Christian Education's Greatest Challenges, Part 2

Republished, with permission, from Voice magazine, Jan./Feb. 2012. Read Part 1.

Perhaps the weakest part of our local churches’ Christian Education (CE) program is in the area of teacher training. So many churches appoint people and turn them loose without training them in the ministry they are asked to assume.

The CE workers are handling the Word of God. Do they know the Word? Do they know how to teach? Do they know something about the age group they’re teaching as well as some details about the administration and organization of the program in which they’re working? All too often they don’t.

When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, he gave Timothy the process for developing a strong ministry. Paul wrote, “Don’t build this work around yourself. This is not your work alone. You build the church by involving other people. You must train other people in the things that I have taught you, and in turn they will become good teachers also.” This is the greatest need we have in Christian Education today.

There is a difference between the word “teach” and “train.” In teaching we tell them the essential information. But in training and equipping we actually show the person how to utilize that information. The six steps of equipping look like this:

1. I teach you.
2. You watch me.
3. You help me.
4. We do it together.
5. I watch you.
6. I consult with you.

One way to begin training CE workers is through a formal process, followed by the steps of equipping as given above. Formal teacher training could be classes that are held for a regular period of time, such as classes on three or four consecutive Saturdays. Another possibility would be during the Sunday school hour for prospective teachers, or on Sunday nights before church, or some night during the week for those who are already on the teaching staff. Some churches have transformed their Sunday evenings into equipping times for all ages, holding their children and teen ministries on Sunday evenings concurrently with their adult teaching and training times. Whatever form it takes, the concept is to take people aside and train them, so they in turn will become good teachers of others also.

The seven laws of teaching

Every CE worker should be familiar with Dr. John Milton Gregory and his seven laws of teaching. Dr. Gregory was a Baptist pastor and college educator in Nineteenth Century America (1822-1898). Among the educational positions which he held during his long and useful lifetime were: head of the classical school in Detroit; Michigan State Superintendent of Public Instruction; President of Kalamazoo (MI) College; and President of the University of Illinois. Dr. Gregory’s book The Seven Laws of Teaching was first published in 1884. It is a clear and simple explanation of the important factors governing the art of teaching and it has been especially successful as a handbook for training Sunday School teachers. Gregory’s seven laws are summarized as follows:

1. The Law of the Teacher

A teacher must know that which he would teach. Key: know thoroughly and familiarly the lesson you wish to teach. Teach from a full mind and a clear understanding.

2. The Law of the Learner

A learner must attend with interest to the material to be learned. Key: gain and keep the attention and interest of the pupils upon the lesson. Do not try to teach without attention.

3. The Law of the Common Language

The language used as medium between teacher and learner must be common to both. Key: use words understood in the same way by the pupils and the teacher, language which is clear and vivid to both.

4. The Law of the Lesson

The lesson to be mastered must be explicable in terms of truth already known by the learner, the unknown must be explained by means of the known. Key: begin with what is already well known to the pupil of the subject and with what he has himself experienced and proceed to the new material by single, easy, and natural steps, letting what is known explain the unknown.

5. The Law of the Teaching Process

Teaching is arousing and using the pupil’s mind to grasp the desired thought or to master the desired art. Excite and direct the self-activities of the pupil, and as a rule tell him nothing that he can learn himself. Key: stimulate the pupil’s own mind to action. Keep his thought as much as possible ahead of your expression, placing him in the attitude of a discoverer, an anticipator.

6. The Law of the Learning Process

The pupil must reproduce in his own mind the truth to be learned. Key: require the pupil to reproduce in thought the lesson he is learning, thinking it out in its various phases and applications until he can express it in his own language.

7. The Law of Review and Application

The test and proof of teaching must be a reviewing, rethinking, re-knowing, reproducing, and applying of the material that has been taught. Key: review, review, review, reproducing the old, deepening its impression with new thought, linking it with added meanings, finding new applications, correcting any false views, and completing the true.

If our churches’ CE workers gain a thorough grasp of Gregory’s seven laws, they will become much more effective teachers of God’s Word. If they utilize Gregory’s seven laws, while being godly and Spirit-empowered, they will be powerful teachers!

Conclusion

The ministry of Christian education within the local church is a crucial ministry. And I believe the greatest need we have in local church Christian education are teachers who are devoted, knowledgeable, competent, Spirit filled leaders seeking to sincerely serve the Lord through their teaching ministry. Pastors and local church leaders need to spend more time strategizing how they will recruit, motivate and train these kinds of CE workers.

This is why the 2012 IFCA International Annual Convention will have as its theme “Teach the Teacher.” We hope to assist all our churches in the high and noble task of Christian Education.

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