3 John 4
I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.

Greetings! To my sister Bible class teachers,

our Bible class resource feature has a new name and format!

Perk Up Your Bible Class!

Perk Up Your Bible class has come on board along with a new contributor who I am excited to share this CFYC feature with! Her name is Kathy Petrillo! You may already be acquainted with Kathy, but for those of you who aren’t let me assure you she has some outstanding ideas and is an amazing Bible class teacher. I am certainly looking forward to her sharing with us in July and every other month!

Have you ever thought about how a percolator works?

Wikipedia says, for a percolator to perk it begins at the heat source under the percolator and it heats the water in the bottom chamber. Water at the very bottom of the chamber gets hot first and starts to boil. The boiling makes bubbles rise up and push water up the vertical tube then out the top of the vertical tube. From the top of the tube, the water flows out and over the lid of the coffee chamber… It ends up brewing into a wonderful smell that fills the whole household and draws those coffee lovers into the kitchen for a nice cup of smooth satisfying flavor that goes down deep touching senses that only coffee lovers know.

My husband got a new coffee pot some time ago and it is much different than a percolator. It’s more of a closed system. As it makes the coffee, it still heats the water and all but it puts the coffee and all its aroma directly into the pot with the lid on and you don’t really smell the coffee unless you pour it or take the lid off. Not as stimulating as a coffee pot that perks. Kind of like keeping a lot of the good stuff to itself.

I’d like us to think about the perking process as to how we, as teachers react as we begin to study for our Bible lessons.  The heat source is the Word of course, and as we read a picture forms in our mind. We begin to imagine how we can develop this reading. We get excited about the possibilities of what we can put forth in our Bible classes! Anticipation builds within us and begins to bubble up and over, finally producing that expression of understanding and excitement on our student’s faces! The kind of sweet reward that only one who teaches the Word knows.

As coffee perks it touches the senses, we can do the same by perking up the senses of our students.  Open the Word, touch your students using their sense of sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste to make the Bible come to life!

• See pictures of people and places relating to the Bible lesson. Use your computer to show them real-life places. Show them the color purple that Lydia sold with several things colored purple including fabric.
• Touch the sand the Israelites walked through in the wilderness, the cool water Jesus was baptized in, the nail that pierced through Jesus’ hands and feet.
• Smell the grass and flowers that were on the mountain where Jesus preached.
• Hear the Word read aloud, the rooster that crowed after Peter denied Christ, the rushing sound of wind that filled the room on the Day of Pentecost.
• Taste the unleavened bread from the Passover meal, the wild honey John ate in the wilderness.

Try to touch every aspect of your student’s ability to learn from God’s Word so they bubble over to others! We don’t want to be like a coffee pot that keeps all the good stuff to itself.

What do you think of when you hear the words, perking up your Bible class?

One thing I think of are old visual aids changed out from the previous quarter and new ones that relate to the theme and Bible lessons of my quarter that actually become part of my Bible class decor.

• Names/pictures of who/what we are learning about.
• A globe/map that highlights the Bible land in our lessons, (a computer is always great).
• A Bible displayed in the room especially for the students to look up the verse of the day or memory verse. For very young students have them find a picture in the part of the Bible you are learning from of who/what you are studying about.
• Have early arriver games that relate to Bible facts, memory verses, or review of previous lessons.
• Color pages relating to Bible lesson, puzzles, etc for early arrivers of younger classes.
• Maybe have some age-appropriate Bible class songs softly playing as students arrive that you all can sing along with.
• Students names and pictures that chart their accomplishments for them and others to see in the room.
• Use your ceiling to hang items that help them recall Bible truths.

This month, to perk up your Bible class, I thought I would share a few ideas from a time when I was handed Bible class material for a quarter I was about to teach. I always like, if at all possible, to receive my lesson materials a quarter ahead. As I took this material I knew I needed this all time before my quarter to pray and begin reading through it so I would have time to create a setting that would relate the Word and this theme to my students as best I could. One that would help them be excited about what they were about to learn. I am a person who is very excited to teach and look forward to the opportunity and take it very seriously. Do I feel “the load” of responsibility? Yes, but it is always offset by the excitement and reward that lay ahead.

Anytime we are given class material, as Bible teachers, we do have a responsibility make sure what we give our students is truth and not error no matter who it is written by.  Make sure everything agrees with Bible.

When we sit down and look through the teacher and student booklets we will find there is always a certain teaching format suggested by the author of the material. It can be very helpful but always remember you can make each lesson your own. You can use the theme even though you may want to add something of your own or even change up an application idea in the material. Very, very, rarely do I change the lineup of the lessons unless I find a lesson covers things that would not be at the level of my particular Bible class.

In making the decorations for my room I normally begin with the theme. This theme was entitled,

Places in the Life of Christ

The first thing I thought of was making the words of the theme large and bright. Next was a map! I enlarged a map I had, colored it, cut it in half longways, laminated it, taped it together with clear packing tape and put black paper behind to make it stand out. Printed out the names and numbers of each lesson with yarn attached. Each week a student unwound the yarn and taped it to a location on the map where our lesson took place.

Another question is, who are the main characters? Jesus. His name would need to be highlighted. We had great pictures of the main event from each lesson. The names of each character could be added to the wall and actually make a scrabble-like picture with them or use little Bible people next to each name. Play name games like, Who Am I?, Getting to Know You, etc. Make up fact questions about them from your lessons each week and you have a wonderful review!

The teacher booklet normally gives an idea for door decor which I used but made a variation of my own because I did not have a door but folding walls.

(Click on the picture below to find a download of names referring to Jesus)

I made a large mouth and added several scriptures about Jesus’ birth foretold by prophets. Also, we had the letters that spelled the word Prophet and Miracles and each letter described the words.

My students loved the room and it was very useful and functional! I love a room that is not only decorated but decorated to be useful for teaching!! There is so much we can create or purchase to help us in these areas.

To download these gold star ideas and more, just click on the gold star below!!

Hope you are bubbling over to teach The Word!!

(To hear this song just Click on the picture below.)

My prayers and encouragement go with you,

Serving in Christ,

Gwendolyn Schnell

P.S. You can still find past Mary Rose and Me articles, archived in the Come Fill Your Cup blog!

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Gwen Schnell

Gwen has been married to her supportive husband Dan for 38 years. Dan has been the pulpit minister for the Owasso Church of Christ for over 20 years and they both love working with the congregation there. They are blessed with 3 faithful children (a son, a daughter, and a son) who are married to Christian spouses, and they also have 3 wonderful grandchildren. Gwen has experience in teaching children’s Bible classes from cradle roll – 6th grade for over 30 years and has also had the pleasure of opening up the Word with teen and adult ladies classes. She loves to share God’s word and continues to grow with her students. Her favorite class to teach is 4th-6th grades.

Latest posts by Gwen Schnell (see all)

• Perk Up Your Bible Class: Just Bubblin’ Over - June 20, 2018
• Mary Rose and Me “Mending” - April 25, 2018
• Mary Rose and Me “Training Wheels” - March 28, 2018