Following The Prophets Council: Sunday School Lessons

Jen and I have recently bought a house and consequently moved into a new ward (congregation) for church. Since we've been in this new ward, one of the teachers has been giving me an unsettled feeling every time this teacher gives her lesson. The first thing is that lessons should be more of a discussion. Secondly, it should be based off of and have the same or at least similar goal or purposes of the material provided by the First Presidency.

This teacher, that taught today, spent about 45 min talking about "Understanding the Bible to better defend the Book of Mormon" using scriptures and other quotes that were obviously prepared beforehand that were nowhere to be found in the student or teacher lesson manuals for this year's study. Then she had someone read seven verses from what was actually in the lesson plan then went back to the her "Understanding the Bible..." topic. On top of that, the way she teaches makes it impossible to steer the discussion to the correct lessons topic as A) she tries to control the discussion to her topic or B) doesn't permit discussion to take place.

It's really frustrating because recently the Prophet has made a point of explaining that we need to teach from the curriculum provided by the church ... of course adjusting based on what the Holy Spirit dictates when preparing the lesson and while giving the lesson ... but even then it shouldn't stray too far from the lesson plan. I might have given her more leeway, in my mind, but she does this consistently every week she teaches and it's very difficult to feel "uplifted" or "edified" in her class.

This just goes to tell myself that if I'm in a position to teach that I need to be sure to follow the guidelines that are in place and that I need to not be prideful and think that I know better and teach whatever I want to teach but to have faith that if I, having prepared it beforehand, follow the provided lesson, I will be able to teach with the Holy Spirit and have the confidence that I'm teaching correct doctrine not some idea that I think is right.