Sunday School Teacher Training #2

Last weekend (Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8) was a whirlwind of excitement, encouragement, education, and exhaustion!  It was our second Sunday School Teacher training - first in 2015!

It was a wonderful time of fellowship, sharing, and learning.  20 teachers were in attendance representing eight of the eleven Evangelical Methodist Churches in El Salvador.  The theme of this training was “The Adventure of Moses.”

“These are the journeys of the sons of Israel, by which they came out from the land of Egypt by their armies, under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses recorded their starting places according to their journeys by the command of the LORD, and these are their journeys according to their starting places.”  Numbers 32:1-2

Original shot of front cover photo - These are children who attend Sunday School at La Providencia Methodist Church.  The photo was taken in front of the church after Sunday School.  Moses is in the center and his "sheep" are grazing!

 

 

 

It’s one of our favorite stories.  A baby saved by the help of a basket, chosen to be grandson of the King, and called to lead God’s people to freedom from slavery.  It’s a story that you have probably heard many times.  But how much of the REAL story do you REALLY know?  

These lessons invite teachers and students to dig deep into God’s beautiful images of salvation as He leads Moses and the Israelites to the very edge of the Promised Land.  This unit begins where “The Family of God” unit ends…with the death of Joseph and a new Pharaoh who knows absolutely nothing about Joseph or his family…and especially nothing about the God of Joseph’s family.  

“The Journey of Moses” unit is packed with 10 lessons for students of all ages.  Each lesson includes a memory verse, Bible story, and suggested activities to help students plant seeds of God’s Word into their hearts and live it out in their lives.

Book of Lessons and Packet of Materials

Each teacher in attendance received a copy of the book and each church in attendance received a packet of resources (construction paper, scissors, paint, foamie, tape, a dry-erase board,….) to help with activities that support the lessons.

Similar to the first training, we read through the lessons, practiced some of the activities and made some of the crafts.  We also made a map of the Exodus that teachers can use as they teach the lessons to help students visualize the location of the stories and to help with reviewing the stories.

 

With sincere prayers, I hope that the teachers and students using these materials will enjoy learning the real story of Moses.  I also pray that through these lessons they will encounter the God of Moses, the great I AM.  It is my hope and desire that they will come to know this great I AM as the same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the very same God of today.  The God of you and me.  A God who is firm and loving and desires to bring His Kingdom and Salvation to ALL PEOPLE.

This was a real learning experience for me!  I have been in awe of God as He is using me as a vessel through which to pour out these lessons.  He is continuing to develop skills in me that enable the development of this process.  This time around I learned a lot about the importance of PLANNING AHEAD.  Preparation for this training was incredibly stressful as the lessons weren’t completely ready for printing until the day before.  (Needless to say, I freaked out a little!)

So, this time around...I’m working from a timeline.  The next training is scheduled for the last weekend of May – so I have printed a calendar of each month in between now and then.  March, April, and May.  And I’ve mapped out exactly what needs to be completed by when.  And I’m actually a day ahead of schedule!  WHAT?! 

For those of you who know me well – who’ve either lived with me or worked beside me – know that this is a major accomplishment for me.  I am a happy procrastinator.  I usually work best under the pressure of the last minute.  Which means I have moaned to friends about how “next time, I’m gonna start sooner.”  And when next time comes, it’s the same race to the finish.

I can do that when everything is happening in my first language of English – but when I’m having to function in my second (not fully developed) language of Spanish ---- the last minute is just toooooooo stressful.

But, no matter the sum of all of my short-comings – God’s work never comes back void!  He works in spite of me.  I imagine He has rolled his eyes at me a few times!  But, He still gets the job done.  And thanks be to God, 10 lessons were written, translated, edited, printed, and distributed.  Now comes the fun part – seeing the lessons in action!  

Here I am earlier in the day - all smiles!  Spanish muscles in full force!

Oh - And I almost forgot to tell you - I did this training all by myself, without a translator!  All (well, mostly all) in Spanish!  A few of the attendees are fluent in English, so they helped me when I got stuck.  We even made a sign of one word that was difficult for me to say.  So, for the next training, we're going to make signs all over the room and build my vocabulary as we go through the training!

 

Here's a little later in the day when I'm pulling from my Spanish reserves!

I shared with the teachers in our training that it makes me so excited to think about how God is going to advance these lessons even more now that they are in the teachers' hands.  As they read each lesson in preparation to teach it, God is going to give them new ideas just for them and their students.  The words on paper will take on new life through the efforts of the teachers teaching them.

All this is a work that cannot be completed alone.  A big thanks goes to Fernando who patiently translated each lesson.  Many thanks to Jonathan who designed the front and back covers and who carefully edited the contents.  A thousand thanks to the students who contributed artwork.  AND many, many more thanks to the teachers of the ministry of Sunday School in the Evangelical Methodist Church in El Salvador – YOU continue to pass our faith in Jesus to many generations ahead.  Your work is of eternal value and I pray that one day you will hear the precious words, “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

The next unit is still in the very early stages of development.  It will begin with the story of Joshua.  I am still discerning if there will be some other stories involved, or if Joshua has enough to  Please pray that I keep on track with my work time-line, that I receive discernment from the Holy Spirit about the content of these next lessons – but most importantly, please pray for the teachers and students as they get to play with the Moses lessons.  I know God will do great things through these lessons and their obedience to serve Him through the ministry of teaching!

say for 10 more lessons.