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Sunday School Substitute Teachers: Practical Advice for the Children's Ministry Director

by Denise Oliveri
10/28/2008 / Education

As a Children's Ministry pastor or director, you know that Sunday School teachers need training and guidance as much as any other school teacher requires. There is no denying the fact that Sunday School substitute teachers are important, too. Of course, how long they will be in the role of substituting will determine how in-depth your training needs to be to fulfill this role well.

Training the Substitute Teacher

It is a good idea to go ahead and have potential substitute teachers sit in on training sessions that you hold for regular teachers. It gives these people an idea of what direction you are taking with Children's Ministry, and provides them with the same information that the regular teachers are receiving, so when the time comes to fill in, they will have a handle on what they should be doing on a broad spectrum.

Having your regular Sunday School teachers touch base with their list of substitute teachers on a weekly or monthly basis is advisable. This can be done through e-mail, a quick phone call, or the substitute just dropping by after a lesson one Sunday afternoon. Even if a teacher does not need the aid of a substitute, it still keeps lessons and activities fresh in the substitute's mind for when that all-important phone call arrives and they are needed to fill in.

Filler Activities for Sunday School

A substitute teacher is generally not called upon to give a lesson exactly the same way the regular teacher does, and students do not expect that they will either. There are times when a substitute may get done with a planned lesson early, and find herself trying to entertain a group of kids who are getting restless. Use these quick activity-fillers to help out on those occasions. These activities can be adapted to almost any Bible lesson, so they are a great relief to the substitute teacher.

Bible Hangman. Use words presented in the lesson. Let children take turns making up the words, if they are old enough to do so.

Bible Drill. Have the children hold their Bibles on their heads. Give a verse that was used in the day's lesson, and have them find it in their Bible after you count to "3." The first one to find it can get a small prize, and they should read the verse to the entire class. Go over what that verse meant in the day's lesson as a review.

Bible Pictionary. Have the students draw a picture that relates to the day's lesson. The first classmate to guess what the picture represents takes the next turn.

Bible Charades. Have the students act out a person or activity that was represented in the day's lesson. The first child to guess right gets to go next.

Being a Sunday School substitute teacher means being on your guard. Hopefully you will be able to warn your substitutes ahead of time, if a regular teacher will be on vacation, etc. This gives the substitute adequate time to get in synch with the lesson they are teaching. But, if a teacher calls in sick and a substitute has to be ready to go, at least you will have them armed with good information and good activities, if you follow the suggestions outlined above.

This article first appeared on Suite101 on October 15, 2007, written by Denise Oliveri.

Denise Oliveri is the owner of Preschool Sunday School Central (http://www.psscentral.com). The site provides preschool Sunday School teachers wtih valuable resources to help with Bible lesson planning. Join our eBook Club today for a new eBook each month.

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