Teacher Training!

Last week I (Joke) had the privilege of organising a two-day refresher course for the Children’s Sunday School teachers in the churches around Yendi. We met in a small village, DC Kura, about 20 kilometres from Yendi. The houses in the village are spread far apart and the trees are few so, during this time of the year when the dry harmattan wind blows, the place is very dusty and even cold. Fortunately BCA has a small church building in this village and that is where we sought refuge and had our training. Lydia, a woman from Yendi who has been helping us in our home for more than 7 years, also came with me to take care of Micah whilst I was teaching.

'Sunday school teacher training in the village church at DC Kura'

It has been over a year since we had our last Sunday school teacher training and it was therefore really necessary to meet, not just because of the teaching but also to encourage one another to continue the work. The Leaders who attended the course all lead a Sunday school for children in their respective villages. Some Leaders have just a few children in their group, whilst others have nearly 70 children! Most of the Leaders have not had any formal training and as no materials have been developed for children in the local languages, we work together with the leaders to develop our own lessons. We read Bible passages together, study them and try to understand what those passages teach us. Then we try to tell the story in such a way that it will be understood by and attractive to the children and that it will pass on the lessons the story teaches about God, Jesus, people or satan. It is a great challenge to the Leaders to prepare their own lessons. In the past they have used cassettes and picture books, but these have been used so often that it is time for something new. Moreover, the church is growing and the Leaders also have to grow up and be encouraged to study the Bible for themselves and pass the lessons on.

Besides preparing Bible stories we teach the Leaders how to involve children and maintain their attention by singing songs, doing drama, learning memory verses and playing games. And that created a lot of fun and kept us warm as the pictures show.

'practising games'

We hope to organise two more refresher courses in March and July. In November we are planning to organise a longer period of training for both old and new Leaders. We want to translate materials in Dagbani and Likpakpan (language of the Konkomba people) as guides for the teachers to help them in their lesson preparations and find more materials (especially pictures) the leaders can use to teach the children. We also try to involve some of the women in leading the children. This is another challenge as there are very few women who can read. For that reason, we are preparing to organise an intensive literacy course for some of the women in our churches.

PLEASE PRAY WITH US:

Thank God for:

• the committed leaders who see the need to pass on the Bible lessons to the children

• the opportunity we had to have a training course and the encouragement it gave to all of us

Pray:

• for wisdom and insight for the Leaders to understand and pass on Bible passagesfor creativity

• for the Leaders to find ways to make the gatherings interesting and fun even with very few or no materials

• that through the Sunday School the lives of the children will be changed, as most of them (about 90%!) are from non-Christian homes

• for the on-going training and translation of materials

• for ways to raise the interest of women for literacy and their involvement in leading the children