Pastor, you have a tough job. You preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments according to God's Word. You accept responsibility for the spiritual care for dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people. You manage ministry teams of dozens of volunteers and paid staff members. You oversee a budget of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and encourage the stewardship that supports that work. Thank you, Pastor, for all you do. I don't pray for you often enough, and I resolve to do better.
I am bold, however, to ask one more thing of you. Please take the initiative to lead the processes for selecting and training the volunteers and choosing the curriculum for your congregation's Christian education programs. You are uniquely placed for this work. You have more theological training than anyone in your congregation. And you have a divine call from God to exercise this responsibility, not only for what is preached in the pulpit, but also what is taught in the congregation's classrooms. You don't want the impact of your preaching impaired or even contradicted by others who share the teaching ministry in your congregation.
Some will oppose you in this. They will not yet share your value for clear teaching of Law and Gospel and inclusion of Lutheran doctrines in their lessons. They will prefer the attractive, but often moralistic materials heavily marketed by non-Lutheran publishers. They won't get it. They will need patient instruction and occasionally firm guidance.
There will be many, though, who will value your involvement and support your decisions. They will want nothing less for the children of the congregation than that they learn each week of salvation through Jesus. And know that God desires that these little ones come to Him and will bless your efforts.
Thanks for all you do, Pastor, to support and encourage those who teach God's children His Word.
How involved is your pastor in the critical tasks of selecting and training teachers and choosing curriculum for your Sunday School?
How can we make the pastor's role in these matters easy and effective?
As chairman of my church's BoE, this is a topic that is dear to me. I want my Pastor to be involved with the teaching the Sunday School teachers. He is involved with selecting curriculum for the youth, but we have not done a good job training our teachers. I am looking to improve this situation. What resources would you recommend?
ReplyDeleteSteven,
ReplyDeleteOur current training resources include several books of one-session topics for training ("Quick Practical Studies," "TLC Teaching," and "Making a Difference" each have about 20 topics) and some general resource books such as "Sunday School Basics," "Child Ministry Basics," and "Family Ministry Basics." You can find all of these by browsing to cph.org, clicking on education, then Sunday School, then teacher training. There are several other helpful books there as well. "Teachers Interaction Magazine" is a quarterly resouce for teachers and leaders. Search the Web site for Teachers Interaction. Blessings. Tom
Thank you for those recommendations.
ReplyDeleteDO you know if the Synod has seminars for Sunday School teachers?
ReplyDeleteSteven, sorry for the delayed response. To my knowledge the Synod does not. Your district, however, might. Inquire and inspire. Where such seminars or workshops do not take place, it is often because the district does not think congregations want this service. Tom
ReplyDelete