Sharing Scripture for October 25 – 31, 2020

This is a tool for you to use if you lead a Sabbath School (SS) class or small group. It is keyed to the Bible texts used in the current week’s Adult SS Lesson and includes a brief story from current news you can use to introduce the discussion and then a series of discussion questions in a relational pattern designed to build fellowship and spiritual reflection.

For use: October 25 – 31

Texts: Hebrews 1:1-4; 2 Corinthians 4:1-6; John 1:14, 18, 14:1-14; Philippians 2:1-11; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Leadership has been at the forefront of both business and education news. Since spring, the status quo has changed and what was known to be effective practices had to be tweaked, if not totally overhauled. As in-person meetings changed to Zoom, relationship-building became more difficult for teachers and for business leaders.

In a recent article on educational leadership in Edutopia Magazine, George Farmer, a passionate New Jersey administrator, shares five leadership skills. First, a leader must have a “360-degree” perspective, the ability to look at all angles. Next, leadership means being proactive, anticipating what might happen. Then, skilled communication is imperative in order for everyone to understand what is going on. After communication comes modeling. Effective teachers and leaders show, rather than just tell. Finally, an effective leader is compassionate. Relationships take time and good teachers listen. These five traits show some of the best practices for effective educational leaders, for successful teachers.

This week, we look at Jesus as the Master Teacher. When we compare how Jesus taught and led with what we consider best practices today, we can see that Jesus is the Standard. Rather than ascribing to a paradigm, Jesus is the paradigm. He is God Incarnate showing us both himself and God. Every interaction, each bit of instruction demonstrates this point.

In our lesson, we see background for the foundation of Jesus. As we read the words spoken by Him we can have definite faith in who Jesus is and who God is.

Effective leaders build relationships. We come to the Father through a relationship through Jesus. How does that compare to the effective leadership we examined earlier?

• Jesus gives us a view for eternity, not just for now. We are shown the present as it relates to eternity.
• Jesus anticipated what would happen and provided Himself as our sacrifice and advocate.
• Jesus longs for communication with us, and through the Holy Spirit, we communicate with God.
• Jesus, the Ultimate Teacher, showed us how to live. He modeled a life of love and service.
• Jesus leads us with compassion, with love, and with understanding because God is love.

Effective leaders delegate responsibility. Jesus Christ does exactly that when we are given the opportunity to be involved in “the work of sharing his message about peace. We were sent to speak for Christ. . .” 2 Corinthians 19-20.

Teachers and leaders often praise the mentors that taught them and patiently led them to be better than they could have ever dreamed of being on their own. We praise Jesus, our Master Teacher, who has taught us more than we knew was possible.

[symple_divider style=”solid” margin_top=”20″ margin_bottom=”10″]