Christian apologetics is on my mind a lot these days. The writings of Ken Ham and Brad Alles urge us to be a bit more deliberate (no, a lot more deliberate) about preparing Sunday School students to face a world that is often hostile to their faith.
How can we make sure that the lessons we teach on Sunday morning will be distinctively Christian and Lutheran?
A wise man who helped me get started in the Sunday School editing business, Rev. Earl Gaulke, spoke occasionally of using the temple test.
It works like this. Just ask yourself: Could the lessons we teach, the materials we use, be taught in a temple of another faith (Jewish, Islam, Baptist, etc.) without causing those who worship and study there to object? If there would be no objections, our lessons have failed the test! They have not adhered to the truth of Scripture that Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [Him]" (John 14:6 ESV).
We do the children we teach a disservice when the lesson we teach present godless morality, Christless salvation, or religious life absent the Sacraments through which Jesus promises to be with us. That hour of opportunity each week, when God's children gather in your classroom to study His Word, is too precious to waste!
Am I too harsh?
How do you evaluate the material you teach?
No comments:
Post a Comment