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I was asked today to teach the oldest youth Sunday School class. Our ward is fairly small, so that class is the 14-17-year-olds. I accepted in a heartbeat, since I love teaching that age group. What I wanted to share is what my Bishop said as we talked about the youth:
1)
“They need to have their conventional wisdom challenged.”Those were his exact words. 2) They need someone who can take them deeper than where they already are after years growing up in the Church and hearing the same principles taught multiple times. This needs to be like the Gospel Doctrine class for them.
3)
There’s a difference between flying a plane and being a pilot.Primary teaches our kids how to fly a plane by following instructions; our youth need to learn to be pilots before they leave home. 4) He had considered me for a different calling in the ward, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that I need to be teaching the youth right now.
5) I am going to be set apart at the beginning of the Sunday School class, so the youth get to be part of the process. Honestly, I have never considered that possibility, and I am grateful he taught me in this unique way something I preach regularly – that custom doesn’t have to rule the day when it makes more sense to do something differently.
My Bishop is orthodox, TBM in pretty much every visible way. He’s a good man, and he tries very hard to be guided by the Spirit.
I think he’s the rule, not the exception, in the Church – and I am looking forward with excitement to next week, when I start this calling.
This sounds great Curt! I really like that part about being set apart in front of the students….that is a fantastic idea! It engages everyone in the process. The bishop wants their conventional wisdom challenged up to but not including the point where the first parent complains to the bishop. Be careful. I am sure you’ll be fantastic!
Wow! What a great age group. I remember my days teaching high school very fondly. My favorite thing about it was the kids. My dad also teaches sunday school to this age and he loves it. I’m sure it will be a great experience. Curt, I’m happy if you’re happy. It takes a special person to teach the youth. I’m glad it’s not me. From the little I know you, I’m sure you’re going to be great at this.
Mike from Milton.
Thank you, everyone. Quote:The bishop wants their conventional wisdom challenged up to but not including the point where the first parent complains to the bishop.
No, actually, he doesn’t. We talked about that. I’d call you to repentance for that cynicism, but I understand it. Instead, I’ll just tell a
very respected friendto take an extra happy pill today. 
Quote:Be careful.
No.
🙂 He called me; he gets me.
good luck…and do well. Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2
Old Timer wrote:
Quote:Be careful.
No.
🙂 He called me; he gets me.
Good luck, Curt. The calling seems well suited to you. If we are to give of ourselves 100% then the only way to do that is be ourselves.
🙂 I know you have certainly challenged some of my views from a faithful perspective so it may be just what you can do here as well.
What a great calling. I love teaching, and that’s the best age group to teach. They’ve got inquisitive minds, usually haven’t been around long enough to be too jaded, and yet don’t take Church too seriously yet. Good luck! Congrats on receiving what I think is one of the best callings in this church. I’ve taught that age youth in two different wards for a number of years and it was hands down my favorite calling for some of the reasons that excites you about the new job. I’m in the primary now and that can get quite boring. I have considered turning down every other calling until that’s the only one I will willingly do. I probably won’t actually do that, but I have considered it. I’m not a person who will “never turn down a calling” because I’ve seen how some callings are given little forethought and consideration, and how we have almost a fanatical insistence that everyone in the ward has a job at any given moment, even those who are “less active”. So turning down jobs I would suck at has been in my repertoire for years. Maybe I can turn down ones until I get one that I’m pretty sure I’d do pretty well at? heh
I really enjoyed the lesson today, and being set apart at the beginning of class was cool. It definitely is something I’m going to remember if I ever am in a position again to influence how people are set apart. I started by telling the students that I personally was bored stiff in lots of Sunday School lessons when I was their age – and that, by then, I knew I believed some things quite differently than the other people around me. I told them that I don’t really care if each of them reads the lesson chapters and takes something different from them – as long as they are reading carefully, thinking about what they read and learning how to find meaning that makes sense to them. I told them that my job as their teacher isn’t to tell them what the scriptures say and mean but, rather, to help them dig in and start finding their own meaning.
For the lesson, I showed them how the counsel Alma gave his sons related well to their birth order. (the oldest: two long chapters to say, “Here’s my full conversion story; you will be the record-keeper when I die; here’s why that is important; as their future leader, don’t teach the people this; instead, teach them this.” – the middle child: one short chapter saying, “Here’s a very brief summary of my conversion story; keep being a good middle child about whom I don’t need to worry; yada, yada, yada; more middle child stuff.” – the youngest: FOUR chapters that say, “Quit being a stereotypical, spoiled, youngest child screw-up; here are the specifics of your screw-up; now let me teach you about the nature of God, the after-life and the Plan of Happiness.”)
I talked about exactly what Corianton had done that concerned Alma so much. I emphasized Alma’s statement that he had murdered people in his own youthful rebellion – or, as he qualified it, had lead them away to destruction, which was similar to murdering them spiritually in his mind. We listed all the things Corianton had done and why Alma would classify “these things” as “next to murder” – and I told them directly that, while the traditional, default interpretation was that “sexual sins are next to murder” (and while some sexual sins, like rape, really should be thought of as next to murder), I believe Alma was equating the fact that Corianton had been causing people to reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ being taught by Alma to committing a sin next to murder (“at the side of”, not necessarily “just behind in seriousness”) – that Alma very directly linked what he had done in his youth to what Corianton had done in his youth.
At the end, I shared my Bishop’s analogy of helping them do more than just fly a plane by learning to be pilots, and I told them that was my main objective as their teacher – to help them figure out how to pilot their own individual, personal understanding of the Book of Mormon and the things we would discuss in class.
Next week is Alma 40-42, and I intend to focus on how Alma’s understanding of the Plan of Salvation was, by his own admission, not “knowledge” but rather personal belief – and how his understanding is fundamentally different than ours is now. I plan on drawing the differing descriptions in the classic Plan of Salvation missionary manner and talking about why it’s totally fine that they are different. I plan on focusing the lesson on the concept of on-going revelation and evolution of understanding – and teach the concept that scripture doesn’t equal immutable, unchanging fact, in many cases.
It’s a great group of kids, and I am really looking forward to continuing to teach them.
That sounds exciting, thanks for sharing! I only wish you could be our gospel doctrine teacher! I like it. Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2
Why don’t you just introduce them to your involvement in this website 
Quote:Why don’t you just introduce them to your involvement in this website
They don’t need it right now – and I hope my being their teacher for a while will be part of their never needing it.
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