Every once in a while I get a chance to visit congregations with large Sunday School or Sunday morning Bible classes. Some of these classes have over 100 persons in regular attendance. While that may seem like a sign of success to some, others see those large classes as something to be wary of. Large Sunday School classes were, for a previous generation, both a goal and a measure of success. But even with the more contemporary emphasis on small groups (with 20 people in a group considered already too large) there remain pockets where bigger is better despite everything we know about how large teacher-focused classes are pedagogically ineffective.

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The following is from the book Myths: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo. How well do you know fact from fiction?

Fiction: You can tell the age of a tree by counting the rings in a cross-section cut of the trunk.

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The following is from the book Myths: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo. How well do you know fact from fiction?

FICTION: The Florida Everglades is an extensive swamp.

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Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I think I heard more voices than ever this year suggesting that we consider toning down the cultural excesses of Christmas gift-giving.  We’ve certainly not eliminated gift-giving in my world of family and friends, but it has become more modest in recent years.  Counterintuitively, Christmas has not become less important to us; if anything, the opposite is true, because it offers us time as family to be together.

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I remember congratulating a young man on his first sermon. The topic was prayer and he did very well for his first effort. Responding to my compliment on his performance, he replied, “Thanks, but I couldn’t loose. Who’s not going to agree that prayer is important?”

Despite his motives for choosing a “safe” topic to address in his first sermon, the young man was right, who doesn’t agree that prayer is important? Prayer is a “given” in the Christian life. It is foundational to continuing spiritual growth, including learning about the Christian life in formal educational settings.

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There is one thing you can be sure of as a primary educator in a local church: inevitably (just as certain as death and taxes), Sunday School teachers will begin to ask for “new curriculum.” This is regardless of the size of the church, the quality of teachers, or even the quality of the curriculum resources teachers currently are using when this mysterious angst strikes!

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Although I no longer serve as pastor of a congregation, invitations to preach come my way from time to time.  The latest instance was yesterday when I helped a Presbyterian congregation surprise their pastor with the opportunity to worship among them, free of leadership responsibility.  The occasion was the thirtieth anniversary of her ordination and the tenth anniversary of her ministry in that place.  Not knowing what the lectionary for the day was, I was pleased to learn that they were accustomed to hearing their pastor preach from it.  I love the tussle with scripture that pushes me to stay grounded in its teaching while saying something useful about its bearing on our lives today. 

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Soul Cakes: A November Family Faith Activity

One ancient tradition is the Soul Cake. It is where the modern day term “Soul Food” originated.

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We have all experienced effective and non-effective learning groups. Why is it that some are effective and others are not? I would argue that learning experiences that provide more time for critical reflection and dialogue result in more effective learning. Peruse the Christian bookstores and take note of how many resources are now encouraging at least a ninety-minute time frame for group study. There’s a reason for that—learning takes time!

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One of those “Aha!” moments came to me twenty-some years ago while staring at the blank computer screen where Sunday’s sermon should have been making its appearance.  Unfortunately, my thoughts were elsewhere; I had been dealing with the parent of one of our confirmands-to-be, who was convinced that I was not doing enough to impress on his son the significance of the rite he would soon undergo.  Sometimes his critique seemed to be that I didn’t make these 6th and 7th graders suffer enough (they thought they suffered plenty) and sometimes it was clear that the father was actually expecting the confirmation process to fill all the spiritual gaps left in the child’s life by church and home.

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