You've studied and prepared for the Bible lesson you are going to teach this week to your class, then you share the lesson with the children. Of course they will remember it the way you taught it . . . don't be so sure! Just because you have "taught" a lesson, it does not mean the children "heard" and will "remember" the lesson. Consider the following examples . . .
Brienna's favorite Bible story - Adam and Eve (share this clip with your volunteers when you have your next training) . . .
A number of years ago I was teaching a class of four years olds about the time when Moses went up on the mountain and God gave him the ten commandments. Upon Moses' return to the people, he told them to clean their tents, wash their clothes and take baths because in three days God was going to come and talk to them. I "taught" the Bible lesson, we did our activities, had our snack - very important in a preschool class :^) and then the parents returned to get their children and everyone went home. This particular morning we had a visitor to our class. The next morning I received a call from her mom. The mother told me her daughter was insisting they had to clean their house every day for three days. They had to wash all their clothes every day for three days and they had to take baths every day for three days. The reason for all this cleanliness? Because in three days God was coming to their house to talk to them! The girl's mother wanted to know why her daughter was so sure of these things . . . I explained the lesson . . . this family did keep coming to our church, but I learned a very important lesson . . . just because I taught a lesson, it did not mean the children heard/learned the lesson!
So what can you do to be sure the children hear and learn what you teach? Consider the following -
Ask good questions! After the lesson ask the children what happened in the lesson. Ask about the people in the lesson and what they said and did. Had I asked this little girl better questions I would have known she was confused! We do want the children to get their facts straight so ask good questions!
Focus on the application - what does this story mean to their everyday lives? If you spend time on the application, children are much more likely to understand what the lesson was all about as they think through how to live it in their lives this day and in the coming week - and you are less likely to receive phone calls from confused and concerned parents!
Share with the parents what you are learning so they know what their children are talking about!
Have fun as you present God's Word to children this week, and take the time to be sure what you teach is what they hear/learn!
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