"It’s For The Kids…Not You" Encouragement for Teachers

I’ve been teaching kids’ church classes for a long time. I started when I was in Jr. High, I helped my parents in the Sunday School class that they taught. I am now 40 years old and am still teaching kids classes. I’ve taught 2 year olds all the way through High Schoolers. I’ve been through it all. I’ve done lectures, small groups, large groups, you name it.
I’ve written, bought, and borrowed curriculum. I’ve had kids do hands-on science experiments, take sermon notes, make bread, put together puppets and projects, and played games. I’ve taught about Creation, Jesus’ birth, and Jesus’ death. I’ve taught about Ruth, Joseph, Moses, Paul, Esther, etc. Sometimes, to be honest, the lessons get boring to me because “I’ve been there, done that”.
You know what? Those kids haven’t. My mom says, “That 2 year old has never sung “Away in a Manger”. It’s new to them. It doesn’t matter if you’ve taught that lesson 300 times, it might be the first time those kids hear that lesson.
That means you need to put the same enthusiasm to the lesson as if it was your first time teaching it. Those kids deserve your best. You’re teaching for them, not for you. Though there are great things that the teacher gets from teaching the class, that’s not the purpose of the class. It’s for them to learn about the Bible and what God has done for them. Do your best, like it was your first!