by Beverly CroweTipton

Anyone who has ever taught a Sunday school class knows the greatest challenge is not how to get conversation going, but how to get the group doing. The challenge of teaching is to integrate what is said in the classroom into the action of those participating in the discussion.

A few years ago, author Neil Postman wrote about what he calls our low "information/action ratio." Postman makes a strong case that Americans have become so accustomed to receiving information at incredible speeds that our ability to access and store information has surpassed our ability to do anything important with it. We watch the nightly news, see the world in shambles, observe the cruelties of war, view our neighbors’ struggles, and then move on to dinner without thinking, "Given what I now know, what should I do?" If Postman is correct, gone are the days when the community came running with buckets of water to save a neighbor’s barn.

What happens in our Sunday school classes when we read the Sermon on the Mount, or the Corinthian love chapter, or any text that calls us to community, to be something for someone in the name of God? Assent…Head nodding…"Yes, that is a good idea"…"By the way, where are going for lunch today?" Moving from "A" (information) to "B" (action) is harder than it needs to be.

Raising our information/action ratio means transforming what we talk about in Sunday school to doing something with what we learn. Consider expanding the kinds of learning experiences you create. Traditional teaching consists of lecture and response. However, consider some of the following options for your group.

• Along with providing good information, motivate your group to do something. For example, design a program, conduct a music service, critique an argument or piece of writing about faith, investigate ways to be involved in community issues, or act out scenarios to practice doing what the Scripture demands.

• Create small groups, and challenge them to practice making a decision or answering a focused question.

• Find ways for students to engage in dialogue with people (other than those in your group) who know something about your subject matter.

• Challenge the group to begin a journal about their own thoughts, learning, and feelings. Look for ways of helping students observe (directly or indirectly) the action they are trying to learn.

Each week, consider using one activity that prepares learners to implement into their own life and ministry the outcome of your study in the biblical text. Help them see and practice how to move from "A" to "B." The distance isn’t that far, but getting past our cumulative apathy will take patience, commitment, and a desire to do more than just learn.

Currently, Sunday school is the central means by which churches today form the faith of our congregations. It is the means by which we have chosen to teach how to enact the biblical text. Engaging Scripture must become a central focus of our work, which means we no longer merely read the text, but act upon the faithful ideas about which we study and dialogue. That movement from "A" to "B" is a fundamental necessity if we are going to start actually doing what we say we believe. The truth is that every Sunday morning across the world, millions gather in small groups around the biblical text because they believe that "where two or three gather" something significant can happen in God's name and through God’s word.

Beverly CroweTipton has been editor for both Formations Bible study curriculum for adults and Youth Intersection Bible study for youth. Before her work with Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Beverly served as associate pastor of Seventh & James Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. She is a graduate of Furman University and Southern Seminary. Her husband, Vaughn, is chaplain of Furman University and their children are Jared and Abby. Beverly cherishes time with her family and enjoys running and reading.