Being the Best Bible School Teacher You Can Be in One Step
Teaching Bible class is something I greatly enjoy. It is truly a skill, and one I need to hone! I pray often that my classes see that I am trying and that I truly enjoy the honor of teaching. It is a blessing to teach classes in which students offer input and are willing to answer questions and provide feedback.
That being said, teaching is work! It isn’t hard to tell when a teacher has “thrown together” a class at the last minute. No teacher is going to be 100% prepared every single week, but it should not be a pattern for the instructor to be waiting until the last minute to “get up a lesson.”
Those who teach often ask for “helps.” They want to do a great job, and they ask for resources, books, websites and other materials that can help them present God’s Word effectively. This post is not meant to list 100 resources or books that will help. Instead, it is meant to give you one step you can take to maximize your effectiveness.
If you were to ask me, “What is the one thing I need to do to be the best Bible school teacher I can be?” I would give this answer:
Love your class!
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, His response, basically, was “Love God.” When we think about any area of life, and we want to improve, we can answer with “love.”
That is the case with Bible school teaching. If you truly love your class, you will do the best you can do! Will you win an award as the greatest teacher ever? Probably not (and neither will I, by the way), but your class will see the passion and desire you have to share with them the truths of God’s word.
If you are a Bible school teacher, take a small test. This will only take about 1 minute. Write (or type) at the top of the page, “I love my Bible class because…”. Now, write 3-5 reasons why you love that class (not Bible school in general). When you are finished, read it again…
…when you get a bit discouraged, read it again…
…when it’s Saturday and you’re stressing out, read it again…
…when Sunday comes and you are nervous, read it again!
Your class will know that you love them because you will be excited, prepared and ready out of love for them. When you love your class, preparation will take care of itself.
3 Comments
Amber
As a teacher of a children’s Bible class, loving them isn’t hard … at least most of the time. 🙂 And I agree that loving them is a vital part of being a good teacher. I also think that to be a good Bible teacher, you have to be willing to be a Bible student. Even in preparing to teach kids at a much more elementary level than I am, I learn a lot when I review the scriptures for my lesson to them. I know you are a great Bible student, Adam, because you couldn’t be the great teacher you are without it!
wayne davidson
I very much agree that you must love the class, and will add that you must study your lesson until you are excited about the opportunity to present this lesson to this class. You must love the Bible.
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