Saturday, 21 March 2009
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My Sunday School Teachers Were Clueless About the Bible
by mr pine
I don't know if it's just my church, but we have a hard time trying to find committed Sunday School teachers for our youth group. Most of the time, they do it for a year or so and quit. I think it's because most don't realize how challenging it can be.
And I think that in our desperation to find teachers, sometimes we took just about anyone who volunteered, without really knowing anything about them, or what they were really teaching. Lately my church has gotten better at this because we have weekly meetings where we actually talk about what happened in class that day, but before this I was a bit troubled by some of the things I saw.
I remember when I was in youth group, I took whatever the teacher said as "gospel" and never questioned what he said because he was a "grown-up." I never realized that he probably never had any formal Bible training or theological background.
Looking back, it explained a lot. I remember one teacher who would just buy us plastic airplane models that we would assemble each week in class. I didn't question it because it was fun, but now I realize that he was probably doing that because he had no clue on actually teaching anything biblical. Another one of my teachers wasn't even a member of our church...he was the janitor, who we found out later wasn't even a Christian. Another one just made us read these Christian comic books every week for the whole hour.
Previously, in my current church, I saw similar things. A lot of the teachers really had no desire to actually teach from the materials. Each week they would say, "Yeah, I 'departed' from the book this week and just asked how my guys were doing and we talked about their problems." First of all, you actually have to have used the materials to say that you "departed" from it. Second, you can ask about your students' problems any other time. The hour you have with them is reserved for teaching from God's word.
One time, we discovered that one of the teachers was teaching his class that he believes in earthly reincarnation... meaning that when you die, you come back to Earth as someone or something else. I think he had a Buddhist background. I couldn't believe that this happened.
I realize that finding a dozen or so people in any given church who are dedicated to teaching and have sound doctrine is difficult, but I think that teaching our kids the truth about God's word is of paramount importance. They are very impressionable, and that means we have to be extra vigilant in finding good teachers to teach them about the most important things in Christian life.
The word "screening" has a very negative connotation when it comes to volunteer work, but I think it's necessary. If we claim that teaching our youth is important, we have to back it up by caring about what we teach (or don't teach) them. Could this mean that this scares away some potential teachers from volunteering? For some teachers, yeah, I actually hope so.
Does your church have problems finding good Sunday School teachers? Do you think they should be "screened"?
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About the Author
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- From: mrpine
- Name: Nathan
- About Me: I attend a rather large church where I serve in many capacities - Sunday School teacher, praise leader, deacon, cranky old man. I sometimes think that my students only like me because I take them to McDonald's occasionally instead of having class. Graduating high school, I wanted to be one of two things - an engineer or a writer. I heard somewhere that in order to be a good writer, you have to read a lot... Hello, Georgia Tech! But even after I had my creativity lobotomy... I mean, finished engineering school, I still had the bug. One day I found Xanga, and over 400 entries later... I still dread reading. My xanga alter ego is xanga.com/nathon
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Comments (18)
My church is kind of like yours. I grew up reading out of a large, bulky, no-pictures workbook willed with apparent bible stories. i didn't understand any of it nor did any of it stay in my head. then, after reading it the class would go on to MAKE BRACELETS! AND NECKLACES! AND JEWELRY! (even the boys). they were the only reason i enjoyed sunday school, all the way up until third grade. everyone had billions of bracelets stacked up in their own home and in the classroom, and well.. .it was sunday school.
Basically, the same situation exists in not being able to find teachers. My church is made up of mostly new christians, people who have just came from over seas. Many of them can barely speak english and know probably the same amount of bible stories that we do.
Right now I am currently a sunday school teacher. I vow to change that. I'm working with a team of awesome people, and we meet up every week to prepare engaging games, activities and crafts that actully apply to the lesson. It's alot of fun.
Also, I don't think "screening" woudl be that great of a process. I think that the church should reach out to the youth more, and ask if they could teach. I'm currently still a high school student but there's nothing I love more than teaching little kids about the bible. Alot of my other friends would be happy to teach if asked.
Anyway, good luck :)
No, we don't have any problems. Every Sunday School teacher I've had has been GREAT. Save one. Maybe it has something to do with living in the buckle of the Bible belt...I dunno.
Having taught Sunday school for years, I can't agree with you more. Teaching is a grave responsibility that should be taken as seriously as possible (in an ironic twist, see James 3:1-2). While there is something to be said about the difficulty in finding committed and knowledgeable teachers, we should be careful not to compromise the integrity of teaching for the sake of convenience. I mean, would I want someone teaching my (theoretical) kids calculus who couldn't do algebra, or Shakespeare who couldn't read? Certainly spiritual affairs are a little different - more subjective, more conceptual and abstract - but that shouldn't mean they are entirely relativistic.
In our modern age of information overload, I don't think anyone has the right to complain of lack of resources for self-education. If people truly have the desire to teach but feel inadequate, there are gazillions of resources for learning theology, apologetics, etc. on a sufficient level for basic instruction. More concerning (and in even shorter supply) are people of strong character who serve as good models. I think of everything I struggle with as a Sunday school teacher, that has to be the biggest insecurity: being a poor model.
And this is your youth group? With teenagers? They're really not all *that* impressionable, especially the older ones. They're smart enough to know when someone is shoving bull shit down their throat.
But I remember I had this one Sunday School teacher... Mrs. Kim. She would cry at every lesson because she didn't have children of her own, and we reminded her of what she didn't have... >.>
The ability and inclination to teach are spiritual gifts. Kudos to all those wonderful people who volunteer to teach religion to the people of their churches and parishes inspite of the fact that they may not have the gift.
Parents must be the main teachers of the faith, however. Passing the buck to others and then complaining about bad results stinks of neglect.
If they can't write 500 words on the doctrine of God and another 500 words on the doctrine of salvation then what are they teaching for and what are they teaching the kids?
The best part of sunday school was the donuts. mmm donuts
I remember once asking one of my Sunday school teachers, "well, what if God doesn't exist?"
"But He does," she answered, "so that question doesn't matter."
"But how do you know?" I was apparently a Socratic punk from birth...I was probably in 3rd grade at this point.
"Well lots of people have thought about it and come to conclusion that He does, so we don't have to anymore. Now, moving on...."
I basically lost interest in the entirety of the Church after that. (I mean yeah, I came back around and gave it a second try, but only about a decade later)
The cookies and lemonade were nice though.
@Pcgecko85@xanga - I totally agree...except we only got donuts like once a month or something.
@Sosthenes - I'm sure I could write 500 words about the nature of God, but about salvation....hmm the two overlap so much, can't I just write a 1000 word essay on the combination? :P That's actually not a bad idea. Typically they'll have some short questions that you can answer in a few sentences and it's really easy to parrot what you know they want to hear....1000 of "your own words"...that's a bit harder to parrot.
@its_me_katie@xanga - The screening process isn't to stop people from teaching; it's to stop unqualified people from teaching. Just because someone loves working with, say, high-school aged kids doesn't mean that person would make a good physics (or any other given subject) teacher. Same is true of any other age group and topic, including elementary school kids and the Bible. Y'see what I mean?
@sheepthatsblack@xanga - I think that young kids are forgiving and it is a place for Christians who aren't perfect to practice a little but they should have some basic requirements.
And I never said write 500 words in your own words. If they can't give Bible then they don't know anything. And "no"..Not every Sunday School teacher would pass if he had to "screen" them.
Some of my friends, and my boyfriend as well, said that once in Sunday School the two teachers were teenagers, and taught them about medieval torture/weapons. O.o
That is definitely a problem.
i remember being asked to leave sunday school as a child because i pointed out that Jesus was Jewish. i stopped going to church after that episode.
I was fortunate to have good Sunday School teachers... until I reached my junior year of high school, and we moved and changed churches. The church I grew up in Kansas had men and women who were people who loved the Bible, and wanted to teach us to love it too. I will forever be grateful to the teachers I had at Haviland Friends Church.
All of our teachers are called to the positions. The calls generally last from 1 to 3 years, and although some do not accept, most do. We believe the calls come through revelation from the Lord to the Bishop of the congregation, wherever it happens to be in the world.
Having said all that, I have to add that some teachers are better than others. Those who study the scriptures and pray regularly, prayerfully prepare their lessons in advance, and pray for and love their class are usually the best teachers. We also have Sunday School leaders and teacher development classes to help new teachers or those who need help with special issues.
I teach Sunday school for our churches Sr. High students. I have been doing it for 8 years now. I personally developed the curriculum and teach it in four year cycles. I love doing it and cant imagine it not being a part of my life.... I truly look at it as a high calling and a challenge to make sure that the students faith can stand the assault of the secular world by knowing WHAT they believe and WHY the believe it...
I'm a sunday school teacher, and yes they should be screened. They're teachers of God's word, and should be considered as any other elder or prophet would be considered in terms of their biblical foundation.
physical reincarnation... that is not a good sign.
@too_pretty_to_die@xanga - you were one smart kid; I guffawed out at them when I read they kicked you out
doctrine and knowledge of the Bible is important... my church recently started on Bible drills and many, some teachers even, couldn't find certain books or even knew what some books were
I don't blame people for not using the materials.. If it is an excuse not to do a lesson that is one thing but as a youth minister myself I find it difficult to find high-quality lesson plans and books. Serenity Press has some good topical and book-by-book materials but other than that I haven't found much. Usually they are lame, cheesy, have too much or too little information.
Even I, as the minister at a small church sometimes run out of ideas or feel nothing from the Holy Spirit. So am I supposed to just come up with something myself or do something else. Sometimes we just chill and other times I might even just cancel youth for the night bible study, especially if the youth have other plans and I am having to drive in and out of town to teach no one. Something I am able to do at a small church I might not be able to do at a larger church I guess.
I think sometimes we do not just let God work, we do not just fellowship.. in the church we always feel like we must be doing something and I think we forget that church is about the community of Christ. this is not saying we should not teach or do lesson and learn doctrine but if that is all we do and we never really get to know one another, never really think about how to integrate faith into our lives - then I think we have lost something vital.
I agree with your post! Sunday school teachers should be screened if they're going to be teaching things like that....it's a very important job because kids are so impressionable!