Excuses for not teaching Sunday school.

Excuses for not teaching Sunday school.

I think I have said this in a couple of the blogs you have read. Teaching can be a great joy. The idea that you are training, shaping, and nurturing future leaders, teachers, preachers, and churchgoers is so fulfilling. Bear in mind that Sunday school is all about teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, encouraging a relationship between Christ and children, and instilling morals and values at an early age. Not everyone sees it that way, and I respect that. For a lot of people, the idea of teaching children is a nightmare.

Consider Exodus chapter 3, where God introduces himself to Moses for the first time. Remember, God doesn’t just introduce himself buuuut, he gives Moses a task, and Moses comes up with an array of excuses, forgetting that God, being sovereign and all-knowing, is aware of Moses’s shortcomings but chose him anyway. God encourages Moses to go and fulfil this overwhelming task, and tells him to take his brother Aaron along. God promises Moses that he will be with them both. It’s a beautiful lesson; check it out if you haven’t.

v  Excuse No. 1: “So-and-So does it better than I would.”

2 Timothy 4:5 “As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfil your ministry.”

In this passage of scripture, Paul is trying to encourage us to be clear in our thinking, to be sober in our thought processing all the time, to preserve in tough times, to be about our Father's business, and to fulfil our ministry no matter what we do in the church. Whatever talents we have, we must use them for the glory of God, not ourselves, and not to focus on how great others are doing but on ourselves.

v  Excuse No. 2: “Who will listen to me?”

John 8:25 “So they said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.’”

Jesus taught in synagogues, temples, and even on a mountain; once not everyone believed or even understood him, he had more critics than an audience willing to learn. We do not see him give up at any point, but he soldiered on about his Father’s business and continued to fulfil his ministry.

v Excuse No. 3: “I do not have time.”

In Luke 2:41–52, we read of Jesus as a boy, taking time to learn more about the world, although at the expense of his parents. We ought to measure what is important, prioritise what is important in our lives, and make time. We ought to ask God for strength to manage our time and daily tasks so that we can make time for our respective ministries.

 

v Excuse No. 4: “I am occupied.”

Ephesians 5:15-16 “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

The idea here is that we need to be disciplined in our ways, utilising our time to do what is good and fulfilling while we still can. Understanding the will of the Lord is good understanding, and practicing the will of the Lord is the opposite of foolishness; it is wisdom. We ought to be careful with what we are occupied with.

v Excuse No. 5: “I do not know anything.”

2 Timothy 3:16-7 “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

How will we know if we do not learn? If we do not seek to be better, read more, learn more, and grow more,

v Excuse No. 6: “I am afraid.”

Moses was afraid to fulfil his God-given task, but in Exodus 4:11, God asks him, “Who has made man’s mouth?" God, in the following verse 12, promises Moses, "I will be with your mouth and will teach you what to say, and in verse 15, God promises to be with them both, Moses and Aaron.

God is always with us; he walks with us, and at times we forget this, and this stops us from being the effective teachers we are called to be because we are in soooooo much fear.

v Excuse No. 7: “I am shy.”

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

We have been given by God the strength to be bold, brave, and courageous. Fear is clearly not from God; our courage, strength, and boldness are accompanied by love and self-control. The strength we have been given is indeed powerful, but so is the gentle kind of power, the loving kind of power, and the strength that we can control.

Many of us are like Moses; we know we are called to be labourers in the Kingdom; we know we are called to be effective teachers; yet, there is that, this, and the other that just gets in our way excuses, excuses, excuses. Like Moses again, we forget that God is sovereign; he knows you so well and knows you have the ability to be an effective Sunday school teacher, preacher, youth leader, teacher in the men's or women’s classes, mother, father, friend, sister, and brother.