We’ve considered that who a teacher is matters. Now we want to turn our attention to a Bible teacher’s role … what they do.
Isn’t a teacher’s primary role to communicate God’s Word enough?
The answer to this question comes down to what you hope to accomplish through teaching. The greater the impact you hope to have, the more you’ll need to get beyond simply communicating. If you check out the Bible Teacher’s Role Download, you’ll see seven other roles in addition to communicator — conduit, disciplemaker, equipper, friend, model, motivator, and servant. A teacher who wants to see lives changed must do more than merely transmit information. Those who really want to go the extra mile may even find themselves taking on even more roles at times like that of a comforter, listener, counselor, encourage, and intervener as described in the Bible Teachers’ Many Roles in Times of Trouble Download.
Also read:
What’s more important, a teacher’s role or qualities?
We must remember that “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7). A person “brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart … for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Lk. 6:45). Consequently, what we do needs to grow out of who we are — what’s in our heart. The various roles we might assume, to impact people’s lives in ways that count for eternity, need to be fueled by heart qualities that lead to effectively fulfilling that role.