Working With Children Part 3: The Truth to Teach
Posted by Rob Childs in From the Pastor
Last time I left off with you asking, What is God teaching me?
Very often God uses what he teaches you, to bring life to what he wants you to teach the children, so we come to The Truth to Teach
Five Categories
When you understand what God is teaching you, the answer to the question What is God teaching me? will fall into one of five categories and when you realise which category, it helps you concentrate on a specific subject to teach. The five categories your Truth will fall into are…
1. A Doctrine to Believe
A Doctrine is
So, when God shows you a doctrine in the passage, you will be teaching a Biblical Truth.a principle of belief, a body of religious, scientific or political teaching and principles
A few examples of a Doctrine are: God is Eternal; Jesus Christ is Lord; The Church is the body of believers; Satan is a real person; Jesus Christ is coming back again.
Of course as you read God’s Word, you’ll find many, many more Doctrines to Believe.
2. An Example to Follow
Children can be hero-worshippers and if you can give the children someone to look up to from the Bible, Jesus being the biggest and best hero, you can give them Examples to Follow e.g.
Maybe you’re teaching the Life of David and you understand that David killed the giant because he trusted God then the Example to Follow would be Trust in God as David did
Maybe you’re teaching from Joseph who rejected Potipher’s wife. The Example to Follow could be Be like Joseph - flee from sin
A Warning to Heed
Obviously a Warning to Heed is the opposite of an Example to Follow. In this case you want to warn the child NOT to be like someone else e.g.
Maybe you’re teaching about King Saul, who lost the kingdom when he offered sacrifices - after Samuel had instructed him not to. The Warning to Heed could be Don’t be like Saul - Listen to God and obey him.
Maybe you’re presenting the Gospel and the Warning to Heed is Don’t wait and be too late - Be a Christian today
4. A Promise to Claim
This is a wonderful opportunity to bring assurance to the child who has just trusted the Saviour, or children who have fears and worries. What else can he or she stand on, other than the promises of God. E.g. A great Promise to Claim is God says I will never leave you or Them that come onto me I shall in no wise cast out These and other promises encourage children to trust God for all sorts of things.
5. A Command to Obey
This is easy to understand. As you read the passage, God tells you to do something and it has to be obeyed e.g. You may be teaching the Ten Commandments and the Command to Obey is You shall not steal. Maybe you’re teaching about the Lord Jesus as a boy and the Command to Obey is simply to Obey your Parents
When you ask What is God Teaching Me? and God shows you something, the Five Categories help you concentrate your teaching to one area and not ramble and try to put in all sorts of truth and meaning.
The reason for that is, when you read the passage and jot down everything, you will probably find a number of truths in one passage. However, to teach them all will only lead to confusion for the children (and possibly even yourself). That being the case, learn this adage: Teach a Little and Teach it Well
That means, of all the truths you have written down, Choose Just One Truth.
But not any truth; Is there a truth that appears more than once?
As you go back over the Progression of Events the truth you chose will appear at two or three different stages of the Bible Passage …. That’s the one to choose, because it’s the truth that fits naturally into the Bible story a number of times.
The Truth you have chosen is The Central Truth of the passage. Yes, there are other truths but teach the Central Truth. Because it appears a number of times you can reinforce it a number of times
To do that, tell a bit of the story to get the children’s attention and when the Truth appears - teach it. Then tell another bit of the story and when the Truth appears - teach it and apply it to the children’s lives. Then tell another bit of the story and when the truth appears again - Teach it and apply it again but in another way. Then finish off the story.
What you should be aiming to do, (as far as the children are concerned) is tell a Bible story but (as far as you are concerned) you will Teach a Lesson by mingling in Bible Teaching. The children listen better and are more attentive, because you are telling a story… but when you come to the part of the Progression of Events where the truth appears, they continue to listen for when you come back to the story. That way they cannot help but hear Bible Truth of the Passage.
When you teach the Truth, go back to the story and when you come to where the truth appears, you teach the truth again, but this time you apply it in a way that is relevant to the children.
The children still hear a story - but you’ve taught them a Lesson.
But… how do you find the Application of the Truth?
That’s for next time, but give this a try. It will take time but don’t give up; it will click into place.
Jackie
