The Sunday School Ministries held a conference titled "Old Instruments Sound as New." The event was hosted by the Second Slavic Baptist Church on September 24, 2022.
The conference had a rich program and included the address by the Association’s President, Ivan Mileyev on “The Methods and Strategies of Teaching Memorable Lessons”, and a detailed overview of the teaching materials in preparing lessons that was presented by Jennifer Dyachenko. During the meeting, the attendees also watched a short but engaging videos, played active games and contests, and were led in singing by the worship band.
Jennifer shared information on how to prepare for the lesson: "Think, write and share"; with what sequence to plan the lesson: "Prayer, reading, study and cooperation (lesson connection)"; how to connect thoughts, how to capture the student's attention, what games can be used to show Bible examples, how to focus attention on the main part of the lesson.
Based on her personal experience, she gave advice to teachers that it is better to leave as much time as possible for the lesson preparation. In order for the lesson to be a blessing and be fruitful on Sunday, is better to start preparing it on Monday. The teachers should always remember that children will remember those their lessons sometimes into their adulthood. It is important to make an impact on them and be careful about what we invest into them now.
During the conference, the attendees sat in groups at small tables, which created a cozy atmosphere and allowed the speaker to move freely around the hall and distribute tasks to the audience.
Despite the busy schedule, there was also time for additional fellowship. Those who came to learn more about each other and share useful information related to Sunday School ministry took advantage of that opportunity. As many of you know, Pacific Coast Baptist Association also includes churches from other states such as Washington, Minneapolis, and Hawaii. This time Michael, the Sunday School principal from Honolulu, came to visit us. We were very happy to see him and hear his views about our conference: "This was a very interesting and useful conference, and I would be glad to be at all conferences that will be held for teachers and directors of Sunday schools."
We hope that with God's help we will continue our activities in an effort to attract more Sunday school teachers to learn new methods of successful teaching.
Respectfully,
Sunday School Ministry Committee
