This area of competency makes many people in the church who are asked to teach pretty nervous. The response often is, "I don't know enough to teach the class." What content is it expected teachers will know? The entire Bible? That's a lot! The denominational beliefs of your congregation? Could you describe them to someone else? The worship practices of your church or daily faith practices that are a part of your church teachings? Again — there's a lot there. This section of Online Training for Sunday School Teachers looks at the content you are asked to teach.

You'll learn about:

• The resources you have
• Other places to seek help
• Making a plan to keep ahead

The Situation Today

For a wide variety of reasons, many people in the church do not feel confident in this area, including many people who attended Sunday school as a child. Think back to Robert Sylwester's comments about the necessity of being emotionally engaged in order to attend to the learning process. What might this mean about some Sunday school experiences in the past? What might that mean for the class you plan?

Your Printed Resources

Take some time to search through the resources you've been given. You'll find much more information than the daily plan for each session. Read it carefully and highlight important information. If your church has a library or you have a Sunday school resource area, look for Bible helps for the stories you will be teaching.

Denominational Help

Most denominations have a Web site filled with information. This ELCA link http://www.elca.org/co/brief.html will take you to page titled "Essential Questions: Christianity and Lutheranism. Print it and place it in your Leader Guide. When kids ask a question, you can help them find the answer. An added bonus is they see you continuing your learning. Search the rest of the site. You'll find a wealth of information. Not Lutheran? Type your denomination in a search engine to find their Web site link.

Walk a Step Ahead

Use the resources you have been given to stay at least one week or story ahead of your class. Read the Bible story that is the basis for next week's lesson. What is the main purpose of that story or lesson? You'll be amazed at the daily life connections you may find all through the week.

Ask some hard questions of your congregation. Do they know what they want you to focus on? The three broad categories of faith based content are a) the Bible story, b) application of the story to daily life, and c) denominational beliefs and practices. You have a short time with kids, and can't do everything. The greatest learning will happen in the place where children spend the most time. If you hear that the most important goal for Sunday school is learning the Biblical stories, then spend the most time with the stories — tell it, have kids retell it to each other, create a modern day parallel story, and tell it visually.

Remember you will learn what you actively engage in. If you try to do too much in one short lesson, it is likely that neither you nor your class will have the opportunity to become truly engaged and work toward understanding. Then as adults they will be concerned that they don't have a good handle on the content.