〉 Chapter 50—Adult Sabbath School
Chapter 50—Adult Sabbath School
Sabbath school work to bear fruit—Consecrate yourself and your all to the service of Him who hath loved you, and hath given Himself for you. Jesus says, “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.” John 15:8. This means in the Sabbath school work as much as in the work of the minister. Now is the golden opportunity to sow precious seed that will spring up and bear fruit unto eternal life.—Counsels on Sabbath School Work, 181. (PaM 273.1)
Ministers should not be burdened down with doing the work of the Sabbath school—God’s cause has not advanced as it should have done, for the very reason that ministers and leading men have felt that they must do everything themselves. They have tugged and toiled to keep the wheel rolling, and are weighed down with responsibilities and burdens in the various departments of church-work, in the Sabbath-school, and in every other branch of the cause. They think they must do all this or it will not be done; and truly it would not be done, because they have failed to take others into their counsel and to train them to work.—The Review and Herald, July 24, 1883. (PaM 273.2)
Through the Sabbath school, ministers should teach their members how to work—There is much to be done in the Sabbath school work also in bringing the people to realize their obligation and to act their part. God calls them to work for Him, and the ministers should guide their efforts.—Testimonies for the Church 5:256. (PaM 273.3)
Ministers should see that their churches are given instruction in the conducting of Sabbath school—Instruction in regard to conducting the Sabbath-school should, to a large degree, be given in the home churches; for the labor can be made more direct and the results will be more permanent if instruction is given at home. This work does not require the services of the ministers; they should be free to attend to the spiritual interests of the people. They are to teach others what to do. They must instruct the people as to how to come to the Lord and how to lead others to Him.—Counsels on Sabbath School Work, 185. (PaM 273.4)
Value of Small Group Bible Study
Little groups that meet together for Bible study receive spiritual muscle—Let little companies meet together to study the Scriptures. You will lose nothing by this, but will gain much. Angels of God will be in your gathering, and as you feed upon the Bread of Life, you will receive spiritual sinew and muscle. You will be feeding, as it were, upon the leaves of the tree of life. By this means only can you maintain your integrity.—This Day With God, 11. (PaM 274.1)
Sabbath School Teachers
Those satisfied with following a dry order will miss the mark as Sabbath school teachers—Those who are satisfied with following a certain dry order, of going through a round, will miss the mark, and fail of the work that should be done by a Sabbath-school teacher; but if those who engage in this important branch of God’s cause are Christians in the full sense of the word, doing the work given them of God in His fear, working with love for souls for whom Christ died, they will be laborers together with God.—Counsels on Sabbath School Work, 104. (PaM 274.2)
Sabbath school teachers should keep growing even if their minister does not—Let not the teacher in Sabbath school follow the example of those who do not grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, even though those who minister in the sacred desk have given them such an example. He who would be accepted as a laborer together with God must not be found imitating the tone, manners, or ideas of any other man. He must learn of God, and be endowed with heavenly wisdom. God has given the gift of reason and intellect to one worker the same as He has to another; and according to your ability, you are to put your talents out to the exchangers. The Lord would not have any worker a mere shadow of another whom he admires. The teacher must grow up into the measure of the stature of Christ, not to the measure of some finite erring mortal. You are to “grow in grace,”(2 Peter 3:18) and where is grace to be found?—Only in Christ, the divine Pattern.—Counsels on Sabbath School Work, 105, 106. (PaM 274.3)