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The Barrier of the Classroom Environment, part 1
Your cIassroom can be a huge turn-off for visitors to your Sunday school class... for a wide variety of reasons. Many churches have the adult Sunday school class in the church sanctuary. While this is convenient, it is not the most ideal. Sitting in a straight line of pews reinforces the idea of the teacher-as-a-lecturer. While this may be acceptable to people in their 70s and 80s, those who are younger, especially young adults, prefer a more discussion-oriented, teacher-as-a-facilitator model. In a sanctuary, the people may prefer to sit in the same seats they will sit for church, resulting in a scattered group, giving a feeling of emptiness and possibly difficulty hearing one another. The sanctuary as a classroom also struggles with various interruptions: people arriving early for church, children's classes dismissing early, sound crew or musicians preparing for worship, etc.
If your classroom is the sanctuary, what can you do to minimize these potential barriers to the visitor?
A Portrait of Christ
Lesson 3 - September 18, 2016
Focus Text: Psalms 22:18; 23:16; 24:710
Central Truth: Christ desires to be the Savior, Guide, and Master of all men.
Objective: By the end of this lesson my students should be able to express worship and thanks for specific attributes of Christ.
Lesson Outline:
- The Savior (Psalm 22:1-31)
- The Shepherd (Psalm 23:1-6)
- The Sovereign (Psalm 24:1-10)
Prayer – Lesson 2, Responding to the Gifts of God
Heavenly Father, bless our classes today with Your Presence. Help us not to squander the opportunities afforded to us by Your many wonderful gifts. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Do You Squander God's Gifts?
In "God's Word for Today" David Woods writes:
There is something to be said for simply stopping to enjoy the beauty of God's creation. For example, when you stand on the rim of the Grand Canyon, it is proper to feel a quiet awe. Furthermore, the beauty of God's law is like a sweet perfume. Yet if awe is our only response, we squander the privileges afforded us by the gifts of God. The holiness of God's works and God's Word should inspire our desire to share His holiness. When we recognize the beauty of God's creation and God's Word, it is like bright sunlight revealing stained cloth-ing that had gone unnoticed in the darkness or artificial light.
Source: Studies in the Psalms: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 13.
The Music of Nature
In "Biblical Perspective" Gordon Snider writes concerning Psalm 19:3:
There is no speech nor language, no place on earth, that can block out the music of nature. Another possible interpretation is that the heavens do not need human speech to say what they wish to declare. We often talk about natural revelation, and we base that revelation in part upon this verse. But it is questionable whether the intent of nature's song is to inform about God so much as it is to glorify Him (Ps. 148:1).
Source: Studies in the Psalms: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 11.
What is "the glory of God"?
In "Word Focus" Danny McCain writes:
One of the common expressions of Old Testament writers is “the glory of God.” The word glory is most often the Hebrew word kabed, which occurs 376 times in the Hebrew Bible. The basic meaning of the word is “to be heavy, weighty.” It is used in this sense in 2 Samuel 14:26 concerning Absalom's hair. It is not difficult to see how the word evolved to refer to a “weighty” person — someone with a lot of authority, hence worthy of honor and respect. Glory denotes the honor, respect, and reverence that others have toward a worthy person. When used in this way, it meant that which impressed others — the thing that caused one to stand out by himself. The wonders and beauties of nature are the natural items which impress the world, which cause their Author and Maker to stand out by Himself in glory. The expression also refers to other ways God is manifest, such as the visible form that filled the Temple.
Source: Studies in the Psalms: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 10.