The Best Class Ever!

You didn't use the suggested worship. Your students joined several other grades in a joint opening devotion led by the Sunday School director.

You didn't use the opening activity. A local news story had captured the interest of your students, so you allowed them to share their thoughts, offered some comments, and led the discussion into the Bible account for the day.

You didn't present the Bible account using drama like the guide suggested. Most of your students are not very outgoing, but they like to draw, so you had them line up at the board and have each one illustrate one paragraph of the text.

You didn't use the scripted teacher talk. Instead you phrased questions in your own words and followed up on insights your students shared.

You did remember the key point and general thrust of the lesson from your review earlier in the week, and you kept to that outline, more of less.

You didn't use the suggest application activity, but instead tied the Bible text back to the local event with which you started.

You didn't sing the suggested hymn in closing, but the text was right on target, so you challenged your students to listen carefully as you played the recording.

You didn't use the closing prayer, exactly. Your students are generally willing to pray petitions expressing their spiritual concerns, so you allowed each of them to offer a short prayer and closed with just a couple of phrases from the printed prayer.

You didn't use the leaflet this week, but you passed it out, and you noticed a couple of the students tucked it into their Bibles. Maybe they will use those daily Bible readings this week.

It was one of the best classes you've taught this quarter. The students were engaged. The Gospel was clearly shared. And the lesson material provided just enough structure and substance to get you started and keep you on track. You were the final editor, making choices and adjustments based on local conditions the publisher could never have anticipated.

Thanks! God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

What Is Life Application?

I occasionally hear the criticism of our CPH Sunday School materials that they lack “life application.”

For too many customers this means “telling the students how to act and live.” That's the Law! Some would have us present the love that God shows to the world through His Son Jesus and then say to the students, "Go and do likewise." The problem, of course, is that they can't . . . not perfectly, not all the time, and maybe not at all. Our students don't need to hear more Law. They need to hear about Christ's forgiveness.

A good Sunday School lesson is one that teaches Law and Gospel. The Law is taught first; it shows the students the reality of sin, for God's people and for themselves. It points to the need for rescue from sin. Then the Gospel is presented in all its grace and mercy; God loves us, forgives us through Christ, and makes us His children.

A typical Sunday School lesson can also be outlined this way: an attention getter or introduction to focus the students on the lesson, a presentation of the Bible account with discussion that "unpacks" the meaning of the Bible text and the Law and Gospel truths found there, and an opportunity to discuss or express how the Bible account impacts our life.

If the life application section of the lesson focuses on how the students should live, it should avoid negating the Gospel message and leaving the students condemned by the Law or stuck in works righteousness.

Teach Law, then Gospel; not Law, Gospel, Law.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!