The story of the Good Samaritan is a fun one for children to act out. Acting out a story is a good way for students to see the gospel in action, and practice choosing the right themselves in a pretend situation.
The story of the Good Samaritan is a fun one for children to act out. Acting out a story is a good way for students to see the gospel in action, and practice choosing the right themselves in a pretend situation.
Sunday School teachers will be either skipping this lesson or combining with with three other Come Follow Me lessons. Even if you decide to skip this lesson all together, prayerfully consider if there are parts of this lesson that you can combine with your Easter lesson.
Sunday School teachers, the activity listed for John 5: "to help the class discover these insights, try dividing them into groups and giving them a few minutes to list as many truths as they can find in verses 16–47 about the character of God, Jesus Christ, and Their relationship" is an especially good one in my opinion. This type of activity is only good where groups can be in sets of 4 persons or fewer. If I were teaching this, I would use a technique like Everybody Writes or Chalk Talk. Click on the search widget and type in the name of these techniques at the top of the page to learn to use these techniques.
This lesson covers a lot of varying topics. Primary teachers, carefully select two or three to cover during class. Sunday School teachers, you will not be able to give this lesson the attention it deserves, as this lesson is combined with THREE others due to a fifth Sunday and General Conference. Prayerfully consider which material from this and the next three lessons will be of most value to your students. If you choose to do the activity where you "write on strips of paper several gospel truths and several false, worldly ideas or practices," be careful that you don't accidentally add in your own personal ideas of what is a worldly practice. Use the suggestion in the manual to select false, worldly ideas from General Conference addresses to avoid any difficulty.
If you choose to do the activity where you invite class members to come to class with questions, go to my training section and learn how to answer difficult questions effectively.
Sunday School teachers, the manual suggests that you "invite class members to share which of the passages in the Sermon on the Mount they feel are most needed today." Be aware that this type of directive can lead students to judge others. If your class is prone to going off in the weeds about politics or the ills of society, you may consider asking an alternate question: "Which of the passages in the Sermon on the Mount do you feel YOU most need today?"
Youth Sunday School teachers, would a change in seating help students in your class put themselves in the position of those who heard the Sermon on the Mount? Consider inviting students to sit on the floor to hear this week's lesson. Since it's fast Sunday, some of your students will be going without food just like the people who heard this sermon. How does fasting affect how we learn? Why are some people willing to go without comforts to hear the word of the Lord? This lesson is combined with Matthew 6-7.
Sunday School teacchers, time your lesson carefully. It will be easy to get carried away talking about temptation and fill your entire class period. If you are combining this lesson with another week's lesson, carefully plan how much time you will spend on each topic, but balance the need to cover multiple subjects with the student's need to discuss the topic. If you sense that no new material is being added to the discussion, thank the class for their participation and express gratitude for it, but don't be afraid to move on.
