I love kids. I find them generous with their love and forgiveness and highly entertaining. I feel like every week they do or say something hilarious. The other week, Miss Jean was encouraging the kids to say a prayer before they get out of bed in the morning. Very seriously, one of the boys raised his hand and with worry and confusion on his face, said "But I have bunk beds!" She assured him it was okay, that God hears prayers from bunk beds too.
Teaching Sunday School holds so many benefits for me. It challenges me to condense spiritual concepts into teachings that 2-4 and 5-7 year olds (depending on the week) can grasp. Granted, I often feel as though I've fallen short of that task.
Have you ever tried to hold the attention of a 2-4 year old for 10 minutes, keeping them sitting and listening?
The 5-7 year olds are a little easier to teach (for me, at least).
But I find myself mentally checking what I say to them. They are so formative at that age, and the things they are hearing in Sunday School (if they're paying attention, that is) are building part of their spiritual base of knowledge.
The last thing I want them to walk out of Sunday School thinking is "if I'm good, God will love me and I'll go to heaven." Granted, that is not a concept we ever desire to teach - salvation is based on Jesus' sacrifice and on grace. But try teaching that to a 5 year old! Sometimes it's easier than others, but it causes me to be so much more careful with my words and my examples and my applications.
And I fall short in praying about my times of teaching. I won't be able to break through to them or see what's going on in their cute little brains or if they're getting the Biblical concept I'm trying to explain to them. Only the Holy Spirit can do that and guide them into truth.
We've been working through the Bible over the past 2 years with them, using the curriculum He Has Spoken By His Son, put out by John Piper's ministry Children Desiring God
The biggest challenge of late has been Jesus' crucifixion, death (this week) and resurrection (next week).
How do you teach to children what Christ endured on the cross for us? How much is too much information for these little ones? How do you explain to a 3 year old that Jesus had nails driven through His hands and feet, endured an agonizing death... to save men from eternal damnation?
And then this week... we continue to talk about death... and His burial (see Matthew 27:57-66 Luke 23:50-56 John 19:38-42 ) I really don't like talking to kids about death. I don't like making them sad and focusing on the destructive force of sin in this world. But it's truth and reality and something they will face more and more as they age. I also feel the pressure of teaching them correctly, of not mishandling the word of God.
I am thankful for a church committed to the Bible, to teaching it's whole truth. I am thankful to be teaching with other women of God who have these same desires. I am thankful to be challenged to put spiritual concepts into simpler terms for the little ones to understand. It challenges me to better understand them.
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