Surviving Junior High Sunday School
I wasn't nervous. Not at all. I wasn't confident either. As I stated recently it has been almost 10 years since I have taught a sunday school lesson and for good reason. I wasn't nearly as patient a person as I am now. I yelled a lot. We have a challenging group of 6th - 8th graders. A lot of new faces to the church, a pastors kid, ones from broken homes, a few who are uber-boy/girl crazy, and the one or two who are quiet and don't want to be noticed. A normal group of kids. I was asked to teach kind of that last minute the day before Thanksgiving. Thusday I was all turkey'd out so it wasn't happening then. Friday..... still recovering, but managed to pull out a lesson on being a servant from John 13:1-17. My predecessors have been trying to teach them how to be more loving towards each other and less self-centered. Yeah right. I was just hoping that one little seed gets planted to sprout sometime later. I asked them four main questions.
1. Why did Jesus wash the disciples feet?
2. What does it mean to be a servant?
3. Why does God want us to be a servant?
4. How can we serve our church, our communities, and our family?
Thinking back on these questions now it makes me wonder how I can possibly be more of a servant to these kids? To properly humble myself and put them before myself. To not just tell them about the love of Christ, but to show it to them.
1. Why did Jesus wash the disciples feet?
2. What does it mean to be a servant?
3. Why does God want us to be a servant?
4. How can we serve our church, our communities, and our family?
Thinking back on these questions now it makes me wonder how I can possibly be more of a servant to these kids? To properly humble myself and put them before myself. To not just tell them about the love of Christ, but to show it to them.
Labels: faith, spiritual maturity, teaching, youth ministry
posted by Out Of Jersey | 1:15 PM
5 Comments:
Good goal.
After years of haning out with junior high kids, some things I try to remember:
No one likes themselves in middle school.
What they want most is to belong to a group, since it sucks to be them.
Hell is a lot like seventh grade.
Most adults are too scared of teenagers to really listen.
You're gonna be great.
Peace,
Milton
Great points from Milton. Maybe you could also share with them some of the things you've written about in your blog. Like how this was not your initial desire but you did it anyway because...
Sounds like you gave a great lesson. I agree with the points made by the previous posters, but would add that a lot of what adults perceive as selfishness is just a survival technique for middle schoolers. Adults can make too much out that, not to say that lessons to contrary aren't a good thing.
yeah, good posts earlier.
the one thing i would add is this question: are you spending time with this group? do you invite them over to your place, do they get to hang out with you (just a small handful, btw) in a natural setting, etc?
you might think that they would think that's lame or whatever, but my experience is that it's just the opposite, from the kids' perspectives, at least.
caveat: i don't mean to sound judgmental in this. it's not like i (or really, anyone i know) has this all figured out. but it's a pretty good practice from my experience.
peace.
I appreciate the kind words. It was a positive experience, one I would have not considered to take if it weren't for the youth director asking me to do it. I am looking forward to continuing this in the future.
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