Keys To A Successful Class

  1. Don’t be a lone ranger! This ministry requires a small diverse group of solid Christians who have a passion for students to have a solid foundation and thrive in their faith when they leave home. Para-church groups like YFC, FCA, CRU and Young Life make great partners!
  2. Pray. No group will be successful without it.
  3. Teachers must be well prepared. Watch the lesson video you will teach under the lessons tab. Study the teacher notes. Practice before you teach and make sure that you do not add extra material to the lessons. Plug in your own examples but make sure that you cover all the main points of the lesson. The students will be following your lecture in their handbooks.
  4. Create an environment that is friendly, warm and open to questions and doubts that students will have.
  5. This is not a youth group event. It is a class to prepare students have a solid faith that they will live out by loving others and being able to answer their faith questions. Treat them as adults and expect them to learn as they engage with the teacher. They are coming to class because they want to learn!
  6. Be open and vulnerable. This is not about the teacher or small group leaders being perfect Christians. It is about Christians being real and that begins with the teacher. Be open to not always knowing the answers to their questions and be willing to find answers by the next class.
  7. Always end class no later than an hour and a half after the start of class. Always have small group time.
  8. If you are not completely comfortable with the topic, show the lesson video. Students will engage with it and with you as you follow up with their questions at the end of the video. After teaching the first 7 lessons, show the videos!
  9. You do not have to teach all lessons in order but you must have taught all 8 core lessons by the end of your classes. You may want to show the video for lesson 9 on Islam after lesson 3, “Who is God?”, to compare the attributes of God to the god of Islam. You might also want to teach the reliability of the Scriptures (Lesson 4) before you teach on who God is (Lesson 3).
  10. When you want to invite in guest teachers, make sure that they clearly understand what they are to teach. Make sure they agree with and sign the Statement of Faith. Have them come to a class before they teach, follow the outline in the teacher book and leave plenty of time for questions. Again, students will be following in their books.
  11. Make sure that every regular attender has a book. If a student cannot afford it, ask someone or a church to donate money for handbooks.

    12. HAVE FUN!