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.

Other theme suggestions are listed below.

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.

Here is a second example of a series of related Bible lessons.

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.