The Adult Formations Teaching Guide has three purposes:

• To give the teacher tools for focusing on the content of the session in the Learner’s Study Guide
• To give the teacher additional Bible background information
• To give the teacher variety and choices in preparation

The Teaching Guide includes two major components: Teacher Helps and Teacher options.

Teacher Helps

Bible Background helps you more fully understand and interpret the Scripture text. This section also provides biblical context for the session’s Scripture passage.

Teaching Outline provides you with an outline of the main themes in the Learner’s Study Guide. The Teaching Outline remains a favorite feature of teachers who prefer to include lectures in their teaching plans.

Teacher Options

Transition Paragraphs are printed in italics at the top of the page because they are the most important part of this Teaching Guide. These paragraphs will help you move your class from “what the text meant” to “What the text means.”

A Way to Begin provides an introduction and two options to help learners see, hear, or experience the relevance of Scripture in their lives. These options help learners interact with the larger theme of the session.

A Way to Explore the Scripture provides a transition to help you bridge the first and second movements and two teaching options that help learners discuss the meaning and application of the Scripture text.

A Way to End makes the transition from study to application. The options allow the reader and learners to respond to the text. Some options ask the learners to make choices, reflect on their lives, experience a brief time of worship, or spend time in prayer.

To download the teaching guide sample or the "How to Use" pages, you will need Adobe Acrobat™. Click the icon to download Acrobat

You Decide

No one knows your Bible study groups as well as you do. You are with them from week to week and know their needs and learning preferences. This Teaching Guide is designed to work for you. It allows teachers to build their own approach to the session, recognizing that each teacher may have a unique style to teaching. Thus, a more directive or lecture-based teacher can use Formations their way, while a more active and discussion-oriented teacher can use the same session and also find the help needed to prepare. From the many items presented, carve out your own special plan.

In “traditional” curriculums, the teacher was given a large, content-filled teacher guide, and the learners were provided with a watered-down version. That approach placed the teacher in the position of an expert and dispenser of knowledge. Thus, a session involved a teacher sharing knowledge they had gained and helping the students apply it to life.

In Formations, the “content” belongs to learners and teachers alike – that’s why it is in the Learner’s Study Guide, which both teachers and learners need. Teachers are freed from being experts and instead play the role of a guide. “I’m a learner just like you – let’s study this passage together” is the attitude Formations fosters.