Sunday School in 25 Minutes: What’s Changing + 5 Teaching Tips

Hello fellow teachers! And welcome to teaching with power. This is Ben Wilcox and this week I have something a little unique for you. As I’m sure most of you already know, beginning on the first Sunday in  September, Sunday School is going to look a little different. Instead of meeting every other week for 50 minutes, Sunday School classes will now meet every single week, but just for 25 minutes.

And because the way we teach is going to be changing, Teaching with Power is going to have to evolve a little too. I wanted to take a few minutes today to explain what you can expect from the channel and from the subscriber materials going forward. So that’s what we’ll start with. But, I also want to offer a few thoughts on teaching in this new time frame , because it’s going to require us to approach these lessons a bit differently.  It’s going to go quick.  I want to give you some ideas on how we can make those 25 minutes meaningful.

I mean, I know that when many teachers first heard about this change, their immediate question was probably, “How am I supposed to fit a Sunday School lesson into 25 minutes?”  And with an opening and closing prayer, it’s going to be even shorter than that.

So first of all, what we’re not going to be able to do is take the kind of lesson you taught in 50 minutes and try to squeeze the whole thing into 25. That’s just not going to work I’m afraid.

But, that being said, the good news is that while each individual class is shorter, Sunday School will now meet every week. In the past, we had 50 minutes to teach a lesson from every other week of the Come, Follow Me material. Now we’re going to have 25 minutes every week to focus at least a bit of attention on each week’s content. So the amount of teaching time really hasn’t changed, but what has is the shape of that time. And that’s going to require some greater focus from us as teachers.

Let me say this, though. Shorter doesn’t have to mean shallower. I 100% believe that it is very possible to still have a meaningful, effective, and edifying lesson in that time frame. It’s just a different medium to carve from and it means we’re going to have to teach with greater focus.

First, though, let me explain what this is going to mean for Teaching with Power.

For this entire year, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve been releasing a teaching activities video along with a separate insight and commentary video that originally appeared on the channel four years ago. And I have to admit, that that was a little clunky, especially if you were new to the channel.  I mean, sometimes you had to go to two different videos if you really wanted to go deep into the material for a lesson that you were going to teach. But going forward, since there won’t be time in class to cover the same breadth of material or use as many teaching activities, I’m just going to create one main Teaching with Power video each week that includes everything you would need to teach a lesson in one place. I still plan to give you at least three different lessons to choose from, but everything you would use in that lesson will be included in the instructions of that video. The activities and the insights. The lessons will combine the most useful scriptural insight with teaching ideas designed specifically for the new time frame. And because of that, I don’t plan to continue routinely rereleasing those older insight videos as a second weekly video. If you’d like to go deeper, I will include a link in the video description that will take you directly to the original insight and commentary video for those chapters.

My goal will be to try and give you three clear core lessons that can realistically be taught in approximately 22 to 25 minutes. I want that core lesson to feel complete. I don’t want you to reach the end of your class feeling as though you only taught the first half of something larger.  Subscribers will still receive the complete written lesson plans, handouts, visuals, and takeaway slides that you’re used to. The main difference is that the lesson plans will now be organized around a clear 25-minute core, with optional ideas clearly identified.

At the same time, every class and teacher is different. Sometimes an activity moves more quickly than expected. Sometimes you’ll have circumstances that give you a little more time. Sometimes one particular teaching approach simply won’t be a good fit for your class. So I plan to continue to provide some optional ideas and extensions when they’re helpful. Those may include an additional scripture search, another illustration, an alternate activity, some deeper insight, or extra questions you could use.

But I’ll try to label those ideas clearly as options, not essential parts of the overall plan. I want the lesson plans to give you flexibility without making you feel overwhelmed.

Now, let’s talk for a bit about teaching in 25 minutes.

The Church’s guidance for the new schedule says that teachers should briefly help learners understand the storyline and content of the scriptures. Teachers and class members then identify and seek to understand the eternal truths found there. But it also acknowledges that there will probably be time to discuss only one to three of the most relevant and important principles.  And to me, that phrasing sounds a little optimistic.  I think in most cases, ONE focused, eternal truth, or doctrine, or principle is all you’re going to have time to cover. If you try to teach three different things, there probably won’t be much depth in them. For me, I’d rather teach one truth well than try to teach three truths poorly. But sometimes you can make that work if you format it right.

But keep that in mind. We don’t need to cover every chapter, every story, every interesting detail, or even every principle in the Come, Follow Me outline. Our responsibility isn’t to get through the material. It’s to help people come closer to Jesus Christ.

And sometimes one truth, understood deeply and applied personally, can do that far better than three truths mentioned briefly.

So the first suggestion I would give is: Know what your lesson is really about. And I’ll help you with that. But that’s so key.  And once you have that firmly in mind, every activity you do, every question you ask, and every insight you give will, in some way, point to that truth.

My second suggestion is to begin quickly. “Move with purpose” is the goal.

In a 50-minute class, a long introduction might have been manageable. In a 25-minute class, spending eight minutes asking everyone how their week went or digging deep into the historical setting could use up a third of the lesson. Now that doesn’t mean we can’t use an object lesson, a story, an image, or an attention-getting question. Those can still be very effective. But they’re going to need to lead us quickly into the scriptures or the relevance of the central truth.

My third suggestion may be a little different from what you might expect: I believe there’s going to need to be more room in this new format for the teacher to teach.

Sometimes we talk about gospel teaching as though the ideal teacher does very little teaching and primarily acts as a moderator for a class discussion. And certainly, good discussion can be powerful. Class members can share experiences, insights, and testimony that bless everyone in the room.

But discussion also takes time. And if the question is too broad, a discussion can wander quickly. Good things may be said, but the lesson may never really arrive anywhere.

I don’t believe teachers should be afraid to take some responsibility for the direction of the class. You’ve studied. You’ve prepared. You’ve tried to understand the scriptures and the needs of the people you teach. There’s nothing wrong with explaining a passage, sharing an insight, telling an appropriate story, or making a meaningful connection, or bearing testimony.

That’s teaching. And Jesus taught that way in many instances. Now he also asked questions and got his listeners involved, but he did “teach” people truth.  And we’re going to need to do the same. 

That doesn’t mean that you need to get up and give a 20-minute lecture. We still want to engage our class members and get them to search and think and respond and apply. But I also don’t think the teacher needs to apologize for speaking for several minutes at a time when what’s being shared is focused, scriptural, and spiritually meaningful.

The phrase that I would use is: teacher-led and learner-engaged.

The teacher determines the destination and guides the class toward it, but class members aren’t simply passive passengers. They’re invited to look into the scriptures, notice something important, consider a question, share an experience, or ponder how the principle applies to their lives. How it’s relevant to them.

The teacher gives the lesson clear direction without needing to supply every word.

And that leads to my fourth suggestion: Ask fewer questions, but make them more purposeful.

There may not be time for a long, open-ended conversation about everything the class noticed in the chapters. But there is time for a few carefully chosen questions.  One effective pattern might be to introduce a scripture and give the class something specific to look for. Allow them to read it. Ask one focused question about what they found. Listen to a few responses. Then add an insight from your own study that helps everyone see something more.

From there, you can reinforce the central truth, make it relevant, and move toward application.

In that kind of lesson, the teacher is genuinely teaching and the class is genuinely participating. Neither one has to take over the entire class.

Ultimately, discussion isn’t the goal. Conversion is the goal. Discussion is one tool that can help lead to conversion. But so can clear explanation, searching the scriptures, a meaningful story, inspired testimony, quiet reflection, and an invitation to act.

In a 25-minute class we need more INTENTIONAL participation.

My final suggestion is to protect the conclusion.

It’s very easy to spend all our time explaining and discussing the scriptures and then realize that class is over just as we reach the most important part: What does this mean for us? So, we’re going to want to try and leave at least a few minutes to help class members make a personal connection with the truth you’ve taught. That may come through one final question, a quiet moment of reflection, a simple invitation, or your testimony. Hopefully, our lessons lead to real action; to change, to application of scriptural truth.

So, that’s the direction I’m planning to take Teaching with Power going forward.

One weekly video that combines insight and teaching activities.

Three clear, focused lessons, each designed for the new time frame.

Optional ideas and extensions for teachers who want or need them.

Now, all that being said, I also want to acknowledge that I’m going to be learning through this change right along with you. I’ve taught a lot of lessons over the years, but I haven’t spent years teaching in this shortened format. Some ideas that seem perfect on paper may take longer than expected. Some lessons may still feel too full. Others may need a little more substance.

So I would love to hear your feedback as we make this change. Once the new schedule begins, I would love to hear what’s working for you and what’s not.

Do the lessons feel realistic for the time available?

Are the optional ideas helpful?

Is there still too much material?

Is there something you wish I was including?

I can’t promise that every lesson will fit every class perfectly, because every teacher and every class is different. But I can promise that I’ll keep trying to make the materials more useful, more focused, and better suited to the actual circumstances you’re teaching in.

That’s going to be an adjustment for me. But I’m also excited about it.

Meeting every week can create greater continuity. Teachers can build on what class members studied just a few days earlier. And the shorter format may encourage all of us to become more deliberate and purposeful about what matters most.

We can’t teach everything. But we can teach SOMETHING meaningfully.

We can open the scriptures to them. We can give them an opportunity to feel the Spirit.  We can invite them to come closer to Christ. And we can send them home with at least one truth that hopefully continues to work in their hearts long after those 25 minutes are over. Deeper discipleship. Stronger faith. Ultimately, that’s what Teaching with Power has always been about.

So let’s do this! Thank you so much for spending this time with me. Now get out there and teach with power.