Training Sunday School Teachers

The mission of Sowers4Pastors is to empower Honduran pastors to reach their communities with the gospel. The work that Manna 4 Lempira does walks out that mission in the churches we serve.

Each Manna partner church is unique. They are all at different levels of development, with some just starting out, and others further down the road in their mission of making disciples. As we seek to support churches, we must evaluate where they are in their process and find the right tools to help.

Our partner church at El Tablon is one of our more mature partners. It is well established, has numerous successful church plants, and is doing a good job implementing the Manna program. When they asked us to come alongside them this year to provide training for Sunday School teachers, we realized that this would be a powerful—and fruitful—investment.

Around 30 teachers from sectors of the Tablon program—Guanas, Azomada, Catatao, and El Sapote—began a 12 module training program through their denomination back in May. These sessions lasted 4 hours and were held on the third Friday of each month. The ministry supported this training by paying for the training materials, dinner, and transportation for the teachers. The sessions covered a wide range of topics, from engaging listeners, strategies for discipline in the classroom, how to plan a dynamic lesson, recognizing child abuse, and much more. Teachers were also required to complete homework assignments individually and as a church.

On December 18 and 19, the ministry paid for these teachers to attend the last module, which was a two-day, intensive Evangelism Training. It was an incredible time of learning! On January 29, after around 60 hours of intensive study, the participants of this training will graduate as children’s pastors. Can you imagine the impact that these equipped ministers will have in their communities?

We are already seeing fruit. Some of the strategies learned in the evangelism training were implemented at the Christmas parties, and we were blessed to see many children respond to the gospel message that was shared with them. While this training program is not available to all of our partners due to denominational differences, we do plan to take portions of some of the modules and hold trainings in our other churches based upon need. We are also looking at bringing the non-denominational evangelism training to each of our church partners as soon as possible.

It is exciting to see churches grow in their abilities to minister more effectively in their communities!

- posted by Kim