The book contains one hundred and three pages and presents invaluable information about 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 teaching skills of Sunday school teachers in local churches in Africa. The first principle ‘know yourself and your call’ admonishes Bible teachers at all levels to examine themselves to ascertain whether they are born again and secondly if they are called to teach in the church. Those who are not born again are encouraged to respond to the call of salvation.

In the call to service and training, it is expected that Bible teachers must be living epistles at they teach since their lives can have negative or positive impact on the learners. The second principle stresses that the teacher should know the Bible since it is the most important text. Other books are dismissed as teaching aids. The Bible is regarded as unique because it is God’s Word with an evident harmony and unity in its trustworthy and infallible message. The length of discussion of the third principle (know your methods) manifest its importance in teaching. The author provides supportive evidence to justify the provision of a curriculum. Although the sample of the church educational curriculum is far from comprehensive, it could serve as a useful guide in respectively transforming a local church and member to a Bible school and church worker. Prior to the selection of a teaching method, it is imperative, the writer argues, to look at the nature of the aims, materials, maturity of the students and the time of teaching. The writer’s suggestion that lectures, discussions and projects are good materials for teaching adults, story telling, songs and use of object lessons for teaching youths is in consonance with the viewpoint of many educators. Teaching tools and methods are to be regarded as a means to an end and teachers are encouraged to adopt Jesus’ methods, a systematic of which would result in effective teaching, learning, knowing and doing. Rational and emotional approaches are seen in Jesus’ use of figurative language such as metaphor, hyperbole, repetition, fortiori argument, paradox, contrasts and poems.

Other effective methods discussed are the convergent questioning method, the divergent or thought-provoking and rhetorical or evaluative questioning methods, and the inductive Bible study method. Fact, observation, interpretation, application questions and guidelines to teach primary children are also discussed.

The fourth principle, know your students, could be seen as an adaptation of the law of education since the teacher should not only know the contents but also those he teaches. The discussion of the need and nature of man is put in perspective when the writer observes that the teacher should know that students are sinners and how to employ their five faculties in learning. He must know the general characteristics of all age groups. The fifth principle adequately focuses on the aim or what the teacher wants to achieve in his teaching. Although there are different kinds, the writer concentrates on content, inspiration and response aims eventually showing the relationship among them. The ultimate principle of knowing how to look back wraps the discussion. Classroom visitation, student’s opinions, self appraisal, examination or test and life observation are five ways identified to evaluate effective teaching.

The inconsistent style of citation with the text affects the quality of the work. The word ‘pages’ is spelled out in some areas but abbreviated in others. Inconsistency is also reflected in the bibliography. Furthermore, after listing ages and educational levels, a particular age group is unjustifiably left out in the discussion. Another inconsistency is that not all the 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 issues like classroom management and discipline are not discussed. These are among relevant issues treated in standard texts on teaching.

In spite of the above, the attempt of the writer is commendable. It is realistically observed that in teaching, one must look for signs in the learner. Two important ways to pass on information include the pouring in method and that which involves students’ participation. According to the writer, the former, unlike the latter, should not be regarded as a teaching method.