Show Them the Apprentice, Part 2

WHAT APPRENTICING CURRICULUM SHOULD I USE? The teaching plan for training your apprentice starts with your life and group leadership practices. Invite your apprentice to join you in both. Investing in an apprentice will appropriately begin with a time of getting acquainted. Then it is important to assess what the apprentice’s knowledge, experience, and need may be. Prayer together is essential!

Beyond introduction and evaluation, asking many questions will help greatly. Addressing basics is important. Encourage quiet time practices. Demonstrate yours. Help him or her develop the ability to evaluate priorities. Other issues that will need to be addressed are lesson preparation, teaching, fellowship planning, making contacts and visits, organizing the group ministry, and mobilizing people into service. Affirm progress. And don’t forget to spend time focusing on multiplying the new leader!

Hand off responsibility in increasing amounts. Follow this pattern of progression:

• I do, you watch.
• I do, you help.
• You do, I help.
• You do, I watch.
• You do, someone else watches.

Debriefing after each assignment reinforces the learning and allows for adjustments along the way.

In your weekly interaction, consider reading and discussing helpful Sunday School books and articles, like the following books by David Francis:

• The 3D Sunday School: A Three Dimensional Strategy (focus on inviting, discovering, and connecting)
• I-6 Invite: A Six-Lane Strategy Toward an Inviting Sunday School (focus on inviting)
• The Discover Triad: Three Facets of a Dynamic Sunday School Class (focus on discovering, teaching, and learning)
• Connect3: The Power of One Sunday School Class (focus on connecting)

Note: These resources are available as free downloads from lifeway.com/davidfrancis.

Avoid focusing only on one aspect, such as teaching. Keep your apprenticing balanced. This will keep both of you effective.

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Darryl Wilson serves as the Sunday School & Discipleship Consultant for the Kentucky Baptist Convention. He served as Minister of Education in five churches in Kentucky and South Carolina. He is the author of The Sunday School Revolutionary!, a blog about life-changing Sunday School and small groups. This series is a part of Be A Catalyst: Start New Groups, available on your Kindle for 99 cents.