Are you struggling as much as I am to accept that September is here? How is that possible? We have been stuck in one big month: Marpriljulygust. 
Where did September come from? Well believe it or not, fall is here. While it’s tempting to get frustrated by comparing right now to our ideals from the past of kicking off a new year of your church teaching ministry, I encourage you to focus on the opportunities rather than the obstacles. What if God wants to do a new thing—different and better than anything else we’ve ever done? Our videos below for this month will provide helpful strategies to kick off the fall:
- Make a plan to connect. For kids, connection may look like videos of the weekly lessons (tips below). For youth, it may mean video devotionals that pull in youth to help provide the devotionals. And for adults, now is a perfect time to start small groups for spiritual growth, social connections, and caring for your church family.
- Send your group resources. September is when you’d likely be kicking off a new quarter of teaching with fresh teacher and student books. There’s no reason you can’t still do it by just changing the way you deliver resources if you’re not able to use them in a traditional way. For the first time in PPH’s history, we are offering digital licenses of all our curriculum so you can deliver discipleship resources whatever way convenient for you and your church.
- Encourage the group to dig in at home. While of course we believe that meeting together as a church family is the best way to learn, we can’t stop growing if we can’t meet the way we always have. Maybe we can reposition our groups right now to grow in new ways. I’m sure we’ve always wanted our students to be interacting with our teaching at home, but now that’s more important than ever. Encourage adults to dig into Scripture at home with the God’s Word for Life Podcast. If you teach children, encourage parents or ask the church to provide parents with the new Word Aflame Home Guide to lead a family devotional in the home.
This month we’re offering a double feature of training videos!
A Plan for Sunday School during the Pandemic
Tips for Creating Your Own Children’s Videos
Resources and Links
Check out this guide with a full catalog of resources available to kick off the fall.
I encourage everyone to get this year’s hardback of The Living Word. If you’re teaching Word Aflame curriculum to children or adults, these lessons provide the full commentary on each week’s Bible lesson.
Lee Ann Alexander is a disciple of Jesus Christ and a teacher and preacher of the gospel. As an associate editor of the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI), she leads the curriculum team at Pentecostal Publishing House and is passionate about teaching teachers.