I will never forget my experiences in the small Home Missions church in Belle Chasse, La. My family went down to help this work get started and from here launched my musical, teaching and outreach skills.My Dad bought the church a Hammond organ with a Leslie speaker that I began to play. At the age of around 17, I was leading the music, teaching the Beginners class, singing solos regularly and doing weekly outreach on my own bringing 30+ kids in my car with several trips to pick them all up.
Since that time to now, I have taught various age groups. Just recently, I once again began teaching, teaching the Pre-Teen class at my church. It has been a joy to be my 11 year old daughter's teacher. There is really nothing to compare to the presence of God you feel when teaching from His Word.
In all of my experience of teaching, the one thing that I think is a good idea, is to have a browsing table. For example, if you are teaching the story of Adam and Eve, you may have a Barbie and Ken with real fig leaves for clothing, a fake or real snake in a cage, an apple and library books on ancient gardens. Then, the next Sunday have them dressed in animal skin clothing and so on. Your students will be happy to bring items for each lesson. Plan ahead, make phone calls to remind them the Saturday before that Sunday if necessary.
Just recently, we had a lesson on Jacob and his dream. We brought a robe for Jacob to wear, a candle in a ceramic holder, really lit, a large rock that he used for a pillow and some oil to anoint the rock. As we told the story, we took the items from our browsing table to use in the story. We had one of our students acting out the story as I told it.
"I promise that your lessons will be so much more effective at any age when you have a browsing table to enhance your lesson."
Try it and let me know your results!
Pictured: My first Sunday School Class, Belle Chasse, Louisiana (New Orleans suberb)
