'Best Practices' for Bible Teachers (Part V)
By Buddy Hanson The Covenant News
Knowing Who Your Congregation Is and Where You Want Them to Be in their Collective Worldview and Lifestyle.
The way to establish respect and trust is by building a relationship with each of your learners. This can only be done by devoting time to listen to their cares and concerns. Regardless of how crowded your schedule becomes, always leave time for listening, because this is arguably the single most important thing you can do toward:
knowing the cares and concerns of your members,
demonstrating to them that you sincerely care about their wants and needs,
building chemistry within your congregation or small group,
inspiring and challenging them in their daily walk with God, and
knowing how to tailor the points of your sermons to the issues that are front and center on their mind.
Get to know your learners by:
Demonstrating to them that you are a good listener by always taking the time to listen to their concerns and to answer their questions.
Finding out:
their goals,
their interests and hobbies,
who their best friends are,
what kind of relationship they have with their parents,
when their birthdays are.
When Push Comes to Shove,
We need to be the ones Pushing and Shoving!
Currently, we're being pushed in whatever direction the non-Christians desire because we're not using our God-given leverage against them. For example, in football, whoever wins the battles on the line of scrimmage, usually wins the game. But the determiner of who wins the "pushing and shoving" contest between the "big uglies," doesn't depend solely upon who's the biggest or the strongest. That certainly helps, but the deciding factor is who keeps the best leverage, and that depends upon who keeps the lowest position. The lineman who can get his pads beneath the opponent's will be able to push him out of his space. If the offensive lineman does this, there will be a hole for the running back, or the quarterback will have time to throw a pass. If the defensive lineman does this, the running back will have nowhere to run, and/or the quarterback will be sacked. So, using the football analogy of "the low man wins," we are getting pushed around by non-Christians in our cultural scrimmage, because we've been simply "standing around." Not only are we not in the right position, many of us haven't been taught what that position is, or if there is a right position in regard to improving our culture! The only way for us to gain and maintain leverage in living-out our faith is to "lower our theological pads" by conforming our daily decisions to the biblical ethics in which we profess to believe. By doing this, we will be proclaiming and/or defending the faith in God's power, which makes it impossible for the non-Christians to defeat us.[1]
Another phrase football coaches like to use is to urge their defensive players to "stay in the gaps" so the opposing runners won't have any running lanes. This phrase should bring to mind the time Moses "stood in the breach" between Jehovah and the disobedient idol-worshipping Israelites during their wilderness wanderings,[2] with the result that Jehovah honored Moses' prayers and did not completely destroy the Israelites.
How are your learners doing at "standing in the gap" for God?
Do they understand what "standing in the gap for God" means?[3]
Unless you have explicitly instructed them in this regard, they probably don't know what it means, or takes to "stand in the gap for God," and are therefore very likely not doing it!
Your Vision
You and fellow church officers cannot help projecting a certain image to your members and visitors. The following questions will assist you in determining whether the image you are projecting is the one you want and should be projecting, or whether you need to repent and make some adjustments in you outlook on your life, calling and teaching:
Do you have a clear vision of how your members can improve the cultural situation in your community?
Have you broken your vision down into easily understandable and practical steps that your members can take on a daily basis?
Have you determined what you must do in order to help your congregation accomplish your vision?
Do you "walk and talk" your vision?
Are you convinced in and show confidence in your vision?
Do you have an objective plan to accomplish it?
Are you willing to put in the time necessary to help your members realize your vision?
Do you have a burning passion and enthusiasm to accomplish it, regardless of the obstacles in your path?
Do your members recognize that you are completely committed to helping them become all they can be in their Christian walk?
Their Worldview
If you aren't well-versed in the worldview of your members, you are neither an effective communicator, nor a good teacher. For example, how can you expect to effectively frame the rhetorical questions in your messages if you don't know the various "hot buttons" of your members? See how you score on the following questions:
What is their current worldview and lifestyle?
How did they become a Christian and why?
Do they understand that by professing to be a Christian they should strive to completely transform their non-Christian lifestyle, or do they mistakenly believe that all they have to do is add-on a few moralistic ethics to their former lifestyle?
What do they expect to accomplish from their Christian walk?
What, if anything, are they doing to train up their children in biblical truths?
Next week's topic is "Know How to Get Your Congregation to Where You Want Them to Be."
Notes:
[1] 1 John 4.4; Matthew 16.18; Romans 8.37
[2] Exodus 32.11-14
[3] Ephesians 6.14; 4.14; 2 Timothy 1.13
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.