You can train Sunday School teachers in the meetings you already have. Play one session a month from Allan Taylor or Danny Akin, talk for a few minutes, and send them back to class. Anyone who misses the night watches that session on STREAMALL before the next meeting.
This is not a retreat. It is steady training without another Saturday on the calendar.
Why Saturday often fails
Good teachers are already teaching Sunday morning. Asking for another morning pulls the ones you need most. Use the monthly teacher meeting, a Sunday night, or the half hour before class starts.
If the church still wants a retreat, *Forward From Here* can be that weekend. This guide is the path when Saturday is not happening.
Start with Sunday School Done Right
*Sunday School Done Right* by Allan Taylor fits one session per month for six months. Reaching, teaching, and ministering stay the three tasks.
Sessions in order:
- Commission. Stay on the biblical mandate.
- Conviction. Reaching, teaching, and ministering.
- Clarity. Cast the vision and implement the tasks.
- Consistency. Talent can make it good; consistency makes it great.
- Commitment. Tools committed leaders must have.
- Challenge. Sunday School done right starts with you.
Hand out the workbook pages for that month. Talk about what they saw, not a second lecture.
Then pull from Forward From Here
When the six are done, or when one issue dominates, pick from *Forward From Here*. Ten priorities. You do not have to play all ten in a row.
- The Priority of Urgency
- The Priority of Leadership
- The Priority of Recruitment
- The Priority of Enlistment
- The Priority of Training
- The Priority of Teaching
- The Priority of Fellowship
- The Priority of Ministry
- The Priority of Evangelism
- The Priority of Expansion
Play the session that matches the problem in the room this month.
When teachers need Bible study skills
*The Teacher I Want To Be* by Danny Akin is for how to study the Bible, then how to teach it. Six sessions of about 30 minutes:
- Foundation. How do I get started?
- Observation. What do I see?
- Interpretation. What does it mean?
- Application. How does it work?
- Presentation. How do I put it all together?
- Proclamation. How do I communicate effectively?
A Sunday night after church works well. Same monthly rhythm as Taylor.
Allan Taylor also teaches *The Inspired Teacher* when you want another Taylor voice on sharing biblical truth with passion.
Make-up viewing
A kit password streams that series only. STREAMALL is $199.95 for a prepaid year of the full catalog, or $19.95 a month until you cancel. It pays off when Taylor and Akin are both on the calendar and teachers need make-up viewing on their own time.
Passwords stay with the purchasing church.
Studies in this guide
Related
Questions churches ask
How often should we meet?
Once a month is enough for one video session and a short talk. A Sunday night, the monthly teacher meeting, or the half hour before class can all work. Keep the same night so people can plan.
Which series do we start with?
Start with Allan Taylor's Sunday School Done Right if leaders need commission, conviction, and clarity on reaching, teaching, and ministering. Start with Danny Akin's The Teacher I Want To Be if teachers need how to study the Bible and then teach it.
What about the teacher who cannot stay for the meeting?
He watches that month's session on STREAMALL or on the streaming password for that kit before the next meeting. A single-title kit covers one series. STREAMALL covers the catalog if you will use both Taylor and Akin.
Can preschool and adult teachers use the same session?
Yes for leadership basics in Sunday School Done Right. Jumpstart Sunday School is the age-by-age Saturday workshop if you need separate tracks in one day. This guide is the one-room, one-session plan.