Introduction
Would it be safe to say that the average church member does
not give any thought to the amount of preparation that goes into the materials
that are studied each week? The safest answer is yes; because when there is no
needed level of involvement the old adage “Out of sight, out of mind” tends to
ring true. There are numerous things that should be at the front of my mind
before I plan on teaching again, but there are several that will carry just a
little more weight. One of the most
important things to keep in mind is keeping the cross central in all that we do
as teachers. Michael Mitchell tells us, “As we develop curricular plans that
are truly Christian, we must constantly remind ourselves of the need for koinonia fellowship, mutual ministry,
and the value of the group dynamic in education, merging the individual
dimension with the corporate.”[1]
The Four Sources of the Message
The sources of the messages we choose to communicate are
rooted in tradition, observation, participation, and inspiration.[2] The
word tradition can bring to mind many different things, but what the author has
in mind here is sticking primarily to the Bible. Mitchell says of tradition
that “It was patent to me that I was to extract messages for my ministry to the
church from the Bible as my first source of teaching. I was to give attention
to the “codified text: that had been handed down from the prophets to the
apostles and is still profitable for instruction and correction.”[3] No
matter what may be going on in the lives of our people the Bible should always
be the fulcrum of their education with us. There are some Bible study materials
that are great, and then there are others that are not so faithful. According
to Yount, “Some Bible study series today provide relevant subject matter but
quote just one text to support the topic chosen…Does the material lend itself
to leading the learners to study and interact with the Scripture passage?”[4]
The next major thing that should help a teacher determine
what is being taught is being a part of the students lives what Mitchell refers
to as observation. The best way for anyone to truly walk away with a better
understanding is if there is real grasp of the material. Yount insists that,
“Christian learning takes place when an eternal truth of the gospel coincides
or intersects with a persistent life need of the learner.”[5] However, if the teacher is cognitive of what
is taking place in the lives of those he/she is instructing, than how can they
know what type of material will be beneficial for the learner?
The
next source of the message is participation. For some of us as teachers it is
much easier to create a lesson that is strictly a lecture and involves no class
interaction. Personally every time I have been a part of a small group, and the
material we covered recently interacted with my life in some way, I tended to
own the material a bit more. Piper agrees that, “Belief is a whole body, whole
life experience. No one believes anything important with the intellect alone.”[6]
The
last source of our message is far from the least, it is inspiration. The type
of inspiration we need to leave room for in every message that we may ever
craft, is a space that the Holy Spirit himself can come into and do a work that
would be impossible without him. Mitchell offers this encouragement in regards
to inspiration, “It was very encouraging to be guided not only to teach the
Bible regularly and frequently, but also to be given specific and divine
direction as to the next content to present.”[7]
The Forms of a Communicators
Message
Mitchell asserts that, “In establishing a curricular
plan, the instructor must also acknowledge and address the fact that a selected
message may manifest itself in as many as four different forms.”[8]
Those four forms commonly take place in subject matter (or content), the
environment, life (experiences), and the teacher (model).
These four forms actually can play a greater role in the
way a student learns then most teachers ever realize. While for most of us we
spend hours working on the subject matter of a lesson but never realizing that
we do not have our students’ full attention. The reason we lack their attention could be
due to a number of things, but one of the greatest deterrents is the
environmental setting; have we made the class room, living room, or where ever
we may be teaching conducive with the lesson we hope to teach?
One very important thing to remember no matter
how well we think we have things structured there is no guarantee that the
student is going to learn the material.
According to Mitchell, “While the teacher may control the methods and
materials to be utilized, the student determines whether or not learning will actually
take place.”[9]
Hopefully, by choosing topics that are biblically faithful, yet culturally relevant
to the audience there is a greater chance of learning taking place. One of the best
ways to teach anyone is through being the model for what you are trying to impress
upon them. Do not be like the parent who says, “Do what I say, not what I do.” Because
we all know that model fails!
Conclusion
In taking into consideration
all of the different aspects that have been discussed in this essay, when taking
on the task to teach there is more at hand than a mere lesson. When I next take
up the mantle to teach I want to make sure that I am biblically faithful to the
Scriptures and their proper interoperation that covers a subject my audience can
relate with. I often work with men, and we struggle with a number of different things
so I will have to widdle down my talk to something specific like a man’s role in
his marriage. By picking a subject that most of the men can relate to it will give
them something to leave whatever environment we have established our learning in,
to take home and improve an area of importance in their lives.
[1]
Michael R. Mitchell, Leading, Teaching, and
Making Disciples. (Bloomngton: Crossbooks, 2010)273.
[2]
Ibid., 281.
[3]
Ibid., 282.
[4]
William
R. Yount, (ed.). The Teaching Ministry of the
Church 2nd edition. (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2008)366.
[5] Ibid., 370.
[6]
John Piper, and and Justin Taylor (eds.). The Power of
Words and the Wonder of God. (Wheaton: Crossway, 2009)109.
[7] Mitchell, Leading., 283.
[8] Ibid., 286.
[9] Ibid., 277.
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