Help for Teachers of Adult Groups
This how-to guide will help you discover how to use the many resources available as part of this curriculum
Getting Ready for Teaching
To prepare for teaching, follow these steps:
1) Read the Bible study by Tony Cartledge in Baptists Today (and make sure each person in your class also has a copy for study).
2) View the Video preparation by Tony Cartledge for the lesson.
3) Download and Print the PDFs for the Teaching Guides, Digging Deeper and Hardest Questions. Read these and use as they are helpful in teaching.
4) Check out any links to additional online resources and use as they are helpful in your teaching.
5) Have a terrific time of learning and growth with your group or class!
How To Download Tony's Videos
Want to to download the video file of Tony’s teacher prep to your laptop ahead of Sunday, and then just play it from there?
Here’s the best way to do just that:
Here’s how:
1. Go to Vimeo.com and create a free account (a login). Make a note of it.
2. Go to the video on Nurturing Faith you want to get. Click the word “vimeo” on the video (lower right area).
3. This will take you to that video’s page on Vimeo.com. Scroll down and look in the right sidebar for the link to download that video to your computer.
4. Right-click the download link, choose to save the file, and allow time for the download to finish.
That’s it! You now have the video on your hard drive and don’t have to worry about whether the internet is cooperating or not. Once you have created your Vimeo account, you will only need to do steps 2-4 to download future videos.
How to Use the Curriculum
Find the date for the Sunday you plan to study. Everything you need to teach adults or youth is collected on one webpage! First read the Bible lesson by Tony Cartledge, then scroll down to view our teaching resources, which include videos, teaching guides and links to scripture and other info.
In Print
Bible Study: The main Bible study, by Tony Cartledge, is published in the print edition of Baptists Today. A given issue will always contain the lessons for the next month. Thus, the June issue will contain July lesson material. Each learner and teacher will need a copy of Baptists Today so they can prepare using this Bible study material.
Online
Teaching helps are provided online (they are free to use). These resources include:
Teaching Guides: Written by Rick Jordan, these teaching outlines follow his “F.I.T.” (Fellowship, Instruction, Transformation) approach. Teachers can use any or all of the suggestions provided in the FIT teaching guides. Simply download and print the FIT Teaching Guide PDF for a given month.
Digging Deeper: As you read the core Bible study by Tony Cartledge that is provided in each issue of Baptists Today, you will notice a shovel icon following certain paragraphs. Where you see the shovel, you will find additional insights and information relating to that paragraph in the online “Digging Deeper” PDF. Simply download and print the Digging Deeper PDF for a given month, and use the information as it is helpful for your preparation to teach.
The Hardest Question: For each lesson, Tony Cartledge also identifies a “Hardest Question,” and offers a response to it. The “Hardest Question” can help you prepare for such a question from your group, or you can raise the question yourself in teaching. Simply download and print the “Hardest Question” PDF for a given month, and use the information as it is helpful for your preparation to teach.
Videos: Tony Cartledge films a video preparation for each lesson, and the lesson videos can be found online for a given month. In each video, Tony helps further prepare teachers for the coming lesson. Most videos are only 5-7 minutes in length, and can be viewed from your computer or mobile device whenever it is convenient for you.
Additional Resources: Because Nurturing Faith follows texts selected from the Revised Common Lectionary (commonly used in worship preparation), there are a wealth of related resources available on the web that may be helpful for a given lesson. As appropriate, we will often link to some of these resources in our online area.