I taught my first Bible class when I was sixteen and an elder pulled me out of the high school class because the third grade teacher hadn’t shown up. I had no material and no prep time. Why he chose me when there were plenty of able-bodied adults in a congregation of 150, I still don’t know, but the children and I got through the ten plagues with a combination of raucous laughter and wide-eyed amazement—them at God’s power, and me at having survived those forty-five minutes.
I’ve been teaching ever since, from the baby class when mine were that size—and don’t let anyone tell you a one year old can’t learn anything—all the way up to middle school—another place we seriously underestimate the capabilities of our children. I wrote a workbook for them called “Did You Ever Wonder?” exploring all those things you wonder about in Bible class but are afraid to ask. It was given to someone else to teach once, who said, “There’s no way these kids will get this,” even after I had taught it twice myself. So the book came back to me and I taught it yet again to a group who “got” every bit of it.
I’ve taught at least one women’s class everywhere I have been. That’s a group not only underestimated, but which often underestimates itself. Most of the material for women, a sister I recently met said, is “spun sugar.” In some places women’s studies are limited to being a good wife and mother, which leaves a lot of women out. Yes, those things ought to be taught, and recently have not been. It has become too popular to follow the mainstream media and disparage the men, which is exactly why I have written a study for wives. It, too, is deeper than the standard work on the subject, because women can dig just as deeply as the men. Their minds are just as capable of complex reasoning. They must be or they couldn’t run their homes. That’s exactly who I cater to in my classes—meat eaters who are tired of milk, or even the glorified milk called custard. Women are not spiritual invalids.
I have had to drop my children’s classes since 2005. Children need dependable continuity, and with my health issues and increasing disability, I cannot be counted on. Adults can understand if an emergency arises, if a weak body just cannot manage on a particular day, or if a medication wreaks havoc instead of comfort. Children can’t. I nearly cried when a recent group graduated that I had never taught. But such is life; things change, and most of the time people get along just fine without you.
Along the way I have had some wonderful students, and it seemed good to tell you about them, so they will get the thanks they deserve, but also so you can learn from them how to be a good Bible class student yourselves. Don’t think that this is self-serving. By emulating these women, you will get far more out of your classes, and so will your classmates. People who disrupt classes, even accidentally, are hindering others, not helping, and we all know how Jesus felt about people who cast stumbling blocks in front of others, particularly the babes.
So please join me this week. I hope that what you learn from these remarkable women will help far beyond these few weeks.
Help me to understand what your precepts mean. Then I can meditate on your marvelous teachings, Psalm 119:27, NET.
Dene Ward
I’ve been teaching ever since, from the baby class when mine were that size—and don’t let anyone tell you a one year old can’t learn anything—all the way up to middle school—another place we seriously underestimate the capabilities of our children. I wrote a workbook for them called “Did You Ever Wonder?” exploring all those things you wonder about in Bible class but are afraid to ask. It was given to someone else to teach once, who said, “There’s no way these kids will get this,” even after I had taught it twice myself. So the book came back to me and I taught it yet again to a group who “got” every bit of it.
I’ve taught at least one women’s class everywhere I have been. That’s a group not only underestimated, but which often underestimates itself. Most of the material for women, a sister I recently met said, is “spun sugar.” In some places women’s studies are limited to being a good wife and mother, which leaves a lot of women out. Yes, those things ought to be taught, and recently have not been. It has become too popular to follow the mainstream media and disparage the men, which is exactly why I have written a study for wives. It, too, is deeper than the standard work on the subject, because women can dig just as deeply as the men. Their minds are just as capable of complex reasoning. They must be or they couldn’t run their homes. That’s exactly who I cater to in my classes—meat eaters who are tired of milk, or even the glorified milk called custard. Women are not spiritual invalids.
I have had to drop my children’s classes since 2005. Children need dependable continuity, and with my health issues and increasing disability, I cannot be counted on. Adults can understand if an emergency arises, if a weak body just cannot manage on a particular day, or if a medication wreaks havoc instead of comfort. Children can’t. I nearly cried when a recent group graduated that I had never taught. But such is life; things change, and most of the time people get along just fine without you.
Along the way I have had some wonderful students, and it seemed good to tell you about them, so they will get the thanks they deserve, but also so you can learn from them how to be a good Bible class student yourselves. Don’t think that this is self-serving. By emulating these women, you will get far more out of your classes, and so will your classmates. People who disrupt classes, even accidentally, are hindering others, not helping, and we all know how Jesus felt about people who cast stumbling blocks in front of others, particularly the babes.
So please join me this week. I hope that what you learn from these remarkable women will help far beyond these few weeks.
Help me to understand what your precepts mean. Then I can meditate on your marvelous teachings, Psalm 119:27, NET.
Dene Ward
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