birthday in July, 2012. I still feel that God has a plan for my life and has prepared me for a life of continued ministry in retirement. To accomplish this, I need to have all the surgeries I need to get my physical house in order, so I can be effective in ministry.

My goal is to continue with a full schedule until July and then have surgery. I feel like God has still given me a job to do here at First Baptist and finish the mission he called me to do here before July, 2012. I ask your prayers, understanding and your blessings in the weeks and months ahead.

In addition to writing my own blog, I also like to read others. One I enjoy reading is by Ken Braddy’s Sunday School Guys Blog. Recently he wrote an article about dying churches and I wanted to share it with you.

Ken writes … “Have you heard the phrase, “You are never standing still…you’re either growing or declining”? That’s true of your Sunday School, for sure. Your classes are either reaching new people and remaining strong and vibrant, or they are becoming closed groups that forget the real reason Sunday School exists is to reach people who are far from God. Is it possible for your Sunday School to be in a state of decline that ultimately leads to its death? The answer is yes.
1. On a recent trip overseas, a friend of mine, Ross McLaren, took some photos of churches in Scotland. I was deeply impressed with the architecture of these buildings and the engineering that went into the designs. I was equally impressed that in an era without the benefit of computers, virtual models, and advanced equipment to bring supplies to the work sight, the architects, foremen, and workers managed to erect these monuments which became the centers of towns and the centers of people’s lives for centuries. I can only imagine what worship and Bible study must have been like in these churches. In my imagination I can see men, women, boys, and girls walking to church on a Sunday morning in their “Sunday best” to worship their Lord, summoned there by the church bells that announced services were beginning, calling eve ryone in the town to come and worship Jesus. For hundreds of years these churches were a spiritual legacy to the cities in which they were built. But something bad happened…something very bad…and these churches lost their legacy. Their once great legacy as places of worship, centers of Bible study, places of hope and spiritual healing for individuals and families have long since disappeared. Today, these churches are no longer churches at all.

As I examined the photographs my friend had taken, I quickly discerned that once-vibrant churches have now become void of the spiritual activity that once took place in them. St. Andrews and George’s West Church has become, for all practical purposes, a mall and space is rented to cafes, recording studios, volunteer centers, and various other businesses. One church is now Maxim’s Casino…a casino!…another one is a theater, and yet another another one houses a SubWay sandwich shop for hungry business professionals to visit during their lunch hours.

Could This Happen to My Sunday School Class?

1. Churches in Scotland are one thing – they are an ocean away, after all. Is there a possibility their stories of lost legacies could become the story of my Sunday School class? Could my class one day no longer be vibrant, healthy, and relevant? Would there ever come a day when no one showed up in sufficient numbers to keep the class going? The answer is unfortunately, yes. The possibility exists that classes might lose their legacy and have their doors closed for good. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Leaving The Right Legacy
Think about the Sunday School class in which you are involved today. Were you there for its beginning years ago? Do you remember its vibrancy, energy, and effectiveness in reaching people for Christ and for Bible study? Are those things still going on, or has it become a shadow of its former self? Do you find yourselves reminiscing about the “good ol’ days” rather than focusing on future things? Can you foresee a day coming when there won’t be enough people to continue the work of the class? Or can you see the class thriving and growing, becoming more alive than ever before? It’s my hope you see and want the latter.

Vibrant, Healthy, & Relevant Classes Focus on 3 Things

For a class to remain vibrant, healthy, and relevant, the teacher and class members must all focus on three essential things. Do these things and you’ll be certain to leave the right kind of legacy.
1) Sunday School classes must remain OPEN GROUPS –Open groups are open because they expect new people every week. Vibrant, healthy classes always have the mindset that someone new might show up any given Sunday. Is that the mindset of your class? Do you expect new people each week? If you did, you’d do a few things like having plenty of extra chairs, class greeters to make guests feel welcome, extra learner books to give to them, an aggressive follow-up and outreach visitation to the guests, and nametags! Don’t forget the nametags. They help people learn names and start friendships quickly.

2) Sunday School classes must practice OPEN ENROLLMENT– Guests should not have to visit three time Restaurants like Subway now fill this once-vibrant church…see the banner to the right in the photo before they are placed on your class role! Open enrollment means they can join on their first visit, being placed on your class role (I like the term ministry role) so that you are accountable to look after them like a shepherd. Open enrollment means practically that people can “belong before they believe.”

3) Sunday School classes must START NEW GROUPS – If you want to make sure your class has a legacy that lasts, and that it’s around in 5, 10, and 15 years, it must start new groups! This is an irreducible law that is in effect at all times. Your goal as a class is not to have great Bible study, fun fellowships, and solid ministry to one another. Those are functions of a healthy, vibrant class, no doubt! But the main goal of any Sunday School class in any age group is to reproduce itself and start “legacy classes” – sometimes called daughter or granddaughter classes. It’s a proven fact that new classes reach more people and are more evangelistic than older, established, long-tenured classes. How many groups has your class started in the past two years? A healthy, vibrant class would have already started at least one new group. Don’t end up like the churches my friend visited overseas. Remain a vibrant, healthy class, or if you aren’t that today, reverse the hands of time and make adjustments today so that your class still exists for years to come, reaching new people, welcoming them into the class family, seeing them grow spiritually as they develop relationships and find ways to serve. Start new groups, leave legacies, and never let it be said your class lost its way. Practice the three things above, and you’ll leave the right kind of legacy for those who come behind you.”

To read Ken’s blog see … http://sundayschoolguy.wordpress.com/

When I was in college I was a Music Education major and I was involved in my student teaching experience in the Elementary school. One day, the class was very wired and involved in the process. To be honest, it was fun, or so I thought. However, when we walked out in the hall my college professor looked at me and asked, “did they learn anything?”

I learned a very valuable lesson that day. What you do when you teach is just not to vow to take up time but to lead to a conclusion that brings people to the point the point of learning. What happens in the presentation is important, but learning takes place when it is put into practice in daily life.

When a teacher, no matter what they teach, they must know what they are going. What do you want the learner to know and experience because of the time spent learning? Have a stated objective. For Sunday School leaders it is printed in your curriculum. As you teach state this objective, so those you can lead see the outcome.

John Gregory wrote in his classic work, The Seven Laws of Teaching, “The true function of the teacher is to create the most favorable conditions for self-learning…True teaching is not that which gives knowledge, but that which stimulates pupils to gain it. One might say that he teaches best who teaches least.”

Being an effective leader or teacher, knowing and having a your plan plus having skill is a must. However, knowing and caring about those who you are teaching and leading is a must.

You can’t be interested in just sharing information but in changing (transforming) lives! So the way people learn demands the way you teach or lead!

Our role as leaders (teachers) in our Sunday Schools is to lead those that God has given us to lead to have a life changing experience through the study of God’s Word!

At our next Sunday School Leaders meeting I am going to continue looking at our Sunday School theme (God’s Word…Transforming Lives) as well as our strategy statement, which reads…

“Sunday School is the foundational strategy in our church for leading people to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and for building Great Commission Christians through open Bible study groups that engage people in evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry and worship.”

This coming session as we are going to be dealing with the words in the statement … “that engage people…,” or what I am calling the “Principle of Engagement.”

As leader’s (teachers) lead their class each Sunday Morning we must remember… “The effective leader (teacher) always leads (teaches) from the overflow of a full life.”

Howard Hendrix says in the Seven Laws of the Teacher, “simply put…if you stop growing today, you stop leading (teaching) tomorrow.” We tend to forget that as leaders we have not made it, but we are still in process.

The questions always becomes, how do we continue to grow? Some simple points suggested by Hendrix are…

∙ Maintain a consistent study and reading program.
∙ Attend Continuing Education (Discipleship) classes.
∙ Get to know your students

Simple suggestions, but great points!

Source for quotes:

The Seven Laws of the Teacher; Dr. Howard Hendrix; Multoma Press; 1987