Good idea for 4th Sundays

[Jane_Doe]

Someone in my ward had a brilliant idea for 4th Sundays, and I thought I would share it here.

As you all know, the current RS/PH protocol is to teach the same topic every 4th Sunday for 6th months straight.  This time around it's been on Ministering.  Now, for our ward, those of us who attend RS/PH regularly this has gotten... frankly I'm not the only person who's tired of RS lessons on ministering.  But the ladies who teach Primary and YW haven't had these lessons at all and are really yearning for some guidance.  

So this time we're doing a swap: RS/PH folks are taking over Primary and YW for the week, allowing those adults to go to RS/PH and get that guidance they need.  A simple yet (at least to my small mind) brilliant way of supporting each other.  

 

[mordorbund]

When I used to work with church instructors, I would tell them that when we invite some random person to teach (this was our way of getting the quorum to know everyone better, plus including Primary workers) the expectation is that they would focus on the Spirit and bearing testimony. But since we're listening to you week after week, the expectation is that you should be getting better monthly. You should develop additional teaching skills that can be incorporated into your calling and improve the quality of the lesson.

In this light, I would encourage 4th Sunday teachers to develop a 6-month lesson plan whenever the new topic is introduced. The first 5 minutes of class remind everyone of the roadmap, where they've been and what remains. Last year it would have looked something like this:

Quote

• 1. The Sabbath is a day to remember what God has done for us. Here we talked about the history of the Sabbath and how that relates to our observance today.
• 2. Partaking of the sacrament allows us to have the Spirit with us always. We talked about how the sacrament sets the tone for the Sabbath and how we can prepare to take the sacrament.
• 3. The Sabbath is a day to serve others. Today we'll discuss discuss the following scriptures: ..... And discuss the following questions: How can I (and my family) give Christ-like service? How can I overcome the urge to "quench the spirit" when I feel prompted to serve?
• 4. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath. Next month we'll go into more detail about the other ways we can make the Sabbath a Christ-centered day.
• 5. The Sabbath and the Law of Holiness. We'll discuss how our Sabbath observance sets us apart as a people, and talk about finding the in the world/not of the world balance with extended family and friends.
• 6. Jesus Christ is our example of honoring the Sabbath. This one should really be called "The Sabbath a Delight". It will be something of a review (celebration?) of the principles we've been discussing (and this is where we invite the primary folk to join us).

This sort of focus keeps the class from repeating the same points every month, while revisiting the same principles in a different light. And you'll see that my proposed outline (with the exception of #5) used the recommended material from the Ensign. 

[Sunday21]

@Jane_Doe Pure Genius!

[anatess2]

I serve in Primary.  We usually teach on 3rd hour but this time, due to preparations for Sacrament Meeting presentation, our lessons got moved to 2nd hour.  So I got to attend RS.  I don't think they like me being in the class.  I know the teacher would have rather I didn't show up although she's too nice to even admit it occurs to her.  I just get this intuition thing.  It's kinda like that Courtney Hadwin kid in America's Got Talent - she feels nobody "gets" her.

 

Edited September 14, 2018 by anatess2

[Jane_Doe]

11 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

 I know the teacher would have rather I didn't show up although she's too nice to even admit it occurs to her.  I just get this intuition thing. 

Ok so your teacher has the mortal flaw of feeling out of funk with certain people in the room.  I'm sorry about that.

How about everyone else room?  Did your presence bring even but one soul closer unto Christ?  (Your definitely counts as a soul)

[anatess2]

28 minutes ago, Jane_Doe said:

Ok so your teacher has the mortal flaw of feeling out of funk with certain people in the room.  I'm sorry about that.

How about everyone else room?  Did your presence bring even but one soul closer unto Christ?  (Your definitely counts as a soul)

Let's put it this way... you know how I am in Mormonhub... I have an opinion on everything and I want people to know it.  I'm that way in real life too.  Somebody would say something and I have to force myself to sit and not pipe up.  I could easily take over a meeting.  So, I usually bring a coloring book with me and color during the lessons just to dampen that urge to say something.  But even then, I still pipe up and a lot of times people tell me - I did not understand a thing you were saying.  Like, there was one Sunday where we were talking about letting your light shine and the teacher used the eclipse that was the news at the time as the object example... so I piped up and told about Newton and Eddington and Einstein and how Eddington, when faced with Einstein's truth, was brave enough to stand against the entire British scientific and military intelligence hailing Newton's brilliance in the middle of World War I to side with the German scientist Einstein and let that light of truth shine...  anyway, nobody understood what I was talking about.

Did my presence in RS bring one soul closer to Christ?  No idea.  I don't worry about that.  I worry only that I add my thoughts on the matter - or suppress it - to hopefully bring us closer to Christ.  But my ways are not always effective.

Edited September 14, 2018 by anatess2

[Jane_Doe]

1 minute ago, anatess2 said:

Let's put it this way... you know how I am in Mormonhub... I have an opinion on everything and I want people to know it.  I'm that way in real life too.  Somebody would say something and I have to force myself to sit and not pipe up.  I could easily take over a meeting.  So, I usually bring a coloring book with me and color during the lessons just to dampen that urge to say something.  But even then, I still pipe up and a lot of times people tell me - I did not understand a thing you were saying - and that's usually because I try to make what I am trying to say as short as possible and I just don't have that knack of succintness.  Like, there was one Sunday where we were talking about letting your light shine and the teacher used the eclipse that was the news at the time as the object example... so I piped up and told about Newton and Eddington and Einstein and how Eddington, when faced with Einstein's truth, was brave enough to stand against the entire British scientific and military intelligence hailing Newton's brilliance in the middle of World War I to side with the German scientist Einstein and let that light of truth shine...  anyway, nobody understood what I was talking about.

You sound awesome to have in RS.  

As for people not understanding you... I once was in a ward with a theoretical nuclear physicist.  He had a very strong testimony, and would share how he saw God's power and beauty even in sub-nuclear molecules.  He was NOT pithy, and I remember one F&T where he talked for 20 minutes about this in super-high-tech-mumbo-jumbo that I didn't understand a word of.  But there was no doubt of his enthasisum and love of the Gospel, and I was very happy to have him there.

(Psst--- I do soduku during RS, and SS.  And Sacrament.  And any other random meeting).

1 minute ago, anatess2 said:

Did my presence in RS bring one soul closer to Christ?  No idea.  I don't worry about that.

How about your own soul?  

I know my nuclear physicist came closer to Christ bearing his testimony, despite the fact that probably no one else understood.  Same with that foreign woman that no one even knew what language she was speaking.  

[Chilean]

That's a great idea!!! I teach 4th Sunday, and it's soooo hard to come up with newer ideas on Ministering cause I've already taught everything about it.

[MarginOfError]

Two thoughts: 

When we did the sabbath lessons, we had one instructor teach all of them, and mapped out six lessons that were part of a whole to make sure that the process didn't involve repeat lesson material.

That's harder to do with the ministering set. One thing our ward intends to do shortly is use the new suicide awareness materials distributed by the church as lesson material for a fourth Sunday, then use the following week's council meeting to follow up and discuss how that generic information can improve how we serve those in our wards. 

[Chilean]

21 minutes ago, MarginOfError said:

When we did the sabbath lessons, we had one instructor teach all of them, and mapped out six lessons that were part of a whole to make sure that the process didn't involve repeat lesson material.

I'm not sure what's going on with our RS presidency but... for some reason I don't think their relationship is going well. It's been about 6 months I see them... awkwardness among each other. And can tell they don't communicate with each other.

Our lesson's have repeated... and it's been hard at times teaching the lesson and making it different than previously taught.

Edited September 14, 2018 by Chilean

[mordorbund]

For the final ministering lesson, I would consider having the presidency give a report based on the interviews they've held. While it could include statistics, I would encourage them to focus on the stories. Think of it as one of those General Conference talks you hear with a few inspiring accounts, but here it's local. It's happening in your own ward! If time remains, you can open it up testimony-style for people to share experiences they've had with their ministers.