When I was first approached about teaching Sunday school, part of me felt apprehensive and intimidated. This would mean a regular time commitment to teach children Bible history with an application that they could understand. Having taught since 2015, I can tell you that the rewards of digging into the treasures in God’s Word far outweigh any challenges one meets with on the way.
It is primarily parents’ responsibility to teach the Word of God to their children. When our children are baptized, we promise to train our children in the doctrines contained in the Bible. We promise to instruct them, or help or cause them to be instructed in the truths of God’s Word. Sunday school instruction is a practical way the church comes alongside parents and supplements their teaching. Sunday school instruction not only supplements parents' teaching, but also supplements the preaching our children hear every Lord’s Day.
Pastor Maurice Roberts, in his book The Christian’s High Calling, makes a very important observation. The following is a quote from chapter 8 (page 52), entitled “First Learned - Worst Learned” .
“The Jesuits, though a most deplorable society, have given us one of the most important insights we possess: ‘Give me a child till he is seven years of age, and then do what you like with him.’ They have had the acuteness of mind to see that what we learn first we learn most formatively. Our mind and body, soul and heart, conscience and religion are all moulded for good or ill at the dawn of life, while every part of us is soft and plastic, easily shaped by adult hands and fashioned by our whole environment......Christian parents ought to look upon the first seven, or ten, years of their children’s life as crucial in their development. “ The above quote underscores the value and time we should spend on instructing children in the ways of the Lord, also during Sunday school.
At our church, we generally have a Sunday School teacher’s meeting at the beginning of the new Sunday school season, in September. At this meeting, we confirm what part of the Bible each class will cover. Our first class, which has children aged 4-5, has the story of Creation and the Fall covered and then focuses on Jesus' life and ministry. Our second and third classes (grades 1-4) cover Old Testament History. We follow J Douma and J. P. Tazelaar’s Teacher’s Bible Commentary translated by Mrs. Pronk. Class 3 also covers Jesus' life and ministry as well as Paul’s Missionary journeys. Class 4 (grade 5) focused on parables and miracles of Jesus. Class five (grade 6) studied Bible Truths by Pastor VanderMeyden. Each class has two Sunday School teachers who rotate every two weeks. Each week, the children memorize a Bible verse and a Psalter stanza. The younger ones (ages 4-6), memorize only a Psalter stanza and the rest memorize both. Our Sunday School lessons are usually 20-30 minutes long.
I currently teach class 2, (grade 1 and 2) students. In addition to the Bible and Teacher’s Bible commentary, I use Childrens’ Bible Stories and other Bible commentaries. Depending on how the week goes, I will listen to sermons on the Bible passage.
In my Sunday school class, I begin by collecting money for our sponsor child and collecting the children’s Sunday School booklets. These booklets contain the psalters and Bible verses the children memorize each week. We recite the memory verse and sing the psalter together. We open with prayer and then I tell the story. I begin my story with a few brief questions about the previous week’s lesson. Sometimes a child will interrupt my lesson and ask a question. Rather than looking at this as a negative, it helps me realize that they are engaging in what is being said.
I find it helpful to write out an outline and to narrate rather than read the Bible story. This way I maintain eye contact and can quickly tell if the children “get” what you are telling them or if their minds are wandering. If I notice that their minds are wandering, I find that asking them questions quickly gets them involved again. Before I close our lesson with prayer, I often ask for prayer requests. (It is amazing what children will come up with).
The joy and hardships of teaching Sunday School are often two sides of the same coin. Recently I taught Genesis 3, mankind’s fall into sin. How sad sin entering the world was and is! When we reflect on the terrible fall of man and the awfulness of sin; the glory of the gospel, already given in Genesis 3:15 shines brightly. My main goal in teaching Sunday school is to present the gospel in a way the children in front of me can understand, praying and believing in the power of the Word and Spirit to work salvation in these young souls.
In conclusion, I hope this gives you an idea of how we teach Sunday school in our church. May the Lord bless us all in our endeavours and fill us with joy as we teach His truths to the next generation. “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14
Martina Bruinsma (Hamilton FRC)