If you teach preschoolers, the fact that you change diapers, wipe snotty noses and clean sticky hands may make it feel like you’re just a babysitter, but I promise you are so much more.
A preschool teacher, like any other Sunday School teacher, ministers to the learner but also to the entire family. When you teach children of any age, you are allowing parents to study the Word and worship God while their children are cared for and taught as well.
Filling cups
The parents’ cups can be refilled at church so they can use the overflow at home with their children. This also means the children’s cups can be filled with God’s word. At church, every family member’s needs can be spiritually met.
Don’t waste the small amount of time you have with your young students. Here are some tips for making the most of the 1–2 hours you spend with them each week:
- Invest time into your lesson and into knowing your children. Children know when you are unprepared and when you have a lack of interest. Set aside time to prepare your lesson. You will start seeing results in your own life, as well as in the lives of the children in your classroom.
- Get to know the children. Take a few moments during Sunday School or Bible study to ask your students about their weekend or their favorite sport. Make it fun by passing around a ball or rolling some dice to see who goes next.
- Write letters. Keep in touch with your students during the week by writing each child a letter commenting on what he or she said in class. Children love to get letters, and parents notice and love the extra things you do for their children.
- Share the gospel each week. Bible stories reveal so much about God and His relationship with us, His relationship to the world and His power. Sometimes, especially with children, we tend to focus on the moral lesson from the Bible story. This is not bad, but the Bible is so much more than teaching us how to be “good” people.
The Bible is not simply a moralistic book that shows us how to live a good life. There are so many worldly books that teach us how to be good people, so why don’t we just read them? And quite honestly, it might be easier to follow those books than the Bible.
The Bible points to Jesus from the beginning to the end, and all of it is for God’s glory. When teaching children, we should do the same thing — always point them to the cross.
Connect to the cross
The cross should always be where you end your Bible study lesson. You never know when a child will understand the gospel.
Each week, explain the gospel in a way they can understand.
Children need to see that without the cross, we have no hope but because of what Jesus did on the cross, our sins are forgiven when we repent and believe in Him as God’s Son.
Some of you may be saying, “I don’t know how to connect my Bible study to the cross.” Everything in the Bible points to Jesus.
Seek out fun object lessons that can help children understand the gospel. Some learn by touching or seeing rather than listening. Many resources incorporate all the senses into children’s lessons.
Always aim for Jesus in your lesson and help children see the importance of His sacrifice on the cross. You never want to miss an opportunity of seeing what the Holy Spirit can do in your class.
Share with others: