The Strength of a Sabbath School Series

Okay, it’s been a while. I’m bad at this, I admit. However, I am still committed to doing this blogging thing. I’ve set up a schedule, so hopefully that will help. Anyway…

This last Sabbath we launched a new Sabbath School series in our Youth division here at New Haven. The series is called, “Walking with Jesus: Step by Step,” and is loosely based on the book, Steps to Christ, by Ellen White. If you’re not familiar with the book, we’re looking at what it means practically to be in a relationship with Jesus. I am super excited about this series for several reasons.

First, there is something magical about a series. The traditional approach to Sabbath School in the Seventh-day Adventist Church is to divide the year into quarters (Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, etc.), and spend 13 weeks studying a specific topic. The curriculum for the youth division is slightly different, in that it is designed to cover the span of the Great Controversy (from the fall of Lucifer to the New Earth, following the Crisis of the Ages series by Ellen White) in four years. While neither of these approaches is necessarily bad, I find them to be too predictable and routine. What’s magical about a variety of shorter Sabbath School series is that they provide an element of surprise and intrigue every few weeks or so.

The series we recently launched will actually go for 9 weeks, but it is the longest series we will do. Most series will be 3 to 5 weeks in length. I do have a long-term curriculum plan, but by dividing the curriculum into short series, I believe we add freshness to the material.

Second, doing shorter series allows for more marketing. The image below is the poster we did for our current series, and we will do a new poster for every series.

With a new poster going up every few weeks, it lets the students know that it’s not the same-old-same-old in Sabbath School every week. It also gives us something to which to invite the students. We’re not just inviting them to Sabbath School; we’re inviting them to deepen their relationship with Jesus, or to learn what stewardship is really all about, or to find out what the Bible has to say about sex, or to prepare for last day events, or whatever.

Finally, it keeps me fresh. As a youth pastor, I am not considered a preaching pastor. (In reality, I probably preach as much if not more than the other pastors on staff, but I don’t preach much from the pulpit on Sabbath mornings.) My “sermon” each week is the Sabbath School lesson (though, don’t worry, I don’t actually preach the lessons; I was a teacher before I became a pastor). Many of my students hang out in the foyer during the service, leave, or are in the sanctuary but talking to/texting their friends during the service. So, for some of them, the only message they hear on Sabbath is in Sabbath School, where the group is smaller, safer and more interactive. So, why wouldn’t I give the Sabbath School lesson as much attention as I would give a Sabbath morning sermon?

Instead of following a curriculum that was planned four years ago by a guy in Washington who knows nothing about my students or their current spiritual condition, I choose to write my own curriculum. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the standard youth Sabbath School curriculum. I would recommend it to a volunteer teacher who works 50-60 hours a week, and doesn’t have the time or the training to write his/her own lesson plans. But I’m not a volunteer. I have the time and the training to write fresh, relevant and biblical lessons that meet the students where they are. In fact, as a salaried youth pastor, I believe that’s partly what I’m paid to do.

What about you? What are your thoughts? What has been your experience with using series, whether in your preaching or in your teaching?

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