It was a special joy to lead a two-day training for Sunday
School teachers. It was my first time
leading a training since being officially sent to El Salvador as missionary in
the area of Christian Education.
Needless to say, I was very nervous.
How many teachers would attend?
Would they be able to understand my Spanish?
Would I understand theirs? Would I have enough supplies?
Would they like the lessons I had created for
them? I had so many worries.
But, as I’m learning to expect with full confidence, God
showed up in a mighty way!
We met at the Methodist Mission Residence Saturday, December 20 through Sunday, December 21. 31 teachers attended – some with many years of experience in
teaching and some with no experience teaching and some in the middle, but all
came with hearts committed to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with their
students.
8 of the 11 Methodist Churches
were represented.
We spent our time discussing what it takes to be a committed
Sunday School Teacher. We learned about
multiple learning styles, how to incorporate multiple learning styles in our teaching methods, and we also explored the new curriculum that I am
developing for the upcoming year.
Jonathan was there to help with translation, but we were both surprised at how well my Spanish had grown and found that not as much translating was needed as we had originally expected!
Teachers received a book of 9 original lessons that I have written specifically
for the Evangelical Methodist Church in El Salvador. (A HUGE thanks to Fernando and Jonathan who help translate these lessons from English to Spanish!) Teachers also received supplies to help them
teach the lessons, including an interactive family tree of the Family of God, mapping the connection of Jesus to the nation God promised to build from Abraham's descendants. These lessons will be
taught in the months of January and February 2015.
The theme of the lessons is “Family of God” and begins with
the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah and closes with the death of Jacob
after his is reunited with his lost son, Joseph in Egypt. The purpose of these lessons is to teach
children the stories of the Patriarchs of our faith as well as to help them
understand how we are each invited into this family of faith through the love
and free gift of Jesus Christ.
I incorporated an element of “make-and-take”. Teachers made tic-tac-toe boards with Velcro Xs
and Os that they can use to help their students review each lesson.
All in all, it was a great way to bring a close to 2014 and
look forward to 2015.
