Adult Sabbath School Training

Info

Title: Adult Sabbath School Training

  1. Why adult SS?
  2. The Vision
  3. The Parts of a Class
    1. Fellowship
      1. Build community
      2. Follow up with absent members
      3. Make new people feel comfortable and welcome
    2. Bible Study
      1. Ensure that class members use their Bibles and that the discussion is heavily Bible-based. Study the Bible, not the quarterly.
        1. The Adult Bible Study Guide is a tool to guide Bible study and should be used in a way that points us to the Bible.
        2. It isn’t necessary to use the quarterly in class, but using the Bible is essential.
      2. In most cases, prefer a discussion-based class over a lecture-based class.
        1. Group participation is better for learning and it also builds community.
        2. Be aware of teacher talking time (TTT). Try to limit TTT to under–or better, well under–25% of the study time. Your job is to guide the discussion, not to lecture.
          1. If a class member talks too much, steer the discussion away from that person. You might ask another person by name what they think (only do this to people who you know are OK with being nominated). You can also ask some questions that the talkative person doesn’t like to answer and hold the discussion on-topic. For example, someone who’s very theoretical in their talking might be silent when you ask about personal experience. Someone who over-shares about their personal experience might not have so much to say in response to a question asking why a specific word is in the Bible passage under consideration.
        3. Ask open-ended questions, both about the specifics of the Bible passage under consideration and how it applies to our lives. Open-ended questions are questions that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no or some other equally short answer.
          1. Don’t expect the class to read your mind. If you’re looking for a specific answer and don’t want to consider other answers, perhaps make a statement instead of asking a question.
        4. Where possible, set up your class area to better facilitate discussion.
          1. If possible, people should sit facing each other.
          2. If you must use church pews, try to sit in a chair in an aisle facing the class members. This will help facilitate discussion, discourage members from sitting far away, and quiet the teacher’s voice (which will lessen the crosstalk in the sanctuary). Try to position your class such that at most only two pews are used. It’s better to have more, smaller, classes, especially when you have multiple classes competing to be heard in the sanctuary.
          3. Try to limit class size. If the class grows larger than 12-15 members, consider adding another class.
      3. Ensure that the class is friendly to newcomers:
        1. Be aware of the jargon you use and be prepared to explain any jargon used by other class members without waiting for someone to ask. Newcomers won’t understand such terms as “spirit of prophecy”
        2. Appropriate ways to welcome newcomers vary greatly from culture to culture. Some cultures prefer a low-key welcome where they don’t feel singled out. In other cultures, a formal welcome is appreciated. The more you can become aware of these differences, the better you can welcome people. If in doubt, err on the side of not making people feel singled out.
    3. Outreach
    4. Get-togethers
  4. Brainstorming
  5. Tips for facility usage