Do your youth class Bible teachers know what today’s teens really need?

• Teens do need an adequate view of the Bible.  A series of posts on the MinTools.com Blog looks at young people’s perception of the Bible today based on a Barna study.
• Teens do need to value the church so they stay after graduation.  Another post on the MinTools.com site looks at a different Barna study about young people dropping out of church.

I could keep the list going but what teens really need today is relationship, first with God and then with others in the Body.  Everything else I could list would be mute if not encased in relationship. 

Without a relationship with God, through Jesus, the Bible will only seem like a book of rules and stories.

Without a relationship with others in the Body, the church will seem empty and like a waste of time.

The implications for  teacher training are obvious:

1. Train your teachers on how to help students develop a relationship with God.
2. Train your teachers on how to build relationships with their students.
3. Train your teachers on how to foster a relational environment among students.
4. Train your teachers on how to encourage relationships between their students and the church at large.

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Perhaps you have heard the saying,

You might ask, “Is the saying true?”

What happens within the human body provides the answer.  More nerve impulses go from the eye to the brain than from the ear to the brain.  The more senses involved in the learning process, the greater the potential for learning as the number of messages going to the brain increases.

What are the implications for training Bible teachers? (Clicking on the points below will take you to worksheets on the MinTools.com site that will help.)

1. Provide tips for using audiovisuals effectively.
2. Provide tips for using methods effectively.

Also Read:  God Communicates Audiovisually

More Teacher Training Resources:

Choosing & Using Audio and Visual Aids

Bible Teaching Methods

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What is a Bible Teacher to do, especially if teaching children and youth?  They are media-saturated in their everyday lives.  How can a teacher keep up?

Here is what you need to help your teachers understand:

1. Bible teachers don’t have to compete.  They have something far more impacting than the world can offer — Jesus, but they do need to communicate in ways that get and maintain students’ attention.
   He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Col. 1:15-18)
2. Bible teachers do need to be relevant.  They need to connect with their students but using media is only a means or tool to a greater end.
   I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. (1 Cor. 9:22)
3. Bible teachers are not there to entertain.  They must gain the attention of students and use a variety of methods and visualization to help keep interest but their goal is education and transformation, not entertainment.
   We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. (Col. 1:28)
4. Bible teachers must not rely on media or any other kind of methodology to change lives.  Transformation will not come from words alone, whether spoken, read, sung, or projected, but rather by the work of the Holy Spirit using whatever the medium of communication might be.
   My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.  (1 Cor. 2:4-5)

Should Bible teachers use media and technology in teaching the Bible? — Sure.   Use it well? — Most certainly.  Get consumed with it? –Absolutely not.

Bible teachers must be ever so careful that they do not lose sight of their real purpose.

More Teacher Training Resources:  Media / Technology in the Classroom

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Providing teacher training to help your Bible teachers “do” what they should to teach effectively is relatively easy and measurable.  Training teachers to “be” who they should be is much harder to do and not so quantifiable.  Yet, in God’s economy “doing” grows out of “being.”  While teaching skills are important, the heart of the teacher matters more.  Reflect on Scripture verses about the source of our words and actions:

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (Lk. 6:45)

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Prov. 4:23)

Eventually what is on the inside comes out.  Teachers’ lives will either highlight or contradict the lessons being taught.  If you neglect to minister to the heart of your teachers and to assist them in developing the right qualities in their lives, you are not only failing them but the students as well.

What you can do:

Develop some form of accountability with your teaching staff.

Pray for and with your teachers and elicit prayers from others on their behalf.

Emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit both in and through them.

Encourage your teachers in their walk with God.

Provide devotionals geared to teachers that emphasize heart qualities needed in teaching.

Be a good model for them.

More to Read:

Even More Resources:  Teacher Qualities & Roles

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