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Just thought I’d share this...
I have the amazing opportunity to be a Sunday School teacher in our youth ministry. I have my son’s class, 7th grade boys. The church is going through The Gospel Project curriculum, which is a 3-year “through the Bible” study. This is our second time going through it, and it’s been rewritten so it’s not the same lessons. Of course they probably wouldn’t remember the exact same thing from three years ago.
As anybody that has gone through the whole bible, you know there are times when you get to books/chapters that it’s a little tough to come up with something that works well for this age group. Things like Leviticus, Kings & Chronicles, and some of the minor prophets. Today’s lesson was from Nehemiah. We had 1:1-4, 2:11-18 and 4:11-14 as the passages included in the lesson.
Anyway, every once in awhile you get an opportunity to add a little nugget of information and teach them something extra by thinking outside the box, but still keep it relevant. For example, I had a lesson a couple months ago around several of the kings and we talked about what age they came to be king and how long they reigned. I posed the question(s) to them about the longest and shortest serving US Presidents, and the longest serving Queen of England.
Today I saw an opportunity and couldn’t pass it up. I always get to class early and write some stuff on the board. Title, main points, scripture passages, etc. Today I wrote December 15, 1791...as well as 1775-1783 and July 4, 1776. You could hear them as they came into the room asking what the date was for. I just told them we’d get to it eventually.
So after we covered the first two passages we read 4:11-14...
[11] And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” [12] At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” [13] So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. [14] And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
After discussing it for a bit, I asked them about the December date on the board. Nobody knew what it was. So we back up and I asked about the year span of dates, which one guessed the Revolutionary War. And then one guessed the Declaration of Independence for the next date. But still nobody knew the last one. So we moved on to the Constitution, and I asked about making changes to it, and got “Amendment” out of them.
Another quick discussion and I said the date was when the 2nd Amendment was ratified. To be clear, I wouldn’t have known the answer without looking it up....as I assume would be the case with most of you. I tied it into the discussion of God-given rights that are constitutionally protected. Also said there were definitely earlier examples in the Bible but this one had caught my attention as I prepped for the lesson. Notice the people didn’t ask the king to send an army to protect them. They took up their own arms...swords, spears and bows...and protected themselves.
This was not a case of me going on a soapbox during a Bible study. It was 3-4 minutes out of an hour lesson just to plant a little freedom seed. Maybe one or two of them remember that date, and the point being made.
I have the amazing opportunity to be a Sunday School teacher in our youth ministry. I have my son’s class, 7th grade boys. The church is going through The Gospel Project curriculum, which is a 3-year “through the Bible” study. This is our second time going through it, and it’s been rewritten so it’s not the same lessons. Of course they probably wouldn’t remember the exact same thing from three years ago.
As anybody that has gone through the whole bible, you know there are times when you get to books/chapters that it’s a little tough to come up with something that works well for this age group. Things like Leviticus, Kings & Chronicles, and some of the minor prophets. Today’s lesson was from Nehemiah. We had 1:1-4, 2:11-18 and 4:11-14 as the passages included in the lesson.
Anyway, every once in awhile you get an opportunity to add a little nugget of information and teach them something extra by thinking outside the box, but still keep it relevant. For example, I had a lesson a couple months ago around several of the kings and we talked about what age they came to be king and how long they reigned. I posed the question(s) to them about the longest and shortest serving US Presidents, and the longest serving Queen of England.
Today I saw an opportunity and couldn’t pass it up. I always get to class early and write some stuff on the board. Title, main points, scripture passages, etc. Today I wrote December 15, 1791...as well as 1775-1783 and July 4, 1776. You could hear them as they came into the room asking what the date was for. I just told them we’d get to it eventually.
So after we covered the first two passages we read 4:11-14...
[11] And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” [12] At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” [13] So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. [14] And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
After discussing it for a bit, I asked them about the December date on the board. Nobody knew what it was. So we back up and I asked about the year span of dates, which one guessed the Revolutionary War. And then one guessed the Declaration of Independence for the next date. But still nobody knew the last one. So we moved on to the Constitution, and I asked about making changes to it, and got “Amendment” out of them.
Another quick discussion and I said the date was when the 2nd Amendment was ratified. To be clear, I wouldn’t have known the answer without looking it up....as I assume would be the case with most of you. I tied it into the discussion of God-given rights that are constitutionally protected. Also said there were definitely earlier examples in the Bible but this one had caught my attention as I prepped for the lesson. Notice the people didn’t ask the king to send an army to protect them. They took up their own arms...swords, spears and bows...and protected themselves.
This was not a case of me going on a soapbox during a Bible study. It was 3-4 minutes out of an hour lesson just to plant a little freedom seed. Maybe one or two of them remember that date, and the point being made.
