Leader Guide - Becoming a Sense-Sational Bible Teacher

BECOMING A
SENSE-SATIONAL
BIBLE TEACHER
AUDIENCE:
Children's ministry volunteers working with ages 3+
MATERIALS NEEDED:
Pens or pencils
Bibles
Templates from the
workshop kit
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
To help my volunteers
discover the richness of
and the need for a multisensory
Bible teaching
STRUCTURE / FLOW:
ASSESSMENT:

ICE BREAKER
Ask everyone to take a few minutes to fill out Sensing My
Memories template.
Give everyone a chance to share their sense-sational
memories.
Have fun getting to know each other, and notice how closely
our memories are connected to our senses.
EXTRA-TIME QUESTION: If you had to live the rest of your
life without one of your senses, which one would you give
up and why?

JUST FOR FUN
If time allows, have a race and see who'll be the first one to
find all the hidden words inside this word puzzle.
You may want to have a fun prize for the winner. Oversized
plastic ears, funny eye-ball glasses or lip whistles.

LET'S LEARN!
Go through the verses that demonstrate how our senses
can help us know God better.
Thomas was encouraged to touch Jesus’ scars to help with
his doubts. Hearing that Jesus was alive needed to be
coupled with touching in order for Thomas to believe.
Job’s faith had been grounded in what he heard about God.
His trials, seeing God in action, strengthened that trust even
more.
Read 1 John 1:1 to see how important to the apostle's faith
were all of the senses. "...what we have heard, what we have
seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with
our hands..."

LET'S BE HONEST
Use the Five Senses Evaluation template to audit your
current approach to teaching.
Give everyone a few minutes to fill out the template, and
then share.
Create environment of openness and vulnerability. We are
not perfect, but we are humble enough to admit where we
didn't do so good and brave enough to take responsibility to
improve.

LET'S TAKE A LOOK
Pass out this infographic.
Have people take turns reading the five sections.
After each section, take a few moments for comments and
questions.

LET'S DO IT!
It's practice time! Pass out The Five Senses Bible Study
worksheets, and assign everyone a Bible story. Ideally, you
will want to give each person a different story.
Ask everyone to read their assigned passage and filter it
through the Five Senses Grid. In other words, they will be
reading the story with all their senses, trying to discover all
the sensations that were engaged in the original story.
It would be helpful if you first provide an example so they
know exactly what they are supposed to do with this
exercise.

LET'S DO IT!
Pass out The Five Senses Lesson Prep worksheets. Ask
everyone to decide how what they have observed during the
previous exercise could be transferred into the Bible lesson
for kids.
Again, provide an example so they know exactly what they
are supposed to do with this exercise.
Have fun with this, and be sure to give people plenty of time
to share their ideas.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Promote this workshop well in advance.
Be excited about it! Many people dread meetings so it's very
helpful when a leader has great expectations for it, and
great excitement. Let your excitement be contagious!
Stick to the schedule and don't go over time.
Ideal time for this workshop is 70-90 minutes.
Best time is, probably Sunday after church. Everyone is
already there, so no need to plan an extra trip.
If you host this workshop after church, do provide food.
Are you able to provide childcare or some sort of child
engagement (a classroom full of toys and activities
nearby)? That would make a huge difference for the parents
on your volunteer team.
If you have 30 or more people attending this workshop, seat
them around tables in groups of 5-6. Instead of giving all 30
a chance to talk, let them talk among themselves. This way
you'll be facilitating discussions, interactions, and exercises
from the front, and keeping track of time.
Also, with the larger group, instead of doing some exercises
individually, have them work as a group. This will allow you
to keep the training going, keep everyone engaged, and keep
your word about finishing on time.
Send everyone home with a pack of Bible Study & Lesson
Prep templates. Challenge people to study their Bible and
prepare for their lessons by following those templates.

MORE TEMPLATES
WHAT CANVA TEMPLATE WOULD YOU LIKE NEXT?
CLICK ON EACH IMAGE FOR MORE DETAILS.
WHEN LICE COME TO
CHURCH
YOUR OXYGEN MASK
FIRST
CHILDREN &
COMMUNION
MY MORNING AT CHURCH
NURSERY FORM