When I first started this blog, I was nonplussed at what I could do with it. I love to write, and I love to teach, so I thought maybe I could write about teaching, share some curriculum, and maybe include some funny stories that I tell to kids.
But writing a blog to students feels weird. I found I couldn’t really trust it for curriculum because the majority of students either can’t get access to it or wouldn’t bother reading it. And I find I get constipated as a writer when I know students are going to read my work. If I TELL students to read my work, that’s even worse.
The problems are:
1. I’m Christian, and I teach in a public school, where sharing my faith in anything but the most cursory manner is not only illegal, but also (in my opinion) unethical. However, my faith is my favorite thing to write about in the world.
2. I’m really, really far from perfect. And if you’re a teacher, you have to keep this illusion going that you basically are perfect. I mean, sure, you might slip up every now and then and say “Aw, HECK!” when you stub your toe, and maybe you got jealous of your little brother when he got a nicer bike than you in fifth grade. But that’s about the limit to the allowable imperfection. Nominal imperfection only, please. That’s what we like in our public role model adults. Which is at it should be. Except it makes for boring writing. And also, I’m not nominally imperfect. I’m real deal imperfect.
So, um, what do I write about? I love to write, and people keep telling me I ought to write a book about something. I’ve done some research on it, though, and in order to write a book, you have to like, write stuff. Which I don’t do. Unless it feels like there’s some reason to write something. Is putting my writing into a public forum a good enough motivation for me to write regularly?
Actually, I think it is. My expectation is that pretty much nobody will read this, because it will be boring. And I’m not planning on publicizing it to my students anymore. So I’m going to write whatever I want (within reason).
And what I want to write about, lately, is Sunday School.
Yes. Sunday School. I’ve been teaching Sunday School every week at my church for over a year, and I want to write about it. A lot. A real lot. It’s funny and beautiful and interesting and God keeps showing up and I love it. And nobody gets how awesome Sunday School is. The truth is, it’s really kind of a joke, Sunday School. The pastor will pay it some lip service, if he’s a good pastor. He’ll talk about how church is actually just to keep the parents busy while the kids are in Sunday School, ha ha ha. But if you watch what actually happens in a church, really, nobody actually cares what’s going on in Sunday School. I mean, people hope the kids are getting saved and that the teachers are nice but also capable of managing to keep the room from disintegrating into chaos, but that’s about the extent of it.
And I hate to say it, because I don’t want to be a dissenter, but that’s really not enough. At least in my opinion.
I was only saved three years ago, and I did not grow up in a church-going family, so I don’t have many stories from my personal childhood about church school. But I have many unbelieving friends who have stories about it, and from the sounds of it, Sunday School is capable of inflicting a lot of damage on the spiritual formation of kids.
Now, personally, I get a little irritated when we go overboard with the problems of church/life in general keeping people from the Lord. At a certain point, if you’re going to love Jesus and follow Him, I think you have to think through the evidence and accept the difference between God and sin, regardless of the tragedies that have befallen you, whether or not they were caused by people who alleged to be working in His name.
Still, it would be nice to have a Sunday School that encouraged children towards an authentic relationship with the Lord, instead of either leaving them totally apathetic towards Him, or even worse, actively repelled them from Him.
I’m a professional teacher, and I have a master’s degree in curriculum studies. I take education very seriously. I consider teaching to be my vocation, given to me by God. And I’d like to try my hand at applying my teaching skills, experience, and knowledge, honed in the secular world, to bringing children to a true understanding of who God is, and developing a strong, authentic relationship with Him that would continue for the whole of their lives.
That’s such a tall order. But I can’t think of anything more important, or more rewarding, that I could do. And I want to write about it because I am so passionate about it and so excited about it, but I am also full of questions and doubts and I would love so much to find out what other people think. What do other Sunday School teachers do? What have they found that works? What have they found doesn’t work?
I pray that this blog is fruitful, and that it blesses children and humbly serves the Lord’s purposes.
Read strong!
