Job Description: Sunday School Teacher

I have written many times over the last seven years about the job of the Sunday School teacher. Here are a few of those blog posts:

• Characteristics: Characteristics of a Good Sunday School Teacher, Part 1, Characteristics of a Good Sunday School Teacher, Part 2, and Characteristics of a Good Sunday School Teacher, Part 3
• Qualifications: Qualifications of a Sunday School Teacher, Part 1 and Qualifications of a Sunday School Teacher, Part 2
• Qualities: Sunday School Teacher Qualities
• Reasons: Reasons to Teach Sunday School
• Preparation: Five Questions for Sunday School Teachers
• Growing: Overcoming Hesitancy to Seek Evaluation as a Sunday School Leader, Sunday School Teacher Self-Evaluation, Sunday School Teacher, Is Your Relationship with Christ Stale?, and Improve Yourself, Improve Your Teaching
• Methods: The Best Adult Sunday School Teachers Are Facilitators and The Best Adult Sunday School Teachers Are Guides
• Listening: The Best Sunday School Teachers and Leaders Are Great Listeners! and Revolutionary Sunday School Teachers Listen to God, Members, and Prospects
• New: Advice for the New Sunday School Teacher
• and lots more.

A revolutionary Sunday School teacher does more than prepare and teach a lesson. A revolutionary teacher seeks God’s leadership in shepherding a group of men, women, boys, or girls for Him. Teachers are stewards of His sheep. What are the major areas of responsibility for the Sunday School teacher? Consider the following:

1. GROW. Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Spend time with God in His Word and prayer seeking to know God, His will, His ways, His truth, and His Word. Carefully apply God’s Word to daily living.
2. TEACH. Spend time with God in His Word and prayer seeking first God’s message for the teacher and then His message for the class. Prepare lessons that capture interest, examine the truth of the passage, and apply the truth to attenders’ lives.
3. CARE. Get to know attenders as individuals, discover affinities and needs, and lead the class to organize to deepen relationships, meet needs, and fellowship together. Lead the class to contact members, absentees, and prospects every week.
4. REACH. Lead in extending the love of the class to those not enrolled by caring for, inviting, and enrolling lost, unchurched, and unenrolled people. Include prospects in class fellowships, projects, and plans.
5. ORGANIZE. In adult and youth classes, enlist a team to lead in carrying out the work of the class. This might include teacher apprentices, care leaders, reach leaders, fellowship leaders, prayer leaders, greeters, secretary, and more. In smaller classes, these responsibilities will be combined and shared.
6. DISCIPLE. Focus on helping each attender make spiritual progress. This requires time beyond Sunday morning. Lead individuals to spend time in God’s Word and prayer daily, be faithful in attending the group and worship, find places of service, give regularly, and apply God’s Word in daily living. Prepare each lesson and class activity to lead attenders to take a step closer to being like Jesus.
7. MOBILIZE. Lead every attender to find one or more place of service within the church, community, and beyond. Expect every attender to invite people to class, church, and Jesus and to develop and share their Sunday School and salvation testimonies.
8. APPRENTICE. Prayerfully enlist, train, and release an apprentice teacher to prepare the group to start another group in order to reach, teach, and care for even more people. A multiplication key is in leading the apprentice to begin enlisting and training another apprentice.

What would you add or change about this job description? How is it different from your practice? How would this job description stretch you? Where will you need to adjust or change what you are currently doing? Press Comments below to share your thoughts and experiences.