Most of our churches could use more teachers. Often, the members of a church consider teaching to be the responsibility of the pastor, deacons, and elders. But in at least some cases, we need to be training others to serve as teachers.
Unfortunately, potential teachers often look at this prospect with fear and trembling. That is one obstacle they must overcome. Another obstacle is the lack of good material.
GES is attempting to help in the latter area. We are developing easy-to-use books for use in Sunday school or Bible study. Each book will go through a book of the Bible in 12-16 lessons, with the idea of teaching one lesson per week. Each lesson will include several questions. The members of the class or study will study the short lesson and answer the questions. These questions will provide the discussion material for each class.
Each book will also have a teacher’s guide. This guide will provide the answers to the questions. Hopefully, having the guide will alleviate some of the fear and trembling new teachers might have.
Currently, GES is offering a book on the Gospel of John. Bob Wilkin put it together, so we know it is solidly Free Grace in its theology. Our church has decided to use it for our next semester of Sunday school. Years ago, the church used the Southern Baptist quarterly as its Sunday school material. Teachers could follow the outline and material, which provided a crutch for those new to teaching. I don’t want to be a jerk, but the problem was that the content was terrible. Bob’s book does not have that problem.
If you have someone in your church who might be a candidate for teaching a Sunday school class but is hesitant, this might be the impetus to encourage them to take the leap. As believers, and perhaps I am speaking only for myself, we often neglect training future teachers and leaders. The folks in the pew are sometimes content to let more experienced teachers do the teaching. We need to force them out of their comfort zones.
GES aims to publish at least three more books within the next year. Maybe there’s a teacher in your church who has gone through a book of the Bible and, with some effort, could organize his notes in a similar format and share them with a new teacher, who can then use them to teach others. This could also be done with a class on a Biblical theme or Christian doctrine.
In the church there are men and women who have the gift of teaching, but whom we do not use in that capacity. There are many opportunities to teach, especially in these days of Zoom. We need to get the message of grace out to as many people as possible. If there is someone in your church who might have the gift of teaching, but has never taught before, maybe you can suggest the Gospel of John as a good place to start. Contact GES for the material.
