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On Saturday, March 20, 2010, Faith Presbyterian, Merritt Island, Florida hosted a Teacher Training seminar for the Florida Presbytery. Twenty-eight people, many related to some sort of Sunday School function, attended the half day meeting.
The morning session, by E. Brent Turner, Director of the ARP Christian Education Ministries, focused on learning styles. After completing a questionnaire the participants divided into groups by their primary learning style – Dynamic, Analytic, Imaginative, or Common Sense. Brent noted we followed tradition, with the smallest group being the Dynamic learners. While most seminars’ largest group is the Analytic, this seminar was dominated by the Common Sense group. The Imaginatives had a good showing, too. With the follow-on assignment it became clear that teachers need to ensure that they reach all students, not just those with their preferred learning style.
A delicious barbecue lunch was served, with most participants choosing to eat outdoors on the perfect spring day. The jesting and joking made obvious the morning lesson had struck true.
Following the break, Sue Jakes from Great Commission Publications (GPC) spoke on Great Expectations for Making Kingdom Disciples of the Next Generation.
What is a kingdom disciple? Her answer was: one who has a heart that loves King Jesus, a mind that thinks like King Jesus, and a life that follows and serves King Jesus.
She emphasized we cannot hope to impact our culture if we cannot impact our own children, a somber reminder of the major covenant responsibility we have for all children in our congregations. Ideally, Sunday School teachers should work alongside parents to raise our children to know the Bible and know what the Bible is about.
She closed with an overview of the 2020 Vision, a GPC program to help churches focus on the next 10 years. Its aim is to emphasize raising this generation and knowing what we want them to be in ten years. Who will our fourteen year olds be when they’re twenty-four and our two year olds when they’re twelve? When they really see Jesus, it IS life changing.
Attendees were from the Bartow, Faith Merritt Island, and Lake Wales congregations.
According to Jamie Self, Director of Christian Education at Bartow ARP, “The seminar had great information.”
Several Sunday School teachers from Lake Wales agreed the information was interesting, and it was important to know about different learning styles in the Sunday School setting.
This seminar was an excellent opportunity for fellow believers to learn about being more effective Sunday School teachers and an opportunity to meet and visit with other ARP members.
Thanks to the Christian Education committee at Faith Presbyterian for hosting this special opportunity!
Submitted by, Mari Richardson
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