'Best Practices' for Bible Teachers (Part XX)
By Buddy Hanson The Covenant News
Are you an Announcer, or a Teacher?
Someone may say, "Buddy, taking time to visit our learners, getting to know their cares and concerns, and then tailoring our messages to fit where they are in their Spiritual growth is a very laudable thought. However, aren't you being a bit idealistic? Why go through all of that that when we know that God's Word is 'divinely inspired,'[1] 'living and active,'[2] 'endures forever,'[3] and it will 'accomplish what God desires?'[4] In light of these promises, why shouldn't it be sufficient if I just make certain that I present His Word accurately, and then let the Holy Spirit take care of the rest with my learners?"
This objection to making the effort to get to know one's learners sounds sounds very logical and pragmatic, and would certainly be appealing to those who are either not people persons, or who are just plain lazy and want to carry out their ministry with the least amount of effort. I suppose that if a person imagined that he served a mediocre God, he would be happy giving only a mediocre effort toward serving Him. However, since we all agree that we serve a most excellent God, and since we agree that we are not commanded to give partial and mediocre effort in serving Him, but are commanded to give our "all" in whatever we do,[5] we know that we have no choice but to give our best energies and efforts in getting to know how we can best communicate and serve our learners!
Bible teachers must find out what the various Spiritual gifts their learners have, and what individual and family goals they have so they can present God's Word to them in a manner that they will be best able to understand and apply it.
Notice, I am not proposing that Bible teachers water down or change God's Word, but adapt their presentation to the Spiritual level and the concerns of their learners. We should not forget that Jesus presented His messages according to what His learners needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear.
Should your tell your learners to "sell all they have and distribute it to the poor" as Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler?[6] Certainly, if that's what they need to hear.
Should you say, "If anyone thinks they want to be a Christian, but does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be a follower of Jesus?"[7] Certainly, if that's what they need to hear.
Should you say, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God,"[8] as Jesus said to a group of Sadducees? Certainly, if that's what they need to hear. The question is:
How do you know what your learners need to hear,
if you don't take the time to get to know them?
Historian Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History,[9] lists three characteristics of societies that are "suicidal." They are listed below under Non-Christian Perspective of Life and are contrasted with Christian Perspective of Life:
Non-Christian Perspective of Life
Christian Perspective of Life
-- A feeling of meaninglessness.
-- Describe God's Big Picture purpose for us.
-- Escapism through entertainment, Sports, etc.
-- Explain how to carry out our commanded responsibilities.
-- An acceptance of relative or subjective ethics.
-- Teach God's objective and absolute ethics.
-- Guilt because of their imagined helplessness to improve their culture.
-- Emphasize God's numerous promises to reward our obedient behavior.
It goes without saying that the same message delivered to a person
with a non-Christian perspective of life will be received very
differently than the person who is listening with a Christian
perspective of life.
Preparing your messages without giving consideration to the non-Christian presuppositions in the left column means there is a good chance that your message will not "connect" with your learners.
Would you like to venture a guess as to the collective mindset of a typical group of Christians?
This may come as a surprise, but research shows that 95 percent of adult Christians have not been taught to live according to an explicitly Christian worldview.[10] This means that many of your learners (if not all of them!) are filtering your messages through worldview presuppositions that are reflected on The Non-Christian Perspective of Life portion of the above chart!
To make matters worse, your learners are not aware that their "intellectual filter" has been corrupted by these ungodly ideas. This means that your first responsibility is to look for opportunities to bring the pessimistic elements in the left column to light and point out that they are not true by referring to each Christian antithesis that is listed in the right column. Remember, God called you to be an effective teacher, not merely an accurate announcer of His Word. I hope you will agree that the only way to be an effective teacher is to begin your communication where the learners are, not where you wished they were.
Next week's topic is "The Process of Effective Communication."
NOTES:
[1] 2 Timothy 3.16
[2] Hebrews 4.12
[3] 1 Peter 1.25
[4] Isaiah 55.11
[5] Colossians 3.17
[6] Luke 18.18-23
[7] Luke 14.25-33
[8] Matthew 22.29
[9] Toynbee, Arnold, A Study of History, (Oxford University Press, 1946)
[10] George Barna Research, http://www.barna.org/
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.