Four Steps in Preparing your Lesson

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Each week teachers need to prepare a new lesson to help their members live the Gospel of Jesus.   This requires work and focus.

WHAT DO I DO? Here are four steps to help teachers prepare:

1. Read the entire passage early.  Preferably more than a week ahead, so you can share on this Sunday what you will be looking at next Sunday.  Read chapters in front of the focal Bible passage and chapters after it.
2. Reread the passage on Sunday afternoon, allowing the passage to speak to your heart, praying through the passage and looking at commentaries on the passage. Try to get to understand these four things about the passage:
   1. When was this passage written?
   2. Who was it written to?
   3. Why was the writer sharing this information to begin with them?
   4. What does this passage have to do with your members and the way they live now?
3. Discover the main point that applies to your member’s lives. Write your aim.
4. During the week, look for creative ways to teach the lesson and aspects of these three parts:
   1. Create interest in this passage
   2. Have members examine it
   3. Have members apply it to their daily life.

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Dr. Mark Yoakum, Director of Church Ministries, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.