Spiritual Service and the Spiritual Servant (1)
Spiritual Service and the Spiritual Servant (1)
Preparing Servants (1)
Preparing servants is a vital matter in Sunday School, for the benefit of the service and its spiritual impact on the students depend on how much attention is given to preparing the servant, as well as the soundness of his teaching. This ensures that there are no stumbling blocks in the service.
The success of preparing servants depends on three factors:
The character of the person the Church is preparing for service.
The quality of the information and studies he receives, the practical training he practices, and the servant-preparation curriculum in the Church.
The quality, competence, and influence of the teacher or supervisor of the servant-preparation classes and the other lecturers.
In preparing servants, we address the following points:
From what category are servants chosen, and what are their qualifications? The best person is the one who has been raised in Sunday School from childhood, who has received spiritual education from his early years within the embrace of the Church, practiced her rites, and benefited from the spirituality of her sacraments until he reaches the servant-preparation classes.
Some branches choose servants from among those who regularly attend the youth meetings in the Church and participate in its activities, regardless of their childhood background.
Whether the servant is chosen by this way or that, he should be characterized by spirituality, good conduct, and good reputation, and should have the approval of his confession father to serve in Sunday School.
He should also be capable of teaching, leadership, and maintaining discipline among the children in the class. His knowledge should aid him in teaching, and the curriculum should enrich what he already knows.
The servant’s preparation should continue even after he starts his service. He should attend new lessons in the “family meeting” of the level he serves in Sunday School, other lessons in the servants’ meeting, and also the youth meetings in the Church, along with his personal studies.
A good Sunday School teacher should begin by assisting an experienced teacher in the same class to receive practical training under guidance before being assigned a class of his own.
- Servant-preparation classes need teachers of deep understanding, capable of forming and preparing new servants. It is better that they are not taught by one instructor who imprints them with his own personality and style, but rather by a group of teachers who take turns teaching or divide the curriculum among themselves. Several Sunday School branches in one city or district may cooperate to establish a shared servant-preparation class, united in one spirit.
- A unified curriculum should be established for servant-preparation classes. This curriculum should include educational aspects such as pedagogy, sociology, psychology, and the stages of child development, alongside the necessary religious studies: the basics of theology, doctrine, liturgy, Church history, and the lives of the saints. It should also focus on the spiritual preparation of the servant, ensuring he lives as a good example, behaves properly, and remains committed to confession, communion, praying the Agpeya, and reading the Holy Bible.
- Delivering the curriculum is not enough. It is necessary to ensure it is understood. Conducting exams is useful to show the seriousness of the study, and practical preparation may accompany the theoretical one.
Note: In servant-preparation classes, we cannot give all the religious knowledge needed. This knowledge will continue to grow throughout their lives. What is essential now are three things: A. Encourage them to read and study. B. Introduce them to reliable references and sound sources of teaching. C. Warn them against common errors, so they do not adopt every idea they hear or read, but develop discernment toward all thoughts that come to their minds.
Servants’ Meetings – Reasons for Success or Failure Let us discuss the importance and benefits of the servants’ meeting, the reasons for its weakness or failure, and the factors that help strengthen and develop it.
Its importance and benefits:
The servants’ meeting helps build unity among them, creating one spirit and one mind in service through the shared knowledge they receive together.
It provides an opportunity to continue in discipleship, as teachers sit to listen and learn rather than speak.
This nurtures the virtue of humility.
The servants’ meeting helps the servant grow not only in knowledge but also spiritually.
When topics are distributed among the servants for presentation, it gives them the opportunity to research, read, and study. Each servant who presents strives to make his topic suitable for his fellow servants.
Thus, the meeting becomes a field for training servants at a higher level, preparing speakers for youth meetings and Sunday School conferences.
The stronger the servants’ meeting becomes, the more it becomes a place for forming leaders and consecrated servants, and even a source for selecting future priests.
The servants’ meeting trains servants in seriousness and faithfulness in service and reminds them that their work is under supervision and guidance.
It also brings many spiritual benefits when it leads to prayer meetings or shared spiritual exercises among servants.
It is a setting for role models, where spiritually influential figures inspire others through their example, good dealings, and diligence in service.
All this describes the ideal servants’ meeting.
However, not all servants’ meetings are ideal. Some branches suffer from weak or lukewarm meetings. Why?
Reasons for Weakness A servants’ meeting weakens when servants find no spiritual benefit or new knowledge in it, or when the meeting contains stumbling blocks or negative experiences. Reasons include:
Lack of preparation or a defined goal.
Weak speakers or poor-quality content, which fails to motivate servants to attend.
When the meeting becomes a place for gossip, personal politics, or conflicts, leading to judgmental attitudes and distorted thoughts.
Lack of order or discipline, with speakers missing and replacements speaking spontaneously.
A spirit of domination from the service leader or his assistants, rejecting others’ opinions.
Heated discussions that provoke tension.
Division among servants, lack of love and unity, or isolation of each servant from the rest.
Reviving the Meeting Establish a well-studied program and ensure speakers are knowledgeable and committed.
The program should include diverse content — not only educational, but also doctrinal, theological, historical, hagiographical, liturgical, spiritual, and apologetic topics.
Choose a convenient meeting time and ensure it does not extend too long, especially during exam periods.
Occasionally invite strong speakers from other branches, provided permission is obtained from the Church priests. “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40).
Follow up with absent servants and show care in their personal and social circumstances to strengthen unity and attendance.
Maintain a spiritual order in the meeting: start with Agpeya prayers, carefully select hymns and chants, and include reflections or readings.
Introduce a shared spiritual exercise that all servants practice together, uniting their hearts.
Organize joint prayer meetings for servants at suitable times.
Designate a day for all servants to partake of Holy Communion together, ideally in a shared Liturgy with other branches.
Each meeting should have an organizational structure that strengthens spirituality, knowledge, and attendance.
Assign clear responsibilities: one in charge of hymns, another of attendance records, others for visitations, and a group to organize the lecture program every few months.
Include more than one topic per meeting for broader benefit.
Avoid overloading servants with too many meetings, and respect start and end times.
Invite only strong and committed speakers; avoid favoritism.
Record the talks and store them in the servants’ library, possibly distributing copies to maintain complete files.
Let servants’ meetings be covered in prayer — that God may give words to the speakers and grace to the listeners.
(An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in “Watani” Newspaper, February 25, 2007)
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