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Christian
Education Week |
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Beginning
Sunday, September 12, one week on our Presbyterian Planning Calendar
is set aside as “Christian Education Week.” Traditionally
that is the week that congregations begin their Christian education
program year. Whether it’s recruiting teachers, helping
teachers get ready for the fall, providing support for teachers,
commissioning teachers and students in worship, writing worship
liturgy such as a prayer for the church’s educational ministry,
or planning an event to launch Christian education, there is a
lot you could be doing to be ready for the fall. Whether you begin
Christian education in September, in August, or keep it going
all year long, the ideas on these pages will help you as you focus
the congregation’s attention on its educational ministry. |
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Ideas
for Teacher Recruitment, Preparation, and Support
Teacher Recruitment |
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Create a List of
Opportunities for Service in Educational Ministry
Distribute a list of the positions that are available in
the church’s education program well in advance. Provide
a clear description of each opportunity and its time commitments
and responsibilities. Include the list in the church newsletter
and Sunday bulletins. Consider an opportunity during worship
during which education can be made part of the Sunday offering
as a gift of time and talent. Some congregations create
a special offering form. Others pass a clipboard throughout
the congregation that list the opportunities. |
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Jesus Sent the Disciples
Out in Pairs . . . but It Would Be Good to Form Teaching
Teams of Three
If you are able, try to plan for a “three teachers
per class” arrangement. This allows more flexibility
on the teaching team. With three people, you are more likely
to ensure that two teachers are with the class each week.
A team of three provides both continuity for the class and
flexibility for leaders to say “yes” to teaching,
even if they can’t be there every week. Just don’t
set it up for teachers to rotate every three weeks, or it’ll
be a tag-team instead of a teaching team! |
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Set Up a Substitute
Teacher List
Identify a number of people who agree to serve as substitute
teachers for the classes. Maintain a list of them. Having
a pool of substitutes will make it more of a guarantee that
a leader will be found, and it allows people who otherwise
could not commit to being regular leaders to be involved
with the education program. Keep one set of curriculum for
each class in the church office to be picked up by a substitute
if needed. |
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Recruit a Person
to Float
Jesus walked on the water. The church school program can
be helped by a smaller miracle—a person who “floats”
around during the Christian education time to detect any
missing teachers, wandering children, behavior problems,
and supply issues, and to collect attendance notebooks. |
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Teacher
Preparation |
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Make the Curriculum
Available for Pickup Well in Advance
Some teachers like to prepare well in advance. Others will
prepare the week or even the day before class. To meet the
needs of those who organize and plan well in advance, make
the curriculum available for teachers months ahead of time.
If you use Presbyterian curriculum, consider becoming a
Standing Order customer. While there is no additional cost
or obligation on your part, these orders are guaranteed
to be shipped first. |
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Schedule a Teacher
Orientation Meeting
Set up an informal teacher orientation meeting. Do it shortly
before the church school program begins, even during the
week before class begins. Ask teachers who picked up the
curriculum earlier to bring it with them. Other teachers
can get the curriculum at the meeting. Try to keep the orientation
short. Go over the curriculum, show teachers where the supplies
and resources are, and provide time for teaching teams to
meet and spend time in their classrooms. Spend more time
with new teachers in a separate meeting or allow a returning
teacher to mentor a newer teacher. Presbyterians Organized
in Nurture and Teaching (POINT) are educators who volunteer
their time to assist in program organization, teacher training,
and curriculum recommendation. They may be reached through
your presbytery office. Coming soon is www.pcusa.org/point. |
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Teacher
Support |
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Do Random Acts of
Kindness for Teachers
Teachers appreciate the little things. These gracious gestures
don’t cost much, but they remind the teachers all
year long that they are appreciated. Think about doing things
throughout the church school year: a flower on the morning
teachers are commissioned in worship; a Christmas card or
ornament from the Christian education department; a valentine;
a gift certificate good for a specialty coffee drink; donuts
and coffee available just for teachers on Easter morning;
and at the end of the year a special gift that represents
the children’s appreciation. Some great end-of-the-year
gifts and celebrations for teachers include a party in the
classroom hosted by parents, a framed photo of the class,
and having the students serenade the teachers at a closing
assembly. One church used the tune “Jesus Loves Me”
to sing “God loves teachers this I know. . . . ”
It is also a good idea to have the pastor write a thank-you
note to each teacher. |
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Help Parents Support
Christian Education at Home
Fall is a great time to start a course for parents on nurturing
a child’s spiritual faith. Use a book like Making
a Home for Faith by Elizabeth Caldwell (Pilgrim Press,
2000). The PC(USA) curriculum We
Believe: God’s Word for God’s People
offers a number of tools for involving parents and caregivers
in children’s spiritual formation. Take Home Sheets
for preschool through Grades 3–4 (5) offer a review
of each session for use at home. For examples, go to the Curriculum Web site.
Other books that help parents claim their roles as the primary
Christian educators of their children are All Through
the Day, All Through the Year: Family Prayers and Celebrations
by David Batchelder (Augsburg Fortress, 2000) and by Jolene
L. Roehlkepartain (Abingdon Press, 2002). |
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Identify Prayer Partners
for Each of the Teachers
Invite members of the church to be involved in the Christian
education program by praying for the teachers. This is a
great way to involve people who recognize the importance
of educational ministry but, for whatever reason, are not
otherwise able to be involved in education. Recruit one
person for each teacher. |
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Ideas
for Christian Education Week in Worship and Program |
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Make Special Paraments,
Banners, or Offering Baskets for Christian Education Sunday
In church school during the summer, work with the children
to create paraments for the pulpit, lectern, and communion
table. Identify an artist or someone who works with fabric
to help with the design and construction of the paraments.
Children can use colorful fabric paint to fingerpaint or
put their handprints on the paraments. You may want to focus
on a particular theme using the paraments. Children can
also make special offering baskets for Christian Education
Sunday. Craft baskets can be painted, and colorful ribbons,
bells, and “jewels” can be attached to them.
Banners can be made and carried as a part of a special church
school processional. |
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Use Hymns Suggesting
the Importance of the Church’s Educational Ministry
Choose hymns that have references to teaching and sharing
the gospel. One hymn that is written especially about
Christian education is “We Thank You, God, for Teachers”
by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. It is available in Gifts
of Love: New Hymns for Today’s Worship (Geneva Press,
2000). Congregations are granted permission to reproduce
the hymn for one-time use with appropriate citations.
Appropriate hymns from The Presbyterian
Hymnal for Christian education emphasis include the
following:
“God of the Sparrow” 272
“Open My Eyes That I May See” 324
“Called as Partners in Christ’s Service”
343
“How Clear Is Our Vocation, Lord” 419
“Lord, Speak to Me, That I May Speak” 426
“Lord, You Give the Great Commission” 429
“God Is Here!” 461
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Invite Church School
Classes to Write Litanies and Lead Worship
In preparation for Christian Education Week, lead classes
that help children, youth, and adults understand the parts
of a worship service. Focusing on the importance of Christian
education, have each class write a different part of the
worship liturgy. This can include the call to worship, the
prayer of confession, the prayer of thanksgiving, the charge
and benediction. One class could even write a special litany
of education or a commissioning litany. Work with representatives
of each class to help them lead the liturgy. Other class
members can serve as ushers or greeters. |
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Have a Church School
Open-House Night
Plan an evening that is an open house for the church school.
It might be in connection with an all-church Sunday evening
meal or program. Teachers and students can be in classrooms
that are set up and ready for the year. An activity for
all ages such as a craft, a game, storytelling, or a puppet
show can be planned for each class space. |
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Start or End Worship
in the Church School Area
Consider inviting the whole congregation to begin or end
the worship service in the church school classrooms. If
it is done at the beginning of worship, bulletins and instructions
could be given as people arrive for worship. They could
be directed to one of several class spaces for words of
welcome and a call to worship. The call could be done in
small groups in the class spaces with a liturgist in each
room. Worshipers could then move to the sanctuary for worship.
Or, if it is planned at the end of worship, an element of
worship like the prayers of the people could be done in
small groups in classrooms with the worshipers then gathering
together in the church hall for a hymn and benediction.
This would work well if a church meal followed worship that
day. |
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Hold a Progressive
Potluck
Instead of the usual potluck held in the church’s
hall, on Christian Education Sunday spread the meal out
by making it a progressive potluck. Each classroom could
have a variety of dishes or you might even try a different
course in each classroom. For example, salads could be in
the younger children’s classroom, casseroles in the
older children’s classroom, dessert with the youth,
and beverages in the nursery. Or, to keep it simpler, try
a dessert party with cookies, pies, cakes, and beverages
each in a separate classroom. |
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Schedule a Tailgate
Party
If your Christian Education Sunday has a “kick-off”
theme, why not play the theme for all its worth, especially
if your church is in football territory. Have a church luncheon
that is a tailgate party in the church parking lot. Let
each class be responsible for one part of the meal and serve
it out of the back end of a vehicle. Line up the vehicles
so the serving line goes from vehicle to vehicle and let
the class members and teachers serve the meal to the congregation.
The program can include introductions of the classes and
teachers, “cheers” that each class creates.
You might even get the group to do “the wave.” |
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Top Six
Reasons the Church Entrusts Teachers with the Ministry of Teaching
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The
following reasons listed below and the accompanying prayer can
be distributed to teachers, printed in the church newsletter,
or used as a commissioning of teachers in worship on the Sunday
that begins Christian Education Week.
1. Teachers are called,
first of all, by God, through Jesus Christ.
(Matthew 28:19, 20a) “Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, . . . teaching them to obey everything that
I have commanded you.”
2. Through Jesus Christ,
God has promised to be our constant companion in the task
of teaching.
(Matthew 28:20b) “And remember, I am with you always,
to the end of the age.”
3. When we were baptized
into the household of God, we were given the gift of the Holy
Spirit.
(Acts 2:38–39) “Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may
be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all
who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls. .
. . ”
4. The Holy Spirit blesses
those who teach, its “bearers,” with the fruit
of the Spirit.
(Galatians 5: 22–23) “The fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control.” Many believe that teachers
are given these gifts in double measure—God knows children
and youth are the benefactors when teachers exercise these
gifts.
5. Teachers commit themselves
to being God’s saints: to showing their love for God
by serving others—in this case, the children, youth,
and adults who take part in Christian education.
(Mark 9:36–37) “[Jesus] took a little child and
put the child among [the disciples]; and taking the child
in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one
such child in my name welcomes me.’ ”
6. Teachers help members
and friends of the church to fulfill the vows made at baptism—to
teach and nurture and love those who are growing in the faith.
These are the promises God’s people have made for generations.
(Psalm 78:5–7) “God established a decree in Jacob,
and appointed a law in Israel, which God commanded our ancestors
to teach to their children; that
the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children, so that they
should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of
God, but keep God’s commandments.” |
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Prayer
for Teachers Therefore, because we
 trust
the calling of teachers,
believe
in their companion Jesus Christ,
rely
upon the power of the Holy Spirit,
honor
the gifts given to each who teaches
value
the commitment each offers to this
teaching
ministry, and
accept
God’s charge to the church,
in the words of Paul to the Philippians (1:3–11),
“[We] thank [our] God every time [we] remember you,
constantly praying with joy
in every one of [our] prayers for all of you, because of your
sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. [We] are
confident of this, that the one who began a good work among
you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
. . . And this is [our] prayer, that your love may overflow
more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you
to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you
may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of
righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory
and praise of God.”
Amen.
This material was provided by Nassau Presbyterian
Church in Princeton, New Jersey. |
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We
Thank You, God, for Teachers
A Hymn for Christian Education
wie lieblich ist der maien 7.6.7.6. d
We thank you, God, for teachers
Who help us learn your Way,
Who show by their example
How we can serve and pray,
Who find great joy in worship,
Who listen with concern;
For in their loving witness,
They help us want to learn.
We thank you, God, for children
And older people, too,
Who value times of learning
And want to grow in you,
Who seek your precious kingdom
And wisdom from above;
For wise ones of all ages
Still seek to learn your love.
We thank you, God, for families
Of every kind and size,
Who keep the vows they spoke when
Their children were baptized,
Who pray and read the Bible,
Who love and serve the poor;
They teach, by what they value,
The way of Christ our Lord.
We thank you, God, for churches
That welcome one and all,
That nurture every person
In answer to Christ’s call.
So fill us with your Spirit,
And give us life anew,
That we may help each other
Live faithfully in you.
Tune: Johann Steurlein, 1575 (“We Come as Guests Invited,”
no. 517, The Presbyterian Hymnal)
Alternate Tune: ellacombe (“I Sing the Mighty Power of
God,” no. 288, The Presbyterian Hymnal)
TEXT: Copyright 1999 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights
reserved. |
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Ideas for this article were submitted by educators including
Linda LeBron of Rockford, Alabama; Jan
Zimmerman of Overland Park, Kansas; Kim Cabrera
of Louisville, Kentucky; Mary Lou Ferris of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Joyce MacKichan Walker
of Princeton, New Jersey; and Gail Lane of
Portland, Oregon.
This article was compiled and written by Carl E. Horton. |
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