Teaching

What approach produces results? How can I be a successful teacher? Consider five attributes exhibited by Gamaliel. In Acts 5:34–39, he stood, he spoke, and he swayed a difficult crowd!

Many skills can be developed during the summer. Keep children on a schedule of learning even when they are on vacation from school so they are ready for the fall. Suggestions are given below, but ideas to do are endless!

I think of teachers much like I do of nurses—heroes. Like nursing, teaching is an unsung job that requires tremendous amounts of personal investment in other people’s lives. And, also like nursing, teaching has the potential to make a tremendous difference as well.

Be prepared yourself. You should be there to greet them; you should not be doing lesson plans, etc. as students arrive.

Whether you are a kindergarten teacher or a parent of a kindergarten aged child you know that they are very malleable and are always learning about their surroundings. We should take advantage of this impressionable time to teach children their ABC’s.

Teachers with genuine passion can make the impossible happen— revitalize a dying Sunday school class, reach a hopeless soul, create a corporate desire to serve Christ, and the list can go on!

Have you ever heard someone say, “God gave us two ears and one mouth so that we would listen more than we speak!”

If we could read the autopsy report of a deceased class, I believe we would discover several reasons why the class took its last breath. Here are ten reasons classes decline and ultimately die.

Teachers have the responsibility and privilege of impacting lives for eternity. While many cower at this task, there are ways to leave a lasting impact on your students in the years to come. Here are some practical tips for developing the next generation:

The pastor who knows his people is going to communicate with his people better. Why? Because he knows their heart. Shortly after coming to Lancaster Baptist Church I was amazed at how well Pastor Chappell knows his people. I would bring up a name thinking, “He’s not going to know this guy in my Sunday school class,” but he would stop and tell me all about that guy or his family, and I would just stand there amazed. But that is what makes a preacher effective.

Outside of Christ, there is no greater communicator in the Bible than Solomon. Proverbs is a book of metaphors. One common denominator to all great preaching other than the Holy Spirit and the Word of God is a metaphor. A metaphor uses the imagination to picture your point.

Why is it that when Tom Farrell preaches, there is just usually a period of time where it’s really quiet? Have you ever heard this saying: a message in the head reaches the head, and a message in the heart reaches the heart? Go one step further, preachers: a message from the conscience reaches the conscience. Once you’ve reached the conscience of an individual, that’s when the life is going to be changed.

William Ball was a constitutional lawyer in the early 70’s that stepped up to the plate for Christian schools in America. He fought cases all the way up to the U. S. Supreme Court. I was a “young buck” just coming out of college at the time, and somehow I ended up getting to have dinner with Mr. Ball. He said something rather profound.

After twenty-six years of pastoring and thirty-two years of preaching, I can tell you that preaching is no problem at all—it’s practicing what you preach. This came home to me one day through the actions of a young lady. She transformed my preaching ministry.

In the last two articles we have seen how to preach Bible stories by using running narrative, and why preachers should be transparent in their sermons. Let’s see another tip that can transform your delivery:

Once your people trust you, it is amazing how their hearts become open to the truths you are preaching. I go to some large churches, and listen to the preacher, and the preaching is okay. It isn’t anything spectacular, but you can tell that it is effective because the people love their preacher and trust him. The preacher is transparent with them.

In the qualifications of a bishop, pastor, or elder, 1 Timothy 3:2 says he should be, “Apt to teach.” A pastor must be able to teach God’s Word. Have you ever wondered what makes the difference between great Bible teachers and average ones? It’s not the Bible—they are teaching the same one. It’s in their delivery.

Young children are especially attentive to what we teach, not just with our words, but also with our lives. Most of a child’s character is developed before he is five years old.

Did God assign the state or the parents to educate children? In the Old Testament, God placed the responsibility of child rearing and development on the parents in Deuteronomy 6. In the New Testament, God reiterates how important the role of the parent is in Ephesians 6. Not once does the Bible speak of the state’s involvement in the education of a child.

If repetition is the key to learning, then, when it comes to working with young people, keeping a big picture focus is the key to sanity. It’s so easy to get into a rut in which we tire of the repetition necessary to develop students.