The book contains one hundred and three pages and presents invaluable information on Christian education based on six pedagogical principles, each occupying a chapter. These principles are basic to understanding the art of teaching. This training manual is primarily designed to improve the teaching skills of Sunday school teachers in local churches in Africa. The first principle ‘know yourself and your calling’ advises Bible teachers at all levels to examine themselves to determine if they are born again and second if they are called to teach in the church. Those who have not been born again are encouraged to answer the call of salvation.
In the call to service and training, Bible teachers are expected to be living epistles when they teach, as their lives can have a positive or negative impact on students. The second principle emphasizes that the teacher must know the Bible since it is the most important text. Other books are dismissed as teaching aids. The Bible is considered unique because it is the Word of God with an evident harmony and unity in its trustworthy and infallible message. The length of the discussion of the third principle (know your methods) demonstrates its importance in teaching. The author provides supporting evidence to justify the provision of a curriculum. Although the sample church educational curriculum is far from comprehensive, it could serve as a useful guide to respectively transform a local church and a member into a Bible school and a church worker. Prior to the selection of a teaching method, it is imperative, the writer argues, to observe the nature of the objectives, the materials, the maturity of the students and the teaching time. The author’s suggestion that lectures, discussions, and projects are good materials to teach adults, storytelling, songs, and the use of object lessons to teach young people is in line with the views of many educators. . Teaching tools and methods should be viewed as a means to an end and teachers are encouraged to adopt the methods of Jesus, a system of which would result in effective teaching, learning, knowledge and action. Rational and emotional approaches are seen in Jesus’ use of figurative language such as metaphor, hyperbole, repetition, argument fortiori, paradox, contrasts, and poems.
Other effective methods discussed are the convergent question method, the divergent or thought-provoking and rhetorical or evaluative question methods, and the inductive Bible study method. Facts, observation, interpretation, application questions, and guidelines for teaching elementary children are also discussed.
The fourth principle, know your students, could be seen as an adaptation of the law of education since the teacher must not only know the content but also what he teaches. The discussion of the necessity and nature of man is put into perspective when the writer observes that the teacher must know that the students are sinners and how to use their five faculties in learning. He must know the general characteristics of all age groups. The fifth principle properly focuses on the objective or what the teacher wants to achieve in teaching him. Although there are different types, the writer focuses on the objectives of content, inspiration and response, finally showing the relationship between them. The ultimate principle of knowing how to look back surrounds the discussion. Classroom visits, student feedback, self-assessment, quiz or test, and life observation are five identified ways to assess effective teaching.
Inconsistent citation style with the text affects the quality of the work. The word ‘pages’ is spelled in some areas but abbreviated in others. The inconsistency is also reflected in the bibliography. Furthermore, after listing ages and educational levels, a particular age group is unjustifiably left out of the discussion. Another inconsistency is that not all chapters have questions and answers at the end. A controversial issue could be the division of the human being into different groups with their corresponding ages. Several important topics such as classroom management and discipline are not discussed. These are some of the relevant topics covered in standard texts on teaching.
Despite the above, the writer’s intent is commendable. It is realistically observed that in teaching you have to look for signs in the learner. Two important ways of conveying information include the pour method and the one that involves student participation. According to the writer, the first, unlike the second, should not be considered as a teaching method.