First off, I just want to say that this is not a criticism of my past Sunday School teachers or of my church. This is not a long, drawn out article on how my church failed me. Growing up, I had some of the best people teaching me the name of Jesus. I know Mrs. Pam, Mrs. LeAnne, Mrs. Judy and my own mother have hearts of gold. They love me and they would do anything for me. They taught me the way in which I should go the best they could (I have not departed from it yet!); however, there is knowledge I know now that I wish I had been more aware of when I was in middle and high school. Knowledge about the Holy Spirit, the nature of the Father, spiritual warfare, relationships, and so much more would have clarified many questions I had growing up. It’s not that my Sunday school teachers were negligent or didn’t care about the impact of their positions. I think they simply didn’t know to teach this stuff.

Hopefully with this article, I can bring more awareness to what kids need to hear from their Sunday school teachers.

1. The Holy Spirit is REAL.

Growing up, I heard about the Holy Spirit; I knew it was real and that it lived inside me, but before college, I had never experienced the Holy Spirit. I didn’t even know that was possible. What I mean is you can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. You can ask the Spirit to guide you. You can ask for discernment. When you are in so much pain and you don’t know what to do, you can call for the Spirit of God to come close to you, and it will.

For example, living in Athens and going home for a weekend is hard for me. I feel like my heart is constantly torn between two places and as soon as I get settled somewhere and the tear has sealed, I have to rip it again. A few months ago, I visited home, but it was particularly hard for me to return to Athens that weekend. It was an awesome weekend at home and when Sunday rolled around, I was so hurt.

Why did you call me to Athens, God, if my heart just wants to be home?

I cried all the way down I-20, praying, and just asking God to comfort me. And I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit fill up my truck just as surely as I feel the presence of the 30 other people in this library where I’m writing. The Holy Spirit cried with me. God knew how much I didn’t want to face school, my endless responsibilities, my barely intact relationships. He felt the pain of leaving my old life and my old self behind. So, He just cried with me and comforted me in a way nothing else could.

The Holy Spirit can do that! And I had no idea until I got to college. Until I was out on my own. Until my spiritual walk with God depended solely on ME and not on my momma dragging me to church.

I wish I had known just how real the Holy Spirit when I was a junior in high school and didn’t have any friends. When I felt so alone and just a little worthless. I prayed during that time, but I wish I had known I could call on Him like this.

I realize it is hard to teach 13 to 18-year-olds this. This stuff is metaphysical, intangible, and indescribable. How do you teach it? You really can’t, but you can bring awareness. You can explain that the Holy Spirit is more than that piece of God that lives inside you once you’re a believer. Explain that you, as a believer, have the ability to feel the presence of a living God. I know that had I been told that when I was 16, I would have striven for that. I would have sought out the Spirit of God because I was desperate for comfort just like so many other kids are.

2. Spiritual Warfare Is No Joke and Fighting Cannot Be Optional

I also heard about spiritual warfare growing up. My mom always said, “Satan! Get behind me!” and I’d be amazed if you are a Christian who’s never heard of Ephesians 6:10-20. It’s one of my favorite passages, yet I was never really taught about it in depth, and we almost never talked about Spiritual Warfare in Sunday School.

Before I got to a college campus filled with rampant godlessness, sex culture, booze, etc., I had no idea that “evil” spirits were an actual thing. Of course I believed in Satan and demons, but “bad spirits?" No way. Sounds bogus. But then I moved away from the comfort of my little town where virtually everyone is a “Christian.” It’s harder to see evil spiritual forces at work when #1 you are uneducated about them, and #2 have never seen them so obviously. At my University, bad spirits run free, and I had to quickly learn how to fight them. When something that is not from God attaches itself to you, you have the authority to tell it to move right along. In fact, you can call the spirits by name: Hate, Jealousy, Bitterness, Sexual Immorality, and anything else that does not come from God. You have the ability to cast all of these spirits away. What authority!

Learning you have this authority will only get you half way, though. It is learning that you must exercise this authority that will make all the difference.

I learned the hard way that fighting these spiritual forces is not optional. You must always be aware of the spiritual forces at work in your life. Always. I am constantly reminded that it is not flesh and blood that we wrestle against, “but against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6: 12, English Standard Version).

Unfortunately, I didn’t learn the importance of all this until college. I was unprepared for waited for me here, and I don't want that to happen to other kids. I want them to be able to discern, in any situation, when there are spiritual forces at work.

3. What the Bible Teaches about Relationships

There are countless verses in the Bible that deal with relationships (romantic, familial, etc.):

It is not good that man should be alone (Genesis 2:18)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord (Ephesians 6:1)

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord (Ephesians 5: 22)

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25)

You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39)

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17)

I knew these verses before I went to college, but I didn't know just how important they were.

My first semester at UGA was pretty lonely. I isolated myself. I hung out in my dorm room a lot. I went to class, the dining hall, then back to sleep. I was miserable, and that's because I didn't know just how important community is. I never knew that I needed other people, other Christians, specifically. It wasn't until my second semester, after I got more involved with a campus ministry and made some friends, that I realized people need other people. The Eldredges put it best in their book, Captivating, "We are relational to our core."

That's why there are so many verses dealing with relationships. We absolutely need them and we need to be guided in them.

I wish I had known this when I was a junior in high school. I isolated myself then, too. I hung out with no one outside of school. The relationships I was seeking were not based in Christ, and therefore, the foundations of them crumbled. I needed friends, specifically Christian friends, but I can't go back in time and tell myself what I know now.

The importance of community was never emphasized to me, but I hope that it will be to others.

Topics like the Holy Spirit, spiritual warfare, and relationships are universal topics that affect everyone, so why aren't we talking about them in the place designed for specific instruction?

If it is because our instructors are unaware that these topics are, in fact, important and need to be discussed more intensely, then hopefully this article can rectify that.

I want kids to understand not just the importance of their spiritual walk, but the depth that walk can have. I want more kids to know that God is not a deity who sits on His throne looking down on His creation. God is a presence that can be felt intimately in your life. Satan is not an evil red man who sits and waits in the fiery pit. Satan is the prince of the power of the air, and he is powerful, persuasive, and cunning. I want kids to know, before it is too late, that Satan and his army have to be fought against every day. I want kids to know that their relationships matter. Who you decide to be friends with matters. Being friends with no one matters.

Most importantly, I want kids to know this before they get to college, so they can be ready for whatever waits for them there. I want them to learn this stuff in Sunday School.