GUIDELINE ON SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHINGS/LESSONS
PREPARATION
Sunday school is a
special assignment that needs a lot of research, and a lot of reference from
different versions of the Bible as well as Sunday school materials. Caregivers,guardians,parents or Sunday school
teachers need to give undivided attention to the preparation of little ones
lessons.
Before we prepare
for the lessons, we must keep the following in mind:
-how many children
do you expect to attend Sunday school?
-what are the ages
of the children? This helps in
simplifying the lessons so that there can be impact across all the classes of the
children.
-how many teachers
will be available to attend to the children?
-Theme of the main
Church so that there can be flow of the teachings and the parent/guardians can
follow up with the child at home
-Duration to take for the lesson-the children have a short
concentration span so the sessions must not be very packed to avoid boredom and
have impact
-other Sunday
school activities to be incorporated such as games: Bible Trivia
SECTIONS IN A SUNDAY SCHOOL SESSION
§
Open with
opening prayer (encourage the children to pray so that they can gain confidence
to do the same even as they go home and to school)
§
Have a
session of praise and worship songs where you encourage the children to lead
the songs. In case any of the children
or the teacher has a new song they want
to teach the other, they can also do so.
§
Bible Lesson-it
should be in line with the theme of the main
Church . Before you begin the sessions, always welcome the children and
complementing them. You can ask them what the date is and write on the Board: this
helps in breaking the ice.
§
Ask them
how their week was each at a time (ask them about their parents, brothers and
sisters, school, teachers, friends, neighbors’ etc. This
time gives each child the confidence to know that they are part of this groups
and enhances a great relationship amongst all the children
§
Do a
recap of what the children learnt the previous week by asking them open ended
questions such as: what was the memory verse last Sunday?
§
Write
the Topic for the day and let the children write
§
Ask them
what that topic means to them
§
Get a
Biblical character who relates to that topic.
You can start by asking the children who they know in the Bible whose
name starts with letter P,S,A….THEN read
together with the children for a greater understanding e.g. when we talk about
the power of Praising God, you can refer to Paul and Silas when they were in
Prison. Ask the children to turn to
their Bibles in Acts 16:16-40. Have children
read IN turns to ensure all of them participate
§
Invest
in a Dictionary so that you can have simplified definitions of words . never assume that the children know the
meaning of the words
§
Do not
rush to finish your lesson for the day. Teach
for impact. In case it becomes long or
hard for children to understand, take your time .
§
Ask for
any children who want to receive Jesus Christ as their savior. Do not assume.
§
ALWAYS
HAVE BIBLE TRIVIA FOR THE DAY SO THAT THE CHILDREN WILL BE ACTIVELY ENGAGED
VIRTUES OF A GOOD SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER (1Thess
2:1-13)/1 Thes 1:1-10)
·
Must
be Spiritual
·
Must be
committed to the work since this is Service to God/faithful
·
Serve not
unto man but unto God
·
Must be
ready to work/hardworking
·
Blameless/good
example both to the children and the community(Mat 5:16)
·
Thankful
·
Gentle
especially to the children so that there is a deep relationship created
·
Genuine
in the service
·
Christ
imitator
·
consistent
in Prayers
·
have
teachable spirit so that one can learn from others
·
humble
