'Best Practices' for Bible Teachers (Part I)
By Buddy Hanson The Covenant News
So You Think You Can Teach?
One of the popular "reality" programs on TV is "So you think you can dance?" Amateur dancers from across the nation audition to see who can win the big prize. As you would expect, some of the dancers are pretty bad, some are pretty good, and some are excellent. If there were ever a TV program entitled, "So you think you can teach?" there would no doubt be teachers who were pretty bad, pretty good and excellent. However, there is a big difference between being an excellent dancer and an excellent teacher. In dancing, a person can improvise and develop a unique style that is appealing to the audience. Becoming an excellent teacher, however, requires that we follow God's instructions and Jesus' example. "Best Practices" for Bible Teachers points out the teaching and preaching methods of Jesus and His disciples. These methods were used by the Protestant Reformers, Puritans and America's first pastors.
I am not a pastor, I've never been a pastor and don't ever want to be a pastor. That is not the calling I have received from God. I have the highest regard and respect for the office of pastor. I believe that it is arguably the second most difficult of all callings, with that of being a pastor's wife being the most difficult. My sole objective is to inform (or remind) 21st century pastors that the teaching paradigm they may be employing is not the original and effective one, but may be a cheap and ineffective imitation.
As a former college baseball coach, educational consultant (where for 10 years I taught teachers how to teach), and sales trainer for a national corporation, I can only point out that the Puritan pastors employed the same teaching and communication techniques that are recognized today by every vocation (except pastors!). Why this is the case, I do not know, and will leave that discussion for others. My concern is that the clock is ticking on American culture and we need leadership from our pastors.
Leadership of God's never-failing prescriptions for our
culture, not followership of man's ever-failing ideas.
The teaching techniques and strategies that will be discussed in upcoming features are the same ones the Puritans employed to "Christianize" Western civilization. Perhaps they are not being taught in today's seminaries. Perhaps they are and the students are not paying attention. My goal is not to cast blame, but to get today's pastors back in the frame of "restoring the ruins" of our culture, instead of "ignoring its ruins."
History shows that when pastors were being faithful to preach the whole counsel of God (accurate exegesis, plus clear application examples) the West was Christianized, but ever since pastors have began presenting the "Good News" as the "end" of the Christian life, instead of its beginning, the West has become more and more de-Christianized.
Once pastors replace the current "Listening and Learning" paradigm that they are either intentionally or unintentionally presenting to their members, with the "Listening, Learning and Doing" paradigm of their Puritan brothers, Christians of all ages will be excited to find that they have been called into Christ's Kingdom with a most important purpose, which is to restore our culture to its pre-Fall condition.[1] Our triune God certainly doesn't need to work His will for the earth through our obedience. If He wanted, He could wiggle His nose (if he had one) and instantly have the world Christianized. In this scenario, we could merely sit on the sidelines of life and watch this unfold. However, praise God, this is not the scenario that God created. His design includes us in the thick of things, "working out our salvation with fear and trembling,"[2] while we "crush Satan under our feet!"[3]
In the meantime each of us must recognize the necessity of always weaving God's Big Picture of where we're going into our Bible lessons so our listeners will understand their purpose and know how to go about accomplishing it. Whether you are a pastor, parent or a discipler, you must guard against placing all of your efforts and emphasis on filling your listener's tanks with spiritual fuel, without giving any instructions on where they're supposed to go, and/or how they're supposed to get there. As a result of operating according to this "Listening and Learning" paradigm, the church has become little more than a theological filling station on a mental island surrounded by roads with no destination signs. The result is that when we pull out of the church parking lot it doesn't matter which in direction we go, because we're going nowhere in particular, which means, as the Cheshire cat tells Alice, "any road will take us there."[4]
"Best Practices" for Bible Teachers will show that the
"Let's just get the doctrine right and leave it up to the
congregation (or small group) to figure out how to apply
it" mindset of many pastors does not conform to the
biblical basis of being a teacher.
It is neither the intent, nor the purpose of these pages to malign those pastors who wholeheartedly give themselves to their congregations and who are earnestly doing what they can to shepherd their flock to bring honor to God in all they think, say and do. But even though they are busily chopping away at the root of man's poisoned tree, I would ask them to pause long enough to sharpen their axe with these pearls of Puritan wisdom so that when they return to their "chopping" they will find that a sharpened axe allows them to expend less effort and still serve the needs of their congregation.
"Best Practices" for Bible Teachers is a call for a very difficult thing: to change a habit. Since we're all creatures of habit, this is a most difficult and uncomfortable thing to do, but since we understand that none of us will "arrive" at a state of perfection until we are ushered into heaven, we know that we must always be in a state of humble repentance as we constantly correct our course, whether the adjustments are major or minor. Speaking of adjustments, when NFL Coaching Legend Vince Lombardi became the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who had won only one of thirteen games the previous season, his introductory speech indicated that major adjustments were on the way. Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr recalls Coach Lombardi's first words to his new team:
Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just being good."[5]
Coach Lombardi's teams went on to win five NFL championships in nine years as they followed his pursuit of perfection. When you consider what this team of athletes accomplished by following the imperfect rules of a man, think what we, as Christians could accomplish if we pursued the perfect rules of God with the same verve and passion! Instead of achieving the nondescript consequences of pursuing mediocrity, the American church could "catch excellence!"
For those who are truly called to the pulpit and who value nothing as more important than carrying out their magnificent calling from God, the words quoted from these historical "worthies" should prove most valuable. To a man, they trusted in God's sovereign control of the potential consequences of their faithful service. May we all drink deep from the ensuing examples of saints whose only goal was to follow God's will, no matter where it took them. And may our Lord, Savior and King, Jesus Christ, enable us to stop the trend whereby "the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light."[6]
As you read these features, you will be the best judge of how many or few, or how major or minor your changes may be in regard to your approach to the pulpit. My prayer is that these proven methods of communication by the heroes of the faith, will enable you to more effectively carry out your calling to help your congregation "expand the tent pegs" of Christ's Kingdom.[7]
Note:
[1] Genesis 3.15
[2] Philippians 2.12
[3] Romans 6.20
[4] Carroll, Lewis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, (Chronicle Books)
[5] Schaap, Jeremy, "We Will Catch Excellence," February 3, 2008
[6] Luke 16.8
[7] Isaiah 54.2
Buddy Hanson is President of the Christian Policy Network and Director of the Christian Worldview Resources Center and has written several books on the necessity of applying one's faith to everyday situations, circumstances and decision-making.