Christian Education: Teaching in the Body of Christ
Course Objectives
Enable group leaders and Christian education directors in local churches to identify the needs for training among the members in their care and to meet them. They will acquire experience in planning courses and training programs that will convey biblical content, stimulate godly character, and develop one’s ability to teach, in order that they build up the Church among new communities of believers.
Course Description
Students will read the course manual, answer questions and do exercises in order to prepare class discussions. The course is divided into 10 lessons of 2 1/2 hours each. The first portion of each lesson reviews the lesson content, then ample time is left for students to make presentations and receive feedback on them. Each student will lead supervised teaching activities in his/her local church.
Learning Outcomes :
Contents : By the end of the course, the student will be able:
- To offer biblical models and to explain the teacher’s role in proclaiming truth, exposing error, correction and the training of students.
- To give examples of teaching objectives which cover each of the learning domains: content (knowledge), character (attitudes) and skills (actions).
- To identify three teaching methods adapted for adult learners.
- To explain the principle learning skills in educating children, including participation, imitation, personal attention, listening, demonstration and memorization.
Character : By the end of the course, the student will be able:
- To offer examples and methods of teaching that develop character, including emotions, desires and values.
- To describe the role of imitation and the apprentice method in Christian education, providing cultural and biblical examples of both methods.
- To develop a spirit of attentive service for students, an ability to discern their needs and to adapt one’s teaching to better enable their development.
Competencies : By the end of the course, the student will be able:
- To demonstrate one’s ability to develop a single lesson plan, as well as to plan an entire semester.
- To demonstrate one’s ability to identify important themes in biblical texts he/she is assigned to teach.
- To develop teaching activities that encourage good communication of content (the head), character development (the heart) and acquisition of important skills (the body).
- To identify and develop competency outcomes focussing on what the student will do, how he/she will act, what he/she will put into practice and what he/she will say.
- To distinguish teaching objectives which are expressed clearly from those which are not; to propose objectives which are well developed and adapted for a specific text or passage.
This course manual has been prepared by and made available courtesy of the Timothy Leadership Training Institute. You may learn more about their programs and other available courses by consulting their website : www.tlti.org.
A course syllabus for Progressing Together’s PMIN 225 Teaching course using the Timothy Leadership Training Institute course manual “Teaching the Christian Faith” is now available in English and French. The Arabic version is in preparation.