Will You Teach Sunday School?

I spent fifteen years recruiting Sunday School teachers. Some years the task was easier than others, but it was never truly easy. Over the years, I developed a system that worked for me. It sought to address the two chief reasons adults were reluctant to volunteer to teach, two fears that kept them from saying yes.


FEAR #1: Will I have time for this? No reasonable adult will be willing to give you a signed blank check to draw on their checking account, no matter how rich they are. Similarly, no reasonable adult will give you a blank check on their personal time account. They will want to know that they can handle this new responsibility, and they will want to feel confident that you can tell them honestly what it will take.

You will need to do your homework. Provide a brief job description. Describe honestly the number of hours each week, and the number of weeks in the year, that you want the volunteer to serve. (It will not serve you well to fudge here; if you think the numbers will scare off your volunteers, you may want to honestly re-evaluate what you are expecting.)

FEAR #2: Will I succeed at this? Almost every potential teacher, whether they express it or not, will have this concern. No one wants to take a job and do poorly.

You will want to guarantee them success! Offer training and orientation. Encourage them to shadow one of your best teachers for a couple of weeks. Point out how the curriculum you've chosen helps them be successful, both educationally and theologically. Promise to stay in touch as they get started in the position and keep your promise.

If you can address these two concerns for your potential volunteers, you have a greater chance of successfully enlisting them to teach God's children His Word!

What other concerns do volunteers have?


How do you go about enlisting new teachers?

Are You a Heretic?

It's Monday. The beginning of another week of service in my life as a curriculum editor for Concordia Publishing House. I am grateful for my opportunity to serve at CPH and relish the challenge of creating resource for Sunday School teachers and students that teach God's Word accurately, clearly, and age-appropriately. I am often humbled by the responsibility my call represents.

For, you see, I am a heretic at heart. My sinful nature seek always to corrupt my work. It is so easy for bad theology to raise it's ugly head. How do I cope with that?

• I give thanks for and use the best tools I can in my work, including The Lutheran Study Bible, the Concordia Commentary series, and often the Christian Cyclopedia (though the on-line version once found through the LCMS Web site seems to no longer be available).





• I rely on my colleagues. CPH has a system of "second edits" and "senior editor reviews," and copyediting and proofreading, through which knowledgeable colleagues review the material I have written or edited.





• I treasure our system of doctrinal review. Independent, anonymous theologians appointed by our synod's president review every product with theological content that we publish. The insights of these reviewers are universally helpful in teaching God's Word accurately.





• I respond with unfeigned gratitude to the constructive criticism of those who purchase and use the resouces I help prepare.

At times I cringe at the resources mentioned or even recommended by others in our LCMS circles, including various teachers, principals, and DCEs. I would like to think they know better, and I try to cut them some slack because I am a heretic at heart. Only by God's grace am I able to assist in the production of material that teaches God's Word in all its truth and purity. And, at least occasionally, I fail. Like all Christians, I rely on God's forgiveness and mercy, and I trust His Spirit's power to use the resources I prepare to teach God's children His Word.

What steps do you take to ensure that the material used to teach God's children are faithful to the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions?