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Caring for your soul is crucial to being an effective teacher. Spend time in prayer, meditation, and scripture to help you listen to and be nurtured by God’s spirit.
Here are some suggestions to nurture your relationship with God. You’ll find many more ideas in the Gather ’Round Handbook. Find what works best for you and be open to God’s surprises.
Set up a daily worship or study time
Sit in silence or meditate, rest in God’s presence. Read from the Bible or a daily prayer book. Read the Bible text for your teaching session slowly and prayerfully, read the Bible insight essay and/or other commentaries on the week’s text. Take a walk and let God’s handiwork teach you.
Keep a journal
Write about your teaching experiences and how you see God acting in your life and in the lives of those you teach.
Pray
Make a prayer list each week. Post it on your computer, a mirror, or refrigerator. Pray for members of your group and their families. Pray that you will be a faithful companion to your group. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide, inspire, and teach you as you prepare your session.
Find prayer support
Invite children, youth, elders, and pastors to keep you and other teachers in their prayers. Contact them when you have special needs or requests. In one congregation, each age level and its teachers are matched with a senior who is committed to regular prayer for the group. Could your congregation do something similar?
Partner with peers
Who are the teachers in nearby congregations? Invite these peers, as well as teachers in your own congregation, to meet regularly for lunch or breakfast to share ideas, successes and growing pains, and resource materials. If face-to-face meetings are impractical, try e-mail partnerships.
Seek out a good listener
Find a trustworthy friend to listen to you and help you explore your inner landscape. A spiritual director can help you do this, as can someone who is willing to be a spiritual friend. A good listener can help discern what it means to teach with integrity and courage.
Take a retreat day
Try to get away somewhere for a few hours and reflect on your ministry as a teacher and companion for children or youth. Try a local park or retreat center. Spend time in silence, resting in God’s loving presence.
How does your congregation nuture teachers? Let us know.
