Benefits of Training Sunday School Teachers (Newsletter 4-10)

Benefits of Training Sunday School Teachers
by W. Bradley Simon

(The following principles are taken from Teaching To Transform Not Inform 2)

Benefits of training Sunday school teachers

Many (possibly most) of your teachers have never been trained as a Sunday school teacher so even a few hours of training can have a dramatic effect.

Teachers who do have some training in educational principles have usually been shown how to teach the mind/head information like biblical facts, principles, and theology, but these teachers often don’t know how to teach the heart. They know how to educate the mind, but are less clear on how to prepare and teach lessons that change listeners’ values, attitudes, opinions, priorities, prejudices, will, and commitments. Equipping teachers to transform the heart is one of the biggest benefits of training Sunday school teachers.

The training time deepens your teachers’ walk with the Lord; they need a spiritual teacher as well.

As God impacts their life, they can’t help but impact the lives of those in their class!

Lessons are always more insightful when you have the combined insights of other teachers.

Teachers are able to quickly determine what truths need to be explained within the lesson along with the best way to state them.

Additional application and insights are identified by the group.

Training Sunday school teachers in new teaching skills and principles can be incorporated throughout the training time.

As the lesson is discussed, teachers can be reminded of how they can apply previously learned teaching skills and techniques. New teachers profit from information new to them while mature teachers are reminded of principles they may know, but do not regularly apply. As teachers see different ways the principles can be applied, the principles become second nature, and your church will become known for the quality of your Sunday school teachers.

Quotes pertaining to the benefits of training Sunday school teachers

Individuals visit Bible studies because they are invited, but they will join yours because your teaching changes their lives.
– Brad Simon

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
– William Arthur Ward

The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery (i.e., new teachers).
– Plato

To know, yet to think that one does not know, is best;
Not to know, yet to think that one knows, will lead to difficulty.
– Lao Tzu

(this is why some teachers, who think they know the best way to teach, will not attend your teacher training sessions)

What I hear, I forget.
What I see, I remember.
What I do, I understand.
– Confucius

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do.
– Goethe

It’s all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you’re properly trained.
– Elizabeth II

Practice makes perfect only when you have been trained to practice the right thing.
– Brad Simon

Just a few of the benefits of training Sunday school teachers.

If you are convinced of the benefits of training Sunday school teachers, take a look at the Teaching To Transform Not Inform series.

Benefits of training Sunday school teachers:

Your teaching ministry is God’s gift to you; committing to it is your gift to God.

Teachers seek to fulfill the Great Commission through their teaching ministry, and the Teaching To Transform Not Inform series helps them fulfill this goal by providing a simple, practical, step-by-step process for developing and teaching Bible lessons that change hearts and transform lives. The first book lays the biblical foundation for transformational teaching, while the second book focuses on the seven teaching elements that need to be included in every lesson that has transformation as its main objective. As you go through additional books and seminars within this series, they will build upon previous ones giving you a linear path for developing more and more advanced teaching skills. Visit our store to find books and resources that will equip your teacher to teach both the head and the heart.

The above article, “Benefits of Training Sunday School Teachers” was written by W. Bradley Simon. The article was excerpted from Simon’s book, Teaching To Transform Not Inform and https://www.m2820.com/benefits-training-sunday-school-teachers.

The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”