How to Teach a Student Sunday School

How to teach a student Sunday school by teaching less. Before preparing your lesson outline, establish the goal of the lesson: information or transformation. Of course, these goals are not mutually exclusive in that informational lessons transform lives and transformational lessons contain information. Nevertheless, each goal requires its own specific set of teaching principles.

When teaching an informational lesson, my primary goal is to transfer as much information as possible from my brain to your brain. Of course, I hope it impacts your life as well, but with an informational lesson, if I have to choose between information and application, information wins. Why? Because that is my goal: a cognitive information transfer.

For example, a lesson on the five points of Calvinism, a historical overview of the Old Testament, or the historical background of the book of Romans would probably be informational lessons. On the other hand, when I teach a student Sunday school or small group Bible study, I usually choose to make those transformational lessons.

Either way, first decide if your lesson is going to be informational or transformational. Both lesson formats are valid and have their place in the equipping of the saints. Informational lessons primarily focus on content, whereas transformational lessons primarily focus on life change. Then, after you decide which type of lesson you are going to teach, apply the appropriate teaching principles.