Stories of the Christian Education Workshop

In 2007, the Oklahoma Annual Conference, in Ayllu with the IEMB, started the Bolivian Sunday School Curriculum Project. Oklahoma sends down one or two trained professional Children’s Education Directors or persons trained in Curriculum writing to participate and serve as a resource for the Annual Curriculum Writing and Training Workshop. This week long event usually gathers over 40 pastors, teachers, and Sunday School teachers from all over the country.

 In 2009, the OAC sent Janet Boone, director of Children’s Christian Education at Grace UMC in Oklahoma City, and Dr. Leslie Long, who has a PhD in curriculum writing and is the director of the Wesley Foundation at Edmond, to act as teachers and consultants at the Children’s Christian Workshop. Here’s what they had to say:

“Forty-five people, ages 15 years and up, gathered from all over the country. Lay people, teens, moms, dads, and pastors all came to spend a week learning how to teach Bible stories, how to teach better, and how to write Sunday school lessons. They slept on mats at the Instituto Americano, ate their meals together, worked together, and worshiped together. They all spoke Spanish; very few spoke any English at all. But a smile, a greeting en el nombre de Jesu Cristo, or a hug all transcend language barriers.

“”They called us Las Hermanas, “the sisters.” We came to share what we know and who we are. We came to live among them, to break bread with them, and to talk about how to share the Good News of God’s love to children and youth.

“By the end of the week, we loved them and they loved us. We had laughed and sung and prayed. There were puppets made and mobiles created and a year’s worth of curriculum written for ages 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, and 13-15 years. They worked hard, often into the wee hours of the morning, reading the scripture text and choosing songs/choruses, activities, crafts, games and prayers for every lesson for 52 Sundays for each of the four age groups.

“The words above describe what took place as we spent a week with the wonderful people of the IEMB Church. What is harder to convey is their dedication, their deep faith, their desire to reach out to the children they work with each Sunday and the ones who they have yet to meet. They welcomed us and we shared the expertise and gifts we had, but it is true that what they shared with us buries itself in your soul.

“We came back asking if we in the United States who call ourselves United Methodist would be willing to give so much. We often say in the church, “…that if we only had more of this or more of that we could do so much.” Maybe what we need to say is, “Look at what we have. Now what can we do with it to make a difference in God’s kingdom?”

“We taught, but we also learned. We shared, but we also received. We are both proud to think about Juan Wesley and his legacy to the people throughout the world who call themselves Methodist.”

Janet Boone and Rev. Dr. Leslie Long

These workshops offer so much to both the teachers and the students they will have throughout the year. [Click here to help us make the 2010 workshop a reality.]

The Children’s Christian Workshop 2008

This email is from Ardel Graner, GBGM Missionary at Tiu Rancho Bolivia and one of three organizers of the CE training and curriculum writing workshop in January 2008. Read on to see just why these workshops are so vital:

“Just a short note to let you know that the Sunday School workshop went wonderfully. Since Saturday night and actually before, I was trying to put my finger on what was happening and how to define it to you. I think the best way I can explain this workshop is that empowerment took place.

One young, very vibrant young man from Oruro said that he had been a part of many workshops, yet none as explosive as this one. That was the word he used. Another wrote in their evaluation, “I doubt that I’ll ever be able to forget all that I learned in this workshop!” One young woman with a 2-year-old child at her feet, who had partnered to write with one of the traditionally dressed women in the group, said during the time when we dedicated the materials, “My hope for this material, is that when my child is old enough to begin Sunday School that she will have material of this quality to learn from.”

On Sunday morning, the church I attend asked me to share a tiny bit about the workshop. Afterwards, the pastor, who is a seminary trained pastor and has been studying for another degree in Brazil, told me that he had already heard how great the workshop had gone and asked if he could be a part of it next year.

I think the components were: having a fantastic group, who all bonded and covenanted together through the devotions, the dynamics, through sharing experiences and knowledge during the three teaching sessions, and then who committed to one another and to the children in their churches to write the lessons together. They struggled together all during this time, yet grew incredibly together also.

The five pastors who were present were excellent in this workshop. They never abandoned their groups, even staying up until 4:00 a.m. the last night to finish. They were like rudders and rocks (foundations) for their groups. They participated in every way, with sharing feelings and insights during the devotions and dynamics, to playing the children games together and singing the new children’s songs we learned, to finding Bible passages for each lesson. Everyone thanked them for being in this workshop.

We also had the young women teachers from the American Institute in Cochabamba who were fountains of knowledge and experience, as they are the ones with the most practice. (They actually became the leaders in their groups). Many folks afterwards thanked them for coming and being a part of the workshop. They asked to continue with this same group in the coming year.

Our youngest participant was from Potosi, and she, along with the boy who said the workshop was explosive, were full of ideas, games, and songs, and actually all the groups came to them to get ideas. That was incredible to hear about. We also had a great little group of 3 teachers from La Paz who were wonderful with insight and encouragement all during the workshop. There were many more components, yet this will get too long to write everything.

Yet we weren’t without obstacles. We spent the better part of one morning working with a handful of participants and one of the group leaders, working through a serious offense that could have destroyed the whole effort. I was very nervous that whole day and yet felt like I had witnessed God in our midst, helping us. One of the most gifted teachers from Cochabamba was very sick one day, and yet met with her group and then recovered.

We will now struggle to get the materials transcribed and the manuscripts put on the computer and get them photocopied. All huge jobs, yet I trust this will happen and that miracles will happen in these Sunday Schools.

Together in Christ,

Ardell Graner, GBGM missionary at Tiu Rancho Bolivia

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