June 1997

            Thoughts From Sunday School Training
                        Grant Liang


As I have shared with Ruth that one statement that really touched
me at the meeting was to make Sunday School teaching a life-time commitment.
Currently, I am reading a book about great churches.  In the book the author
said from his research the churches that are healthy and growing are the ones
with a Pastor who has been ministering there  for a long time.  The author
also said that church is a body like a human being has feelings.  He said can
you imaging a child has to change father once every few years?  How can we
expect that child to have a healthy growth.  I think Sunday School students
will feel the same way if we regularly rotate teachers.  Sunday School teaches
more than Bible knowledge, it teaches love and relationship.  We can't do a
good job unless we are practicing love and relationship building.

I would like to see that we, Sunday School teachers, will consider our
teaching as an expression of love of God instead of an assignment; it is a
privilege instead of a duty or responsibility.



                       C.F.C. 1997
              Sunday School Teachers' Training
                         J. Lam


"We have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the
knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding... that
you may live a life worthy of the Lord and my please Him in every way:
bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being
strengthened with all power according to His glorious might..."  Col 1:9-11
Sunday School education is very important to everyone whether you're a Sunday
School teacher or a Sunday School class participant, it provides an
opportunity to learn the vital truths of God's Word and understand how Bible
truths can be applied to your daily life.  As a teacher, your personal
involvement in the Sunday School ministry can identify and meet the needs of
your students through fellowships, Bible study, and discussions.  More
importantly, you can strengthen homes and help changing lives of your
students. 

Teaching is about transmitting information to students and giving them a
chance to make a personal response and act on what they've learned.  There
are five different levels of learning which are listed below from the lowest
level to the highest level:

1. Rote learning: is simply to learn the facts by memorizing. 
2. Recognition: is to recognize biblical concepts or facts. 
3. Restatement: is to develop a student's ability to express biblical
   thoughts, and process information.
4. Relation: is to develop a students' ability to relate Bible truths to
   his/her daily life and see appropriate response.
5. Realization: is to actualize and apply biblical truths in daily life
   situation.  Changing life takes place and transformation occurs at this
   level.
 
Through creative Bible teach, the OOK method, a Sunday School teacher can
stimulate his/her students' interests and motivate them to learn with a
sense of purpose.  The OOK method has the following four steps:

1. HOOK: grab students' attention in order to lead to Bible study. 
2. BOOK: read God's Word, the vital truth of God's teaching. 
3. LOOK: look at the main idea of the lesson, and understand what that has
         to do with daily life situations.
4. TOOK: let students choose a way to response to God's truth. 
 

 
                          Teaching Kids
                              LYK


For the past few months, I have spent some time thinking about and learning
about how to relate to the kids in Children's worship and Sunday School.  I
want to find a way to teach effectively and help them to know the Lord
personally.  My hope is to bring the good news to them not only with the
knowledge of the Scripture but relate to them that God can and does work
in their hearts and their everyday lives.  That's when I find that effective
teaching is very challenging.  Not only do we have to know our material well,
we also have to learn to how to communicate these material to them.  The
following are three things that I've learned that can help us to teach our
kids more effectively in church and at home:
 
	a. We can make knowledge come alive so that they will listen. 
       Little children do not have a long attention span, to relate
       spiritual concepts that they will actually listen and register
       need much imagination and creativity.  We need to use pictures,
       sound, words, or objects to make these concepts alive to them so
       they will actually internalize what was being related.  Abstract
       concepts such as faith need to be shown in a tangible way through
       stories, situations, and/or personal examples.
    b. We can create an environment that cultivate openness so that they
       will share Children love to talk to us if they feel that we are
       genuinely interested in what they have to say.  To make them feel
       secure enough to open up start with our love and care for them.  We
       need to spend time with them and try to understand what are their
       interests and desires.  These are important steps toward building
       a relationship with them which will help to cultivate them into
       establishing an eternal relationship with Christ.
    c. We can incorporate spiritual lessons with daily living so that
       they will practice.  We need to connect Biblical knowledge and
       spiritual exercise with the kids' world.  If we get to know a kid
       in a more personal level, we will start to establish this invisible
       link with their world.  It will help us to relate the Scripture in
       a more realistic dimension.  It is very important that we observe
       our kids with an open mind.  Each kid has a unique style of
       communication that will help us to know how to respond to their needs.
       We can make each conversation a way of communicating God's love to
       them.  If we do not love them, how can we communicate God's love to
       them?  We as teachers and parents need to relate biblical principles
       in a such a way that they will know how to apply them in their lives.
       If we can use situations that is closest to theirs, it will hit home!
 
There was a saying: "Children are like a piece of white paper.  Their future
depends on the kind of pictures drawn and words written on them."  When we
communicate God's love and truth to them at their early age, their entire
lives will be affected.  Sunday School is life shaping ministry, Biblical
teachings are not only taught by teachers in church but need to be
reinforced at home.  Teachers and parents are partners in each child's
spiritual growth.  Pray that God will help us do our best!