Heartprints

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS FOR TEACHERS

Many people make New Year resolutions. Some are personal goals but others focus on work and ministry. I would like to challenge us, as teachers, to make one New Year resolution that will empower our teaching. This new method will not only change the lives of our children but is guaranteed to change our lives too, as we hear, believe and live out the truth of our position in Christ.

When I was being trained by Child Evangelism Fellowship, I was taught that every lesson should contain a PAS (personal application the saved) and a PAU (personal application to the unsaved). These thoughts are just one sentence of truth drawn from the lesson that you repeat at least 3 times for saved and emphasize once for the unsaved as you weave the gospel message throughout the lesson. I have always enjoyed looking for these nuggets of truth in every passage of the Bible.

This year, I realized just how many people have no real foundation in their position in Christ. Most believers understand the basics about salvation and life in Christ but how many dive down deep in their position in Christ? For those who haven’t been using the PAS and PAU method of driving the truth home in your lessons, I would challenge you this year to begin.

A PAS might be something as simple as “If you have asked Jesus into your heart you should know that God loves you and has a plan for your life.” As we search each passage to find the simple but profound truth of that passage that God would have our saved children remember, I would challenge us to find creative ways to add foundational positional truths into each PAS. For example, the above PAS might be rewritten to say, “If you have asked Jesus into your heart, you are a child of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and God has a plan for your life.”

Here are some foundational truths that we need to hammer deep into the fabric of the lives of believers: Some are long enough that they may have to be the PAS while others are easily worked into the main message as a good reminder of who we are in Crhist.

Suzi Ciliberti works for Christar, a Missions Agency that plants churches among least-reached Asians worldwide. She served in Japan for two years as a single missionary and another nine with her husband and two children, then the family returned to the states. She and her husband have been serving in the US Mobilization Center since 2000. As a part of the Member Care Department, Suzi is consultant to families with children. She has been working as a children’s teacher since she was 17 and began her training under Child Evangelism Fellowship. She has taught in the church, as a school teacher for two years in a Christian elementary school, and as a speaker for adults training to work with children. She has also trained children, who are a part of families that work overseas, in their identity in Christ. She brings 44 years of teaching experience to her work. She loves creative writing as well as teaching and has found great fulfillment in combining the two as she blogs for Heartprints. She finds it a great privilege and joy to serve the Lord and His people. One of her favorite verses is Deuteronomy 4:10b, "Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children."

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