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Showers for the Tender Harvest--"Let my teaching fall like showers on tender plants." - Deuteronomy 32:2
Treasure Your Teachers
by Jill Nelson (Jill's bio)
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Do people turn and walk the other way when they see you coming with your “I-need-a-Sunday-School-teacher” smile? One way to beef up your recruitment potential is to treasure your existing teachers. Besides, if you do all you can to avoid burnout in your staff, your need to recruit will go way down.
Here are some suggestions to keep those teachers happy.
1. Pass out praise like lollipops. Don't be saccharine, but be sincere and frequent in finding good things to say to and about your teachers.
2. Listen, listen, listen. Go out of your way to make contact with the teachers and find out what their concerns are.
3. Respond, respond, respond. When situations arise, be prompt to help deal with them. Few things are more discouraging to a teacher than seeing a manageable difficulty become a festering sore due to neglect.
4. Give 'em a break. Plan regular breaks from the Sunday School routine. For instance, our church schedules brunches occasionally instead of Sunday School classes. Everyone in the church attends, and the fellowship is worth a postponed classroom lesson.
5. Show appreciation. Notice your teachers' birthdays with cards. Be sure they are thanked regularly from the pulpit. (Remind your pastor to do this.) A Christmas gift is definitely in order.
6. Have back-ups in place. Life happens to teachers too. Sometimes they need to find a substitute. Provide them with a simple, painless, blameless process to accomplish that.
7. Provide training and support materials.
* It is a good idea to have a select library of training materials available for checkout through the church. Encourage your teachers to take advantage of these.
* A complimentary subscription to a magazine for people who work with children might also be appropriate. Two that come to mind are Children's Ministry magazine and Family Fun magazine. The latter is secular, but it's chock full of great ideas for adults to use with kids.
* Take advantage of training seminars in your area. Make them fun events—church's treat. Don't skimp. Spend the night at a nice hotel with pool and spa. Go out to eat. Laugh as much as you learn.
8. Include the teachers in decisions about curriculum, supplies, room décor and furnishings, children's outings, etc.
9. Leave room for creativity. Provide structure, but don't regiment. Encourage your teachers to think outside the box. This creates an atmosphere of energy and excitement where good things are always waiting to happen.
10. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Be transparent. Trust invites trust. Build camaraderie between your teachers as much as between you and them. Open communication is one way to do this.
I would be very interested in hearing from others in children's ministry what works for them in recruiting and retaining Sunday school staff. If you have a “hot” idea, e-mail me at the address at the end of the column. Share your idea and be sure to include your name and your church's name and location. If I get enough feedback, I'll do another column on this topic to share the results, giving credit where credit is due.
Copyright 2003, Jill Nelson. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
| About Jill Nelson: Children have been the focus of Jill Nelson's ministry for twenty years. She and her husband have four--two boys, two girls--all teenagers. (Prayers, please.) Jill supervises the children's ministry at her local church and delights in writing her own material. Her heart is to glorify God by guiding children into a powerful personal relationship with Him. E-mail Jill |
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