Respecting Children

Teaching can be frustrating, especially if we perceive a lack of respect from the children in our class. Certainly, children should respect the adults in their lives. Scripture clearly teaches that in Ephesians 6:1. However, we often overlook Ephesians 6:4, "Don't exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master." Children deserve our respect as well. Children have reasonable, though unconscious expectations of us as their teachers. Dunlop writes, "He can expect that you yourself will follow the commands you teach to him. He can expect that you will take his fears and joys seriously. He can expect you to protect him from physical and emotional harm. And he can expect you to respond to him as a person made in the image of God." What can you do this week to exceed the expectations of your children? How can you respect them as people made in the image of God? Teaching can be a tremendous blessing when it occurs in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Instead of talking at children or about children, talk with them as you lead them in the way of our Master. Next week, we'll look at teaching children to respect others.

Learning Patience

Read Dunlop's thoughts on patience in the classroom.

"Many children have little to no contact with unhurried adults. Both parents work, or the kids live with one parent who works and they are occassionally shuffled off to the other parent. Children's own schedules are often crammed with sporting events, private lessons, and other time fillers, not to mention homework. Sometimes misbehavior can be their only way to say to an adult, 'Slow down and give me your attention. I need you.' Teaching is not something that can be done in a hurry."

Thank you for patiently giving your time and your attention to the children in your classrooms each week. They need you to be unhurried. Good planning and preparation during the week will create a less hurried classroom and a more peaceful environment for learning on Sunday mornings. What do you need to do differently this week to be unhurried this Sunday?

Relating to Children

"In teaching, it is often the little things, done consistently and lovingly, that reach children who need your love and God's." -- Cheryl Dunlop

Do you remember the seemingly small acts of love that impacted your world as a child? My preschool teacher, Mrs. Mays, made homemade play doh for us. Ms. Tate, my first grade teacher, invited my entire class to her apartment to watch The Wizard of Oz on TV. We even had emerald green punch! My fourth grade Sunday school teachers brought out an enormous 1980s home video camera to video us as we acted out the story of Jacob and Esau. My ninth grade teacher, Ms. Connie, gave me a poster that hung on my wall for years--until college, I think.

Teaching matters. What you do each Sunday matters. What you do during the week to connect with your kids matters. It matters for eternity. How are you showing your students that they matter to you and to God?

Sharing Christ with Kids

The message of the gospel should be at the heart of every lesson in every class each week. While most of our preschoolers cannot yet understand the significance of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection, we are planting the seeds of the gospel in their lives as we teach about God's love and create an environment that nurtures trust. Our elementary kids are building on their faith foundations as we teach them the gospel story, tell them about Jesus who wants to be their best friend and boss, and help them to recognize their own sin. We share the gospel with our words and with our lives. Dunlop asks, "Have you gone through the Gospel in your class lately? Would your children be able to explain why Jesus died? Do they know that their own good works cannot earn them favor with God?" Read the article below on communicating Christian conversion to preschoolers and children.

Self-Esteem: Healthy or Hurtful

Dunlop writes that the problem with self-esteem is that "much of what the modern world calls self-esteem is nothing more than what the Bible talks about as the sin of pride." She further asserts that "self-love and self-esteem are only the desperate answers of a desperate dysfunctional culture." Do you agree with her? Is there a word from God about a healthy self-esteem?

I think Dunlop's terminology is a bit confusing and can lead to some faulty conclusions. Having a healthy self-concept is not only biblical, but essential for transformation in our own devotional lives and in our teaching lives. The second greatest commandment in Leviticus 19:18 hinges the love of our neighbors on love for ourselves. If we hate who we are, then we cannot love others. Psalm 8:4-8 reminds us that we are crowned with glory and honor as God's special creation. We are created in the image of God, and God's response to his creation is that humanity is very good (Genesis 1:31). We are God's special creation, but we are also God's fallen creation. We bear the image of God and the stain of our sin. Sin contributes to an unhealthy view of self that can be expressed in extreme self-hatred and excessive self-love. According to Dr. Jeanine Cannon Bozeman of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, a healthy self-concept is comprised of three distinct parts: self-confidence, self-esteem and self-sufficiency.

• Self-confidence: belief in ourselves and our abilities
• Self-esteem: the value we place upon ourselves; self-worth
• Self-sufficiency: how we think and feel that others think and feel about us

Dr. Bozeman writes, "because the grace of God has emancipated us from low self-esteem, we should be able to mature in confidence to the place in which we can value ourselves." According to Romans 12:3, "the only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him." Let's celebrate the freedom to be who God created us to be and to enjoy this one life he has given us.

Interpersonal Relationship Skills for Ministers. Jeanine Cannon Bozeman and Argile Smith, Eds. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2004.