Sunday School Planning – Building a Bible Learning Unit Part 3 of How to Build a Learning Unit to Your Sunday School Class
The Elements of a Building a Bible Learning unit Fortunately, the process of creating a learning unit is common sense: choose a biblical theme, identify its components, and select verses and activities that relate to the theme. Your task list in creating a learning unit includes: Basic Elements of a Bible Learning Unit Part 1 1. Create a lesson chart The most basic element of a learning unit is the plan. Select a theme, such as “God is…” and then brainstorm as many aspects of the theme as you and your colleagues can think of. Eliminate or combine duplicate ideas. In the example below, two teachers brainstormed about the theme “God is” and wrote the following list of ideas. After examining the list, they decided that some ideas are similar enough to combine into a single lesson. For example, “forever” and “eternal” are nearly synonyms. God’s everlasting existence and unchanging character could be taught in the same lesson. Theme – God is… | First Draft - Brainstorm | Second Draft – Remove duplicates | God is mercy God is love God is powerful God is eternal God is forever God is kind God is a savior God is sovereign Etc. | God is mercy God is love God is powerful God is eternal X God is forever (similar to God is eternal) X God is kind (similar to God is mercy) God is a savior X God is sovereign (similar to God is powerful) |
Other theme suggestions are listed below. More Examples of Learning Units for Sunday School | Animals of the Bible – Noah, Balaam, Jonah, Elijah etc. | Parables of Jesus – Sower, Fisher, Lost Son, Vineyard Tenants, Two Builders etc. | Stories from the exile – Daniel’s lions, Fiery Furnace, Jerusalem’s Wall, Deams of the Future etc. | Heaven – Its requirements, features, inhabitants, location, duration, construction etc. | Seven people from John’s gospel who were saved | The top 10 villains of scripture | The Hebrews 11 Hall of Fame | Jerusalem, the key city of the Bible | Journeys of Paul | Examining the Lord’s Suffering – the supper, prayer, betrayal, the trials, the people at the cross, resurrection, propitiation, the Psalms of suffering | How we got our Bible – inspiration, prophecy, early forms of writing, preservation of the scripture, the reformation in Europe, translation | The Family Tree – Stories from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph | Missionaries of the Bible – Jonah, Stephen, Paul, Peter, Two Witnesses, 70 disciples, the Great Commission | Walk through Romans – Chapters 1 to 6 and the doctrines of the gospel | Exploring the Gospels – The authors, synoptic parallel studies, their audience etc. | New Testament books with only one chapter |
Planning template – Here is a Word Document Bible Class Unit template you can save to your computer and use for creating your own unit. It includes a blank page as well as a completed document with ideas on teaching a series of stories from Exodus. Brainstorming Help - Sources for ideas for themes come from a variety of sources. Brainstorming is usually done in pairs or in a small group. If you are working completely alone, here are some books to consider while developing themes: - The Complete Book of Bible Lists by H. L. Willmington (Tyndale House Publishers, January 30, 1996, ISBN-10: 0842302905). The book simply enumerates lists of common themes in the Bible such as 34 murderers of the Bible, Major Covenants of Scripture, Songs of the Bible. Similar titles include Bakers Handbook of Bible Lists by Andrew E. Hill, Meredith's Big Book of Bible Lists by Joel L. Meredith.
- All the Miracles of the Bible by Dr. Herbert Lockyer (Zondervan; October 13, 1988; ISBN-10: 0310281512) Dr. Lockyer wrote a series of titles including All the Women of the Bible, the Prayers, the Messianic Prophecies, the Promises, the Doctrines, the Apostles etc.
- Bible Dictionaries or Encyclopedias provide a historical background or a scripture reference list for any conceivable Bible topic. For example, see the free version of the “Jerusalem” article from the American Tract Dictionary to read about all the places where Jerusalem appears in scripture. http://www.gospelhall.org/bible/bible.php?search=jerusalem&dict=amtract
Theme Examples - Here are two learning units examples developed for a series of evening Bible school classes for 8-13 year old students. God is… (according to Exodus) | Theme | Suggested verse for the day | Story from Exodus | Activities – Leave the specific activities and details of each day for later preparation. Too much detail at this point will slow you down and you may lose the larger perspective of your learning unit’s overall theme. | God is mercy | Titus 3:5 | Joseph pardons his brothers. | | God is knowable | Isaiah 55:6 | Moses meets God at the burning bush. | | God is love | Galatians 2:20 | The Passover Lamb provided a way of escape. | | God is unique | Isaiah 45:22 | God demonstrated his superiority through the 10 plagues. | | God is powerful | Exodus 14:13 | God showed his power in the Red Sea escape. | | God is holy | Genesis 18:25 | God shows his will through the 10 commandments. | | God is forgiving | Nehemiah 9:17 | God provided forgiveness of sins through the sacrifices of the tabernacle. | | God is consistent | Isaiah 53:1 | The people rejected the spies report about the promised land. They were not permitted to enter in. | | God is trustworthy. | John 3:14 | God promised a solution for sin through a serpent of bronze. | | God is all-knowing | Proverbs 15:3 | Achan was discovered in his sin at Jericho. | |
Here is a second example of a series of related Bible lessons. Salvation is… | Theme | Lesson | Verse | The Gift of God | Salvation is a gift of God provided at no cost to us. | Romans 6:23 | A pardon | Salvation is forgiveness of Sins. | Nehemiah 9:17 | Eternal Life | Salvation prepares a person for eternity. | John 3:16 | A New Birth | Salvation gives a person the ability to live in heaven as part of the family of God. | John 3:7 | The Water of Life | Salvation satisfies a spiritual thirst that no other thing in the world can provide. | Revelation 22:17 | Redemption | Salvation cost God a great price in order to rescue a sinner. | Galatians 3:13 | Reconciliation | Salvation mends the condition of being alienated as enemies of God. | Romans 5: 10 |
Basic Elements of a Bible Learning Unit - 2. Select a series of appropriate memory verses. Choosing a verse for the day (or the memory verse) is just as important as choosing the lesson itself. After all, what you say about the Bible, is not as important as learning what the Bible itself says. The verse you choose should be age appropriate. That is, select a short verse for young children. The verse should be subject-appropriate. That is, select a verse that is relevant to your main point. The verse should stand alone. That is, select a verse that is understandable outside of its immediate context. You may also consider selecting a entire chapter or entire paragraph from the Bible. For example, the following key chapters of the Bible are best understood when read in sequence: For more help on selecting a verse read the article titled “Choosing a Memory Verse”(http://gospelhall.org/teaching--preaching/sunday-school-helper/new-teacher-survival-guide--choosing-a-memory-verse.html). Basic Elements of a Bible Learning Unit - 3. One or more bulletin boards To give your unit a “Title Page”, create something large for your classroom wall that tells students and visitors to your room what the current theme is. In addition to announcing a subject a bulletin board should be a teaching aid used in the lesson such as a map of the places you are talking about, or a timeline of the stories, a family tree of all the characters in your lessons or simply a picture of each lesson. At the very least, copy your lesson chart on the white board or a poster to let the students know what you have taught and where you are taking them. Students like their work to be recognized. The best “grade” you can give your student is to display their work for others to see. At the end of each class select one or more of the student projects and tack it to the wall or a bulletin board. Use the display area each week to review past lessons. Conclusion Learning units are standard procedure in most educational settings, but in the case of Sunday school or youth group Bible class the planning approach is sometimes done randomly. Teachers are often volunteers, are often given no Sunday school curriculum or Sunday school textbook to follow and they may be asked to teach on short notice. However, when you are given the opportunity to teach a class, you should use the most effective means possible in presenting the Bible to your students. Some may believe it to be counter-biblical to create a schedule ahead of time what students will learn since the Spirit of God should guide the teacher each week. However a teacher, who is sensitive to the needs of his students and is prayerfully considering what God may impress on the class through the scriptures, can be guided by God in preparing to teach a portion of the Holy Scriptures. By creating (or borrowing) a series of related lessons, your students will benefit from better planning and you, as a teacher, will avoid the frustration of dreaming up what you might teach tomorrow.
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