Should You Teach Sunday School?

 The Sunday School Teacher 5

I do not believe every Christian is cut out to teach Sunday School. I do believe every Christian is cut out to teach. Paul makes the latter point here quite clearly. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God. (Hebrews 5.12) Every Christian should teach someone else what they have learned and are learning about the Lord. As we have already mentioned, parents and soul winners are both examples of this, and neither position is a gifting; they are responsibilities.

Having said that, it does not then follow that since every mature Christian ought to be teaching in some way that every mature Christian should be teaching Sunday School. Teaching is, after all, a spiritual gifting. (Romans 12.6-7, I Corinthians 12.28, Ephesians 4.11) Think of a choir, if you will. Should every Christian make a joyful noise to the Lord? (Psalm 81.1) Of course. Should every Christian sing in the choir? Of course not. If you are not gifted in that area, the best thing for all involved is for you to enjoy their music ministry from your pew in the sanctuary.

The answer to the question posed in this chapter is two-fold, I think. There is first the need to discern whether teaching Sunday School is the direction in which your gifting lies. The second is how to develop that gifting once you have discovered it. Let us examine each in turn.

To discern this, I propose five questions and three ideas. I want you to first ask yourself whether you have evidenced the gift of teaching in other areas of your life. Are you a trainer at work? Do you have a natural knack for teaching young men how to do car maintenance or young women how to make sourdough? Do you find yourself readily explaining complex concepts to those around you? Is this something you have already done to some extent, even if only instinctively?

The second thing to ask yourself is whether teaching Sunday School is something you want to do. One of the marks that a man is genuinely called to the ministry is this very thing. This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. (I Timothy 3.1) I am not talking about a fleeting thought, a passing fancy. I am talking about something more continual. "You know, I would kind of like to try teaching a class someday." And the thought comes back to your mind repeatedly.

The third question is this: Are you patient in dealing with young people now? When you are handed a class roll book and a "Go get 'em, Tiger," you are not going to get patience automatically thrown in on top. Most Sunday School classes are children's classes. Almost every Sunday School teacher has taught children at some point. If little people get on your ever-loving last nerve simply by breathing, it might not be the ministry for you.

The fourth question to consider here is whether you are willing to meet your church's requirements for the position. I will speak more to the specifics of this in a later chapter, but suffice it to say, if you bristle at maintaining a specific standard or two, then perhaps you should limit your teaching to other venues.

The fifth question can only be asked further down the line. After you have been teaching for a bit, ask yourself, "Is there any evidence that God is blessing this work on my part?" Such evidence can be as simple as the class listening to you with apparent interest. In plain language, you do not bore them. Beyond that, however, and more importantly, are any of the students showing any signs of applying what you have been teaching? Is anybody's life being changed for the better? For that matter, is your own life being changed? Are you growing as a person and as a Christian in this process?

The three ideas I have for you include two practical and one spiritual. The first idea to help you discern whether teaching Sunday School is suitable for you is to enlist as a teacher helper first. Almost every Sunday School teacher could use an aide to do such things as help keep rowdy children quiet, take someone to the restroom, or help the teacher act out a Bible story. This will put you in a classroom on a regular basis. Your desire for a class of your own will either grow or shrink. Either way, it will be enlightening.

The second idea is to enlist as a teacher in a limited way, in a format that has an end date. Teach the Junior Boys class for four weeks about Joseph, and then analyze how it went. Think of this as a trial run or a shakedown cruise. Offer yourself as a substitute teacher for the summer. You can cover a number of teachers who are gone for a Sunday or two on vacation. It will be a good taste of what having your own class will be like. Give it a whirl.

The third idea has probably already occurred to you. If you think the Lord may want to use you in this area, ask Him to show you. I do not mean to ask Him for a specific miraculous sign. Just tell Him you are willing to do what He wants, and ask Him to confirm in your heart that this is what He wants. In all things spiritual, it is always appropriate to pray about it.

Let us turn now, briefly, to the second part of the question at the core of this chapter. If you have determined the Lord would have you teach Sunday School, that you are gifted at it, and you have undertaken it, how can you develop that gifting? Having set out to become a teacher, how do you become a good one?

          I offer you four suggestions here. First, teach. One of the most important things I did when I surrendered to preach the gospel 38 years ago was to begin preaching immediately. I preached my first sermon a week later, and I kept hoovering up every possible chance to preach that I could. Children's Church? Check. Youth group? Check. Nursing homes? Check. Street corners? Check. Church bus rides on the way home? Check. I preached at the drop of a hat and carried a hat with me everywhere.

In music and sports, we call this practice. In the speaking arena, we do not for the simple reason that the people sitting in front of you are real people. But the effects are quite similar. It is impossible to improve in any area solely by watching other people do it. You have to get out there and do it yourself.

The second suggestion sounds immediately contradictory, yet it is not. Find a good teacher or two and watch everything they do. When you have a question – and always come up with a question – pull them aside and bounce it off of them. Do this often enough, and you will have developed a mentor, someone who will pour into you all they know. As I have just made clear, this alone is not sufficient. But if you pair the second with the first, I can almost guarantee that your progress will be rapid.

Third, commit yourself to a course of continuing education. This can be as formal as enrolling in an actual class on teaching or as informal as reading a book about it. (Hey, I wonder where we could find a good book? <grin> ) If books are not your thing, put your earbuds in and dial in a podcast about teaching. YouTube University can be an absolute waste of time, but the amount of good content on there is staggering. Find some. Watch some. Try some of what you see in your class.

The point here is not the particular means of educating yourself but rather the importance of the decision to always be learning. The vast majority of Sunday School teachers plateau because they are satisfied with the status quo. Do they want a bigger class? If a few more came in, that would be fine, but there is no passion to see it grow. Do they want to see lives changed? Of course, but not at the cost of fasting and prayer and hours spent with that student one-on-one outside of class. Would they like to be a better teacher? Sure, if you could wave a magic wand and make it happen. Curiously enough, it never happens. Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh And intermeddleth with all wisdom. (Proverbs 18.1) To the extent you want to be a better teacher, you will be. To the extent you can live without it, you will not.

Lastly, I cannot close without again mentioning prayer. In prayer, we live by faith, depending on the Lord to help us. This pleases Him. If it is right to pray when we are trying to determine whether we should teach, it is absolutely right to pray once we have launched our frail craft upon the waters. Pray for the Lord to help you as you decide what to teach. Yield yourself to Him as you sit down to write your lesson. Take each student in your heart one at a time, and lift them to the Lord. Ask Him to bless them, help them, grow them, meet their needs, and move them to yield to the Spirit's work in their life. Speaking of the Holy Spirit, plead with Him to empower your teaching. Ask Him to give you a clear mind and a passionate heart as you teach. Ask Him for the heart of those young people. Park out in front of their house late at night and weep. While the tears roll down your cheeks, beg the Lord to raise up a generation that will love Him and serve Him and bring Him great glory.

Jesus was the best teacher the world has ever seen. The more time you spend with Him, the more like Him you will be.

If the Lord wants you to teach a Sunday School class, you should. Further, you can. And you can do it well. Tell Him yes, and you will never regret it.