I've been asked (more than once) why I'm not teaching Sunday school. At our last church, I attended Sunday school but found it did not meet my hunger for meat in the same way that Precept's and Beth Moore studies did. I have facilitated Women's Bible studies, and find them very satisfying, but there is a reluctance in my spirit to teach Sunday school.

My best friend resisted God when He called her to be the Women's Minister at her church b/c she didn't like women. However, she chose to bow the knee to Father and came to love the very women she served.

While there are times that I think I feel the same way, when I begin to name the women I already love, it is easier to imagine loving more women in the same way. I'm wondering if the thought, "I hate Sunday school," isn't actually a lie of the enemy's that I have adopted, incorrectly, as truth (for myself).

I have been on my face before the Lord about this issue, and many others, for the last month. Even so, I am open to godly counsel since I've found He so often uses this forum to "change my mind."

Has anyone else wrestled with this or a similar issue, and if so, what finally won you to one side or the other?

Sunday School is discipleship, aren't we called as ministers of Him to disciple others?

Maybe your calling is to bring sunday school alive for your ladies, sounds like if Kay Arthur and Beth are where you get your "meat", its the teaching literature you hate not the concept of sunday school.

We aren't called to do everything. If there is a check in your spirit listen to it. We should always rise to our strengths not try to develop our weaknesses.

Of course, Sunday School doesn't have to be as you have described. Is it the format, time of day or material that is in question? Do you have to use that material if you teach?

It is better to pursue what God IS calling you to than to beat yourself up over something you think you SHOULD do.

I don't think it is as much a check in my spirit as it is the memory of something that "tasted" bad. I didn't just up and decide that I didn't like Sunday school one day...it took several classes before I was sure! Part of it IS the time of day...I'm not a morning person. Merely getting to church on time (at 11 am) is a challenge most weeks. (I always think I have more time than I do.)

I think I'd be given my head as to "what" to teach (within reason), I'm just not sure that I want the responsibility. What I do not want to do is to fail to complete something that I've begun. I think that is unfair and disrespectful of others. That's part of why I like Bible studies--they have a defined "end date."

Still, it has been my experience that a lot of the things that I "think" I don't like, when given the chance, I DO like them. I am just mulling the possibility that I have been believing a lie in this area...

And, yes Amy, I do think that it would be possible to make Sunday school a great appetizer, if not a whole meal. It doesn't have to be dull and boring--or worse. I just think worshiping the Lord through study of His Word should be a joyful thing to do...not a nagging chore. In my experience, Sunday school has been a chore rather than a joy.

I had a friend who became so dissatisfied with the adult Sunday School class she was in. She had nothing good to say about it and I knew it was a good class.

I kept quiet but I watched her every Sunday. I thought I knew what was going on but I waited to see if I was right.

And I was. What was going on was God was calling her to teach in a preschool class! He made her dissatisfied and then he stirred in her a desire for something different. She was very good with the children and she became so happy.

A restlessness can be God's way of drawing you into an area of new ministry.

Teaching others about Christ is intimidating. We all feel inadequate. But there are young girls who need women of faith to walk with them in church...teaching...
And college age...young marrieds...elementary grades...may be where God is drawing you, Teresa.

I hope you'll take this as a compliment but you remind me so much of Peter, Christ's disciple. You follow Christ passionately.

You are not the first who has called me a "Peter," Twinkle! Yes, I think he and I have a lot in common...including tripping over our own tongues on occasion. Praise God--He knew Peter intimately and chose him anyway! May the same be true for me.

Perhaps you could ask yourself if this is something God is calling you to, or if you are being called only by the expectations of other people.

Maybe God does want you to do some work - perhaps forgiving somebody, or letting go of some grudge related to the SS thing.

There are times and seasons for all things. I lovingly taught preschoolers for 3 years. I found it helped my family be more regular for church as they helped me bring my materials in and sometimes assisted me. It was good for us all, but this year I felt it becoming, as you have described, a chore. I decided this particular season had come to an end, or at least was put on hold. I am not teaching this year and I'm okay about it. I also have a hard time getting there for 11. Many of us have busy weeks and need our rest.

Are you teaching a Bible study?

I don't have any grudges about SS, just didn't much care for it. I found it so tedious that I chose sleep instead. I think it was a good choice for me. If you can't be excited, or at least positive, about what you're doing, then you risk bringing others "down" with you. I didn't want to be the "downer."

I'm not involved in a formal Bible study right now. I had a long summer, spent on a veritable soup of medications, while waiting for a needed surgery. I finally had surgery in September, and have only been free of the crazy-making drugs for a couple of months. So, no I'm not teaching. And, our Precepts class is done for the semester, so I'm in the clear until mid-Jan.

God bless you for teaching pre-schoolers. I am not equipped to deal with children until they reach the mouthy ages. The clingy, needy stages just stress me out, so while we served our share of time in the nursery, I am grateful that season is over...and grateful, too, that others are blessed with a love for those ages.

Still, I think that we are right to step in and out of different roles. Sometimes we need rest, and other times, someone else needs the blessing of service that can only be had if we get out of the way.

T,

You may wish to consider reading a weekly devotional that Beth wrote back in 2003. She entitled it "Lord, what is Your Will?" It has helped me time after time when something big has been presented to me, in one form or another, and I've found it to be a very helpful tool.

http://www.lproof.org/Devotions/2003/weekly_devotional_003.asp

In Christ's Love,

Jennifer