A devotion for Sunday school teachers from Heartfelt Thanks for Helping Kids Love Jesus:
I’d always thought of myself as the song and dance queen of Sunday school teachers. I put on puppet shows, did clever crafts, and took field trips…all carefully planned to correlate with the curriculum. But pride goes before a fall.
Last year a new teacher joined the fifth-grade team. Her methods were the antitheses of mine: She was the worksheet queen. I tried to help her out. I enthusiastically shared my ideas with her, but although she thanked me politely, she never used them. Each week her students went home with a boring fill-in-the-blank paper completed in class. One Sunday I couldn’t bite my tongue any longer and asked, “Why do you always have the children do work sheets?”
Her answer reminded me that one size does not fit all. She pointed to her students, many of whom came from Spanish-speaking homes, and said, “My students use the papers to teach their parents.” I realized that Jesus used more than one method to shared his message. He was the master of the miracle, a pro at teaching through parables, and a super sermon giver!
Read Luke 4:15: “He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.”
What methods do you use to teach? Should you consider trying something new?
DEAR GOD,
Grant me humility. Help me appreciate different teaching styles as well as different learning styles. In Jesus’ name, amen.
