A Seasoned Teacher Says We Lose Too Much Time
Sandi Wolmack of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is concerned about the children of tomorrow. An elementary school teacher for over 15 years, she feels that as Sunday school teachers, we are giving up too much teaching time with our children. "Kids spend too long in the nursery," she says. "We need to get them out of the nursery and into the learning mode." She currently teaches 5th and 6th grade pre-confirmation classes using The Divine Drama® as her curriculum, but she feels that the course could be taught to four and five year-olds. She plans to implement this idea soon.
Having taught the pre-confirmation classes with The Divine Drama® for seven years, Ms. Wolmack had many ideas and tips for keeping the kids interested and learning. Some of her ideas included biblical food tasting, field trips to a Jewish-Christian museum, and lessons in how to wrap a baby in swaddling clothes. She says that if the lessons and formats are kept varied, kids will continue to come back for more.
In terms of teaching, Ms. Wolmack said that the transparencies were the biggest help to her and that she found the leader’s manual so helpful and complete, she didn’t need to rely upon other sources. She anticipates using the transparencies almost exclusively with the younger kids, wanting to get away from Sunday school "busywork" like word searches, crossword puzzles and coloring pages.
In the pre-confirmation class, kids are required to attend with their parents, but Ms. Wolmack said that often kids will bring friends to Sunday school and, in this way, the class becomes a teaching and reaching tool for the church. The biggest thing, says Ms. Wolmack, is to stay on your toes with the kids. She recommends keeping the groups small in order to answer more questions during class time, and making sure that parents stay involved in the learning process.
Her main concern, however, remains grounding children of all ages in the Biblical narrative. In her own life, she says the impact of the Crossways study materials has been tremendous. To grasp the Gospel, to know that Jesus loves her, to have increased knowledge and increased self-esteem have been important ways that her life has been changed – and she wants everyone, from the very young on up, to have this same experience. The earlier we teach our children these things, the better prepared they will be to live in a sinful world. "
| HOMEGROWN CHRISTIANS: A CHICAGO AREA PASTOR IS USING CROSSWAYS TO SHOW HIS CONGREGATION THE BIBLE. Pastor Jerry Komorech of First Baptist Church of Park Forest, and a recent graduate of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, is teaching Crossways materials to ground his congregants in the narrative of the Bible. The church is currently in a rebuilding phase, having dropped from a membership of 1,000 15 years ago to the current 100 members, with 65 in church on Sunday. Pastor Komorech grew up in the Lutheran Church, and had heard about Crossways while attending Peace Lutheran Church of Lombard. He attended a Crossways International workshop shortly before entering seminary, having in mind to bring Crossways to whatever church chose to call him. He began promoting the Crossways study within the church by using posters, weekly announcements, bulletin announcements, newsletter blurbs and personal invitations to join the two-year class. Having recently finished unit one of Crossways, Pastor Komorech said he was already starting to see some exciting developments in the lives of the class members. One of the men, a middle-aged man with a good working knowledge of the Bible told him, "No one has ever explained the Bible to me this way before. I only received bits and pieces, but I was never able to see the broad narrative before using the Crossways study. I’m very excited about this, Pastor." His students began to see the Bible in context and bring that context and the language of Crossways to other Bible studies, furthering dialogue in the Biblical narrative while generating interest amongst another congregants. Pastor Komorech added that another change he sees in his students is a deeper walk with God. The students in the class now have a better understanding of the richness of God’s plan — that humans praise and glorify Him, rather than themselves. For himself, Pastor Komorech says that he has found the two-hour preparation time during the week to be beneficial to his walk with the Lord — a maturing and a re-educating process. "I enjoy the interaction with the materials," he says. "It is rigorous but rewarding." Pastor Komorech feels so strongly about teaching Crossways studies that he is willing to pull out of teaching other studies in order to free the necessary time to do so. He plans to teach See Through the Scripture sto his new-member class starting this month. Eventually he wants to introduce The Divine Drama® for the junior high curriculum. Says Pastor Komorech, "Young people need the theology of The Divine Drama® . The cartoon-like format is helpful to generate discussion both at church and at home." |
For more on See Through the Scriptures®, click here.
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