Before beginning this series of four articles which are taken from four sermons preached at the Oklahoma state Sunday school convention, I want to give credit to the Sunday School Builder, October 1961, which had a single article broken down into five parts on the general theme of “Know.” While the material I hope to share with you is not from the magazine, except for brief quotations,

I do want to acknowledge the magazine and the writers. It will be my intention in this series of four articles to share from these subjects: Know the Message, Know the Word, Know the Student, Know the Method and Thyself. It is assumed the teacher knows the Lord.

Christian education, to me, is the total program of the church plus the daily lives of those who profess to be a part of it. All the way from the sermon on Sunday morning to the class party or wiener roast, everything that is done in the name of the church contributes to the total educational output of that church, whether that output is good or bad. We cannot disclaim responsibility for anything that goes on in the name of the church, so it behooves us to seriously strive to keep everything Christian.

Since Christian education is the total development of the total man, it is imperative that Christian educators think in wider terms than simple Bible study. Now Bible study is where we start and where we end, let us not forget this; but there are many areas of Christian education in between, each of which has biblical backing. We must teach the Christian ethic, the Christian attitude and the Christian concept. To do this we have activities other than class sessions. No matter what we do in the name of the church—a class party, wiener roast, Boy Scout hike, picnic or whatever—it must be such that it will build the Christian life and concept. Anything that will not do this should never be done in the name of the church. It is a firm conviction to which I hold that there may be some things which individuals may do and retain their walk with God which should never be done as a collective body of Christians. We must allow for individual conscience and in so allowing we must recognize that there are conscience conflicts. It is wrong to offend Christian conscience by doing in the name of the church, things that are offensive to some persons in the church. The church must allow for individual conscience of its members.

You do not have to be a genius or a specialist to keep the total program of the church Christian; you just have to be Christian. Personally I fear the church can go to seed on specialization. Some seem to think the church must have a youth specialist, music specialist, family specialist, Sunday school specialist; specialists in administration, organization, counseling, etc. If the church had a specialist in each of these respective fields it would certainly have no need of a pastor. The office of pastor would be eliminated and the church would simply get a preaching specialist. What a devilish way to destroy the church! Today a man’s success is measured by the number of assistants he has. A church’s success is measured by the number of paid employees and the size of its budget! What has become of the old-fashioned idea of a man being called to pastor his people and the God of heaven distributing the gifts among the people to carry on the work? A part of pastoral responsibility is to oversee the entire work and to train people in the congregation to seek a gift and then to do the work they are gifted to do.

I think I can speak from some experience, inasmuch as the responsibility of pastoring a Sunday school that averages nearly one thousand two hundred in attendance requires a tremendous staff. Our Sunday school is staffed by a dedicated group of workers, not one of whom is paid. Our school is directed by a competent Sunday school board. They do not assume the responsibility for the total Christian education of the church. Their responsibility is specifically for the Sunday school and its related programs. We are often hard pressed for competent teachers, but meet this need by conducting an almost perpetual training class for teachers. Rare indeed do we appoint a teacher who has not had at least a first series course in the fine art of teaching a Sunday school class. Even so, it is often very difficult and we call on the church to pray to the Head of the church, even Jesus, that competent workers can be found, trained and put to work.

Eight years ago we started our ministry at Springfield, Ohio, with a Sunday school that averaged for that previous year, 697; the highest single year’s average prior to that was 771 for the year 1949–50. Today our school is crowding the 1200 mark for regular attendance. I quote these figures to give proof to the fact that God can supply workers if the church will pray and if the responsible leadership will dare to venture forth and train new teachers all the time. I am deeply indebted to my wife, who through the years has been my counselor and director of Christian Education, without title.

I am not in agreement with the idea that the church would die if it were not fed by the Sunday school. The exact opposite is true. The Sunday school would wither on the vine were it not for the church. It is wrong for us to set them against each other by making comparisons. The church and the Sunday school must be one and the same, endeavoring to accomplish the same purposes. We stand in danger of fragmentation. If we are not careful we will have a Sunday school, youth society, choirs, missionary society and a few people who stay to listen to someone preach. We need to see to it that all hands and hearts are joined in one common adventure, and that venture must be to seek and to save. It is the task of the pastor to keep the church a unit; each part of the work complementing the other as certainly as each part of the human body works to benefit every other part. “We are not divided, all one body we.”

Now if we are, under God, to accomplish his purpose, we must know what his purpose is. This involves the basic message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must know the message before we can teach it. The pastor, he who is called and ordained of God to pastor the flock, must know the message and in turn impart with persuasion, conviction and inspiration that message to all the workers. “Take heed unto thyself,” Paul wrote, “and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.”

He who is to be a leader in God’s work, whether he is to be a pastor, teacher or any other officer, must be “an example of the believers.” Watch your language: don’t cheapen yourself, even with slang. Watch your prayer life: without prayer you become powerless even though you may have a head full of method and knowledge. Watch your thought patterns; “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Watch your manner of dress if you want to attract people to Christ and not to yourself. You are not a great person but you are called to a great work. It will take every precaution possible if we are to even partially fill the office to which we are called.

Every pastor and every teacher is to some degree responsible for every person who comes under his ministry of teaching or spiritual care—the smallest child, the most elderly person, the poorest or the richest. It is God’s command to feed the flock and he means all the flock.

And so, my fellow worker in the vineyard of the Master, if we are to feed the church we must know the message. Our business is not entertainment nor is it social welfare. Our business is not to dabble with psychiatry about which we know so little. Our business is God’s business. Our text is the Bible. Our head is Jesus Christ. Our governor is the Holy Spirit. Through study, prayer and meditation we can know the message. It will not be easy but it is rewarding. What can afford so great a challenge as to stand before a class of human beings, charged with the responsibility of leading them into a knowledge of the God of heaven who wants to be their heavenly Father?

God bless you as you stand before your class and “speak not as the scribes and Pharisees but as one having authority.” You will have authority if you know the message.

Know the Word

I am not an expert in the field of Christian education. I have read some books written by experts; I have attended seminary classes; I have taken a number of courses; but I certainly am not a specialist in the field, Whatever contribution I may have to make in this area will be that of a pastor, who also teaches Sunday school, pastor’s classes, and special classes of various sorts. Teaching has been described by Clifford Ingle, in the Sunday School Builder, as a “more than” proposition. “More than the scribe whose aim is to transmit the truth with as little change as possible. More than the promoter who is on the offensive for the hearer to accept the conclusions of officially approved material. More than the philosopher who is more concerned with raising questions than in seeking answers. More than biblical research scholars who become so interested in the discovery of truth that no responsibility for its communication is assumed.”

All the above things are good but inadequate, in this writer’s opinion. The attitude of the teacher is the determining factor. We must know the Bible, but we must also know the author; for without a personal acquaintance with the Author of the Word, we will never be persuasive teachers of the Word.

Statistics have been compiled, and thrown about rather carelessly I fear; but the statistics tell us that after a person reaches the age of twenty-five, his chances of ever being converted are only one in ten thousand; after thirty-five, one in fifty thousand; after forty-five, one in two hundred thousand; after fifty-five, one in three hundred thousand; after sixty-five, one in five hundred thousand; after seventy-five, one in seven hundred thousand. Now I am moved to ask WHY? Why are so few adults converted? There are many obvious reasons—people tend to become set in their ways, become hardened to sin, lose the habit of church attendance, become involved with the ways of the world; but there is one reason not often mentioned, and it is that reason I would stress. Is it possible that adults are not converted because the church has neglected them? We have just found it easier to work with children. Mind you I do not overlook the fact that adults tend to be hardened and set in their manner of life, but fairness with God and with adults demands that I ask myself if we are really doing all that could be done for the great adult section of society. To teach adults demands a wealth of knowledge and an intimate understanding of the Word of God. Let us pray the Lord of harvest that He send more reapers into this field.

Teaching materials are an ever-present problem to the average Sunday school. Some department is always unhappy about a given quarter of lessons. Sometimes the criticism is that the lessons are too elementary and other times the criticism is that the lessons are too advanced. Teaching material is like preaching material; it is wherever you can find it. The preacher who expects to get his sermons out of someone else’s book is going to be as chaffy as the teacher who has nothing more to contribute to a class than that which is in the quarterly. Sermon outlines and Sunday school quarterlies are good things and should be used by all of us unless we have some special endowment from God; but we must remember that we teach religion, and religion is an experience to be shared. Unless the materials gathered live and burn in the heart of the teacher, they will sound quite empty no matter how profound they may be. It does not make a great deal of difference how much you know about the birds and bees, flowers and trees; unless they speak of God they have little business at Sunday school. They can speak of God but they will not unless the teacher has walked with God in the midst, of the flowers and trees and there drunk deeply of the Spirit of the Great Creator.

The teacher, then, is first of all a person. The teacher must allow himself to become the channel through which God can talk. The teacher must be a child of God before he can bring others into this Father-Son relationship. He must teach the Word because he is acquainted with both the Word and its Author. How can I teach Jesus is Savior and friend without knowing Him as my Savior arid friend? How can teach of the cleansing, sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit unless I know the Word that tells me of the Holy Spirit and know the cleansing presence of the Holy Spirit? It is unprofitable for the teacher to skirt the edges of eternal truth but never come to grips with it. Such a teacher will never bring a student to grips with truth either. It is our business as teachers to bring men to a personal encounter with divinity.

Now when we consider the matter of teaching the Word we need to know what we mean by the Word. Webster’s New International Dictionary defines the Bible as “the book made up of the writings accepted by Christians as inspired by God and of divine authority.” However, a new, less objective dictionary published by the Soviet State Publishing House defines the Bible as “a collection of fantastic legends without any scientific support. It is full of dark hints, historical mistakes and contradictions. It serves as a factor for gaining power and subjugating the unknowing nations.” One is not surprised that the Soviet would so define the Bible but one is shocked when prominent Protestant churchmen define it in almost the same terms. Prominent Protestants, alas, have spoken repeatedly to the point that the virgin birth of Jesus, the story of creation and similar biblical truths that are basic to the Christian faith are but myths. If we are to be teachers of the Word we had better be believers of the Word also or our teaching will be academic, to say the least, and almost completely lacking in enthusiasm.

He who believes in the Word and teaches it will be teaching always for decisions. If the word he teaches is the Word of God, then the word taught is authoritative. If the Word says “ye must be born again,” then the believer must find the way to be born again. If the Word teaches “love your enemies,” then the believer seeks the way to love his enemies. Before the teacher can teach the Word he will need to have partaken of it. When the teacher teaches on honesty, fair play, truthfulness or on any great theme of right living, he needs to back his teaching with the authority of the Word. “Thus saith the Lord” carries the needed authority to cause people to conform to the teachings of the Word with full assurance that God’s ways are right and will prove to be to the best interests of the believer. Many a child, youth or older adult who kneels at the church altar had his awakening in the Sunday school class.

Shall I seek teaching materials? Certainly! Shall I concern myself with proper methods of teaching? By all means! It is tragic to see unprepared teachers but it is shameful to see them go on and on, year after year and do nothing about improving either themselves or the quality of their teaching. Materials and methods are very important but not the most important. The most important thing is that the teacher be a dedicated Christian with a firm conviction that the Bible is the Word of God. Our Lord said, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” Thank God there are still a multitude of people who are both consecrated and who continually strive to qualify themselves as teachers of religion. It is a life-long task but a task worthy of the finest effort.

Fellow Teacher, hold a proper reverence for the Word of God. Expect the Bible to bring both you and your students to a personal encounter with God. When you teach, expect decisions. If you cannot teach expectantly, then find the secret place of prayer and pray until you can.

Know the Student

Recently I had occasion to minister to a family who had real trouble. Since I was not acquainted with the family (they did not attend church, but the children attended Sunday school), I asked one of the teachers if she could help me with some background on the family. She told me what she could and then said, “I am sorry, Brother Boyer, they have not been coming very long and I have only been in the home five times.” Would it be impertinent of me to ask YOU how many times you have been in the homes of your students? Have you ever been there? Certainly a teacher’s opportunities of reaching a student are enhanced if the teacher knows the conditions of the home from which the student comes.

From the Sunday School Builder, Dr. Gaines S. Dobbins of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary defined teaching as, “meeting the needs of the pupils with the truths of the Bible” (copy-righted by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, used by permission). In this definition we have two things; the needs of the pupil are first. How can we know the needs unless we know the pupil? Certainly there are some basic needs of all pupils and just as certainly there are some specific needs of all pupils. Not too long ago we had a lovely student who developed the habit of coming to the altar every service until a wise Sunday school teacher took the child for a period of loving counsel. The teacher said, “We all have problems, but we do not go to the public altar with all of them. We learn to pray in the secret place and God will hear us because he loves us.” It was beautiful and it was the means of helping the student to a stalwart Christian life.

The other part of Dr. Dobbins’ definition was that we meet the needs of the pupils “with the truths of the Bible.” The Bible does not spell out specific definitions for every problem but the Bible does deal in great precepts that are relative to every problem of life. It is not enough to merely know the pupil. We must also have wisdom to answer the needs of the pupils, and that wisdom is known to no man. That wisdom must come from God through the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Blessed indeed is the student who has a teacher well versed in the Word of God and interested enough in him to make the Word applicable to the need.

Recently a lady went to a doctor who examined her and prescribed medication. After a day or so she was worse and called the doctor to tell him so and to ask about the possibility of the medicine being wrong for her. The doctor said, “I do not know what I gave you; I do not know what your trouble is; I will have to see my charts at the office.” In other words, this patient was only a number listed on a chart. Oh, he was a very good doctor and went immediately to his office and called with the necessary recommendation, but the damage was already done. HE DID NOT KNOW HER AS A PERSON. I fear many a Sunday school teacher knows even less about the students they try to teach. Maybe that disinterested child in your class is actually hungry. We have a number of children who come on the Sunday school bus and by other ways, whose parents do not bother to get up on Sunday morning to get them any breakfast. Maybe that naughty child that you were a bit cross with came from a broken home where he gets “cuffed” around so much he sort of expects it, even at Sunday school. Maybe that adult who seems so antagonistic to everything is facing problems at home that seem insurmountable. Oh, there are a thousand things that might happen to students in your class, and if you knew them, you could help them; but because you do not know them you are less than friendly to their problems. There are all sorts of problems people have at home—an aged parent, hard to manage; a child facing serious surgery; a wayward son or daughter; a drinking husband; a nagging wife; a youth living a wayward life and filled with guilt and fear. We will never be able to be effective in our teaching without knowing the people we teach. The teacher, to be effective, must know the prospects, the visitors to the class. Every person should be treated not merely as a prospect for the class, but as a prospect for the kingdom of God. Every life is a sacred thing for which Christ died. Recently I was in the hospital making my pastoral calls when I met one of my teachers who has an average attendance of more than sixty women. This teacher is a wife and mother with the responsibility of her home, but she also finds the time to be a faithful church woman and a teacher of high caliber. The thing that impressed me that day was her question, “Pastor, is there anyone else in the hospital whom I should call on?” I knew she was tired and I was reluctant to even mention one lady who was not a member of her class but had been a visitor at church, but without hesitation she said, “I will call on her too while I am here.” Out of loving concern for a person who was a prospect for the kingdom of God, she added another name to her long list of people to be called on and prayed for.

There is no substitute for visitation and I personally would not bother my congregation with visitation gimmicks. Visitation, to be effective must be made from a personal interest inspired by prayer, motivated by love and empowered by the Holy Spirit. The responsibility for a “prospect” is never ended until that person is won to Christ and established in the Christian way or else becomes the responsibility of some other group. Prayer for the prospect is good and essential but it usually is not enough. Our prayers need to be backed by personal interest and concern. Do not overlook “friendship evangelism,” where you have people in your home and just be friends with them. Do not overlook the fact that a well-planned party may yield some spiritual fruit undreamed of if well and prayerfully planned. It is a shame to have a Sunday school party with no other motive but to eat cold food and have a little fun. We gather informally, get acquainted, talk, sing, have a worship service, share our food; oh, there are so many benefits that can come from such an evening. Do not overlook the Class Night at the revival when you try to get the entire class to attend and sit together. One of the profitable periods we experience is pastoral visitations to various departments when the pastor speaks to the department and encourages their decisions for Christ. One of our greatest days in the year is Decision Day which we hold on Palm Sunday during the Sunday school hour. All adults, and only adults, meet for a special evangelistic message from the pastor. We do the same with youth. We have had some days that yielded greater returns in souls than many a protracted meeting. We are in the Sunday school business to reach the hearts of people, so let us use every means possible. “He who winneth souls is wise.” Some have spoken of our Decision Days as one-day revivals. From the Sunday School Builder Jack Stanton tells of visiting the office of the dean of a fine college. A professor came in to ask the dean to expel a young man. The dean asked about the boy’s background but the professor knew nothing of it. After he left, the dean said quietly, “How can he deal intelligently with the boy when he knows so little about him. It is not the boy who has failed, but the professor.” The professor saw but one solution to the problem—get rid of the boy. Sunday school teacher, it is not our business to “get rid” of our problems. It is our business to solve them; and if we are successful we will have to understand them. KNOW YOUR STUDENT if you ever hope to win him. Personally, I think it a sin for any teacher, Sunday school, public school, college or university, to cast doubt in the mind of a student concerning the divinity of Jesus Christ or the authority of his holy Word. It is as ridiculous to cast doubt concerning divinity as to cast doubts on the laws of chemistry or mathematics. In Christian education we are trying to build, not destroy faith. We are trying to make men Christian, not higher critics. I have yet to find a “critic” who was little more than a mind filled with things that could not be put together in such manner as to make sense to the holder of the accumulated information.

If I had to make a choice between a teacher without letters but with a profound faith and a man with letters who looked upon the creation account and the divinity of our Savior as myth, I would not have to take a second thought in making my choice. He who knew God would be interested in his pupils as people who also needed a Savior. He who did not know God would be interested in sharing his doubts and fears with whatever group should assemble to hear him. Do not despise yourself because circumstances prevented you from obtaining a formal education. If you were fluent in the Greek language you would have a definite qualification; but the Bible is translated into English, remember, and the Holy Spirit is still available to “open the Scriptures to your understanding.” Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself; and remember Jesus said, “On this rests all the law and the prophets.”

Know the Method and Thyself

I am certain that an educator would spend much more time on the first part of this theme, but I am not an educator. I am a pastor interested in education, but I insist that education be designed for one thing, to make men Christian. For this reason my interest does not lie primarily in method, but methods are important. Which method is best is open to debate for those qualified to debate, but some method must be followed, and perhaps the good teacher is the one who learns how to vary the methods presenting truth. We are dealing with people, and people are more important than the method.

From the Sunday School Builder, (copyrighted by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and used by permission), Ray Rozell, in speaking to this point, says, “if I teach a parakeet to talk, I might prefer the method of writing a speech, pinning it to the bird’s cage, and asking him to learn it. The only trouble is that a parakeet does not learn that way.” Now we may have our preferences on the ways or methods of teaching, but we must bear in mind that we are trying to teach people. And every person is an individual, so we will of necessity alter our methods and procedures.

Dr. Carl Kardatzke taught me, during my seminary training in the Psychology of Education, that people learn through the five physical senses which are sometimes called the five gates of learning. We learn through sight, hearing, taste, feeling, and smell. How many researchers tell us that if a person only hears a thing, the best we can hope for is from 15 to 30 percent learning. If a person only sees a thing, the best he can hope for is from 25 to 50 percent learning. When seeing and hearing are combined we may hope for as much as 60 percent learning. When hearing and seeing is followed by discussion the learning potential rises to 75 percent. Add positive action to the above and the potential reaches 95 percent. So we look at every student as a learning mechanism with the same senses, but we remember that every student has things in his life that will hinder or help him in grasping what we attempt to teach. There is still one other sense that the educators do not talk about, but one which is of vital concern to we who teach religion. I call it the sixth, or spiritual sense. Man is a spiritual being as well as a physical being, and while the physical senses do stimulate the spiritual, in the final analysis we are dependent upon the Spirit of God to stimulate the spirit of man to action. The methods of teaching then shall be varied. We must lecture some. People must be told, and our Lord himself, the Master Teacher did on occasions speak out in loud clear preachments. Read the words of Jesus such as, “Thou hast heard it said … but I say unto you …” or “Woe unto you generation of vipers …” or, in kindest tones He spoke, after setting a little child in the midst of the disciples, “Unless you become as a little child you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” When you read such great and profound utterances you are moved with the value of preaching or lecture.

We use visual aids wherever possible and practical. Visual aids are usually thought of as pictures, either still or moving: flannelgraphs; paintings or reproductions; dramas, skits, pantomimes. Oh, there are so many visual aids; even the teacher is a visual aid (or hindrance) to good teaching. The lesson is better taught by you being present than by a tape recording. Your general appearance will either detract or dignify the lesson taught.

Certainly we want also to use the discussion method where we allow for questions and for the class to add their thinking to the lesson taught. Discussion is the most dangerous type of teaching and requires the greatest skill of all. The idea that a class should be allowed to discuss whatever they want to discuss in a serious mistake. Some classes have some individual who will always bring up some unrelated idea or pet peeve, if you allow it. It is not good teaching to allow such a person to rob the class of the materials you have earnestly presented. The discussion method is good, but it must be kept on related materials or it will defeat all that you have attempted to do.

There are many other methods of teaching, but space does not permit a further exploration at this time because we want to get to the other side of our original proposition, Know Thyself. Are you sold on the message the church has to present to the world? Are you as a Sunday school teacher so completely dedicated that you can stand in your community and take whatever criticism or misunderstanding necessary for Christ’s sake and the gospel? Can you keep serene? not fight back? not feel called upon to defend yourself? Commitment is an essential for a good teacher, and we need at this point to Know Thyself. Are you sold on the Lord? Do you really believe him to be the Son of God and Savior of whosoever will; conceived by the Holy Spirit; born of the Virgin Mary; his teaching the teaching of Almighty God? Can you stand before your class and in your community and quietly declare Jesus Christ as man’s one and only hope of salvation? Do you sincerely believe that “there is no other name given … whereby we must be saved”?

Are you sold on the idea that the Bible is the Word of God? Know thyself; don’t fool thyself. So far as I am concerned, all my life and all my hope in this world and the world to come is predicated on my belief in the fact that the Bible is truly the Word of God. If the Bible is true, I am perfectly safe. If it is not true, I am deceived. I believe it to be true and have found its promises are all fulfilled through faith. It is a “light unto my pathway, a lamp unto my feet.”

Does the student in my class really have my love? You cannot win a student unless you can love that student through the agape of God. Mere human love is not enough. It must be love that transcends all human love and sometimes manifests itself in its ability to “love your enemy.” A love that makes you turn the other cheek and go the second mile. A man said to me recently, “Pastor, I have gone the second mile until my feet are bruised and bleeding. I have turned the other cheek until it is black and blue. I have given my cloak time after time and still things remain the same. What do I do now?” In our teaching we also may experience blistered feet and bruised cheeks, but the love of God keeps us working, praying, and believing that another day, through another prayerful effort, will bring the student to his knees where he will also become a disciple of Jesus. Know the Message, know the Word, know the Student, know the Method, know Thyself, and God will make you an effective teacher.

There is no responsibility more rewarding or more demanding than that of being a Sunday School teacher.

One must first of all be well acquainted with the Master Teacher and be persuaded that He is the guide in all things.

One must be acquainted and have a love for what the Master taught or he will soon be teaching men’s ideas and philosophies and leave the people without a message that will help them across the deserts of this world and into the divine oasis of the heavenly.

One must be on speaking terms with the Master or He will soon be talking with everyone else and what he learns will not be that which can help a student to a spiritual life.

One must have a genuine love for those he attempts to teach or they will quickly sense that what we do is a drudgery or at best an irksome duty to be performed. Such a person will never win a student.

The rewards of being a Sunday school teacher cannot be measured because: How does one measure the soul’s delight when he sees a student kneel before the Lord and find His peace? How does one evaluate the joy of seeing a disturbed home united in love and holy appreciation? How does one place a value that comes through the satisfaction of having done our best to teach the Master’s lesson and having known His “well done, thou good and faithful servant.” May I here express my thanks to Dr. T. Franklin Miller, editor of Christian Leadership where these articles first appeared, for allowing me the liberty to reproduce them here.
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