This is part 4 of a series.  Check out part 1, part 2 and part 3.

4. From Giving to Equipping

Our traditional approach to teaching has been that the preacher does a ton of study in a passage of Scripture, formulates conclusions on that passage using Bible study methods, thinks about how the passage applies to the lives of those who will listen to the message, and then packages the message into approximately 30 minutes. It’s thought through and concise. I think the time spent in preparing for a message is necessary—when we give a message we ought to know the passage and have already thought through it well.

But what about everyone else? Should they not be able to think through it as well?

Way too often people sit in our churches and hear conclusions based on someone else’s study of Scripture. Yet they go home with no idea of how to study it for themselves. They are given a message discussing Scripture, but not necessarily equipped to get truth out of Scripture on their own.

College-age people are no exception. Consider shifting your focus from giving the conclusions of your own study to equipping others to draw their own conclusions. You can still teach a passage of Scripture but as you do, share about how you came to that conclusion. Share about your study process, tell them what stood out to you and why it did. There are all kinds of resources available on basic Bible study methods you can refer to, but letting people into your personal process can be even more effective. If you are going to help guide people toward Christ-likeness they must be able to go to Scripture and study it themselves. Shifting your focus from giving information to equipping others to get it for themselves is what’s needed.

*This is an exert from College Ministry From Scratch.

This is part 3 of a series.  If you missed the previous posts, check out post #1 or post #2.

3. From Behavioral to Spiritual Focus

James 1:22 issues a command to believers to be doers of the word, not only hearers of it. The book of James issues a huge challenge to us as believers: we have to do something with what we know. This is an extremely important aspect of our faith. The last thing the Church needs is a bunch of people calling themselves “Christian” and not doing anything about it in the world.

But in some ways we’ve become out of balance, at times placing too much focus on behavior and missing what actually produces the behavior. Jesus confronts the Pharisee’s in Matthew 22:37-39 when He says their greatest command is to love God with all their heart, all their soul, and all their mind. He quoted a passage of scripture from Deuteronomy chapter 6—one that these people knew very well. They knew it inside and out, had it on the doorposts of their homes and even wore this section of Scripture around their arms and foreheads when they prayed. But they missed something—it’s called the point. They knew the information, but lost the heart. The Pharisees were good moral church going people who did all the right things. But there was a need for something deeper and this is where Jesus confronts them on multiple occasions. (For example see Matthew 23:23-36.)

I love the insight 1 Thessalonians 1:3 gives us on this issue. The apostle Paul is writing to people in the Thessalonian church and says he remembers their “work produced by faith, labor prompted by love and endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” In the Greek language, the emphasis is clearly on the faith, love, and hope of Paul’s audience. In fact, the way Paul structures his sentence stresses that these three qualities produce their work, labor, and endurance. The NIV version uses different terms like “prompted” and “inspired” for reading purposes, but the literal meaning in Greek is “produced.” His readers’ spirituality was producing outward action, not vice versa. Outward actions are simply markers of spiritual condition. We can try to get people to move in a behavioral direction, but to truly be effective we have to go much deeper. We must develop people’s faith, love, and hope. And when we do, the outward actions take care of themselves (Matthew 23:25-26).

Consider talking about spiritual truths without giving behavioral application. I know that may be difficult at first because it’s not typically our approach, but try having people think and pray through the application points for themselves. Force them to think through [...]

Continue Reading “5 Adjustments When Teaching College Age People (3)”

This is part 2 of a series.  If you missed the first post, click here.

From Indoctrinating to Imparting Wisdom

Indoctrination is a fancy way of saying we teach people what we believe from an information standpoint—and at times even tell them how to apply that information to their lives. Church leaders have traditionally been good at giving good and concise information through classes, small group studies and sermons. But imparting wisdom is different.

If indoctrination is giving information, imparting wisdom is showing how that information is lived out. An indoctrinated person knows information, a wise person is deeply committed to living out what they know. In College Ministry 101 I shared about a guy in my college ministry named James. He was a great kid, well-liked by most. We were sitting down for coffee one day, and he told me straight out that he was bored with God and with church. He wasn’t bitter or frustrated; he was genuinely bored. I asked him why he thought he was bored, and he simply responded, “I’m just sick of going to church.”

Eventually, James explained that his entire Christian life revolved around the church campus where Bible studies were held and church events hosted. He was saturated by church culture and knew a lot of biblical information. He went from one Bible study or gathering to the next, and eventually he got bored—who wouldn’t? At the same time, he was living his life by his own rules. He wasn’t living an outlandish lifestyle, but he wasn’t living a Christ-like life either.

At the end of our conversation, I looked him straight in the eyes and said, “You’re right—your life is boring. Your problem is that you’re a smart guy and you know a lot of information, but you don’t obey any of it.” Just so you know, I’m not always that forward with people, but our relationship warranted it, and he needed to hear it. I went on even further, “I wonder if it would be so boring if you started living out what you know—if you were able to say you knew things from experience, rather than just regurgitating what you’ve been told?” He was a little taken aback, but he understood what I was saying.

Rather than teaching more information, consider shifting your focus to helping people be deeply committed to what they already know. Teaching college-age people is about encouraging deep commitment to simple truths much more than complex discussion or giving more information. I’m not suggesting you abandon teaching new information nor would I say we shouldn’t talk about the deeper concepts of faith. I’m simply suggesting a shift in focus to intentionally focusing on helping people embrace truth in their life [...]

Continue Reading “5 Adjustments When Teaching College Age People (2)”

When we are teaching children about God we need to be fairly black and white in our approach. Their minds are limited when it comes to abstract abilities, so we have to be very literal in our teaching. We have to avoid gray areas.

But college-age people are different.

Very different.

This is why I’ve found that shifting our approach to teaching in five specific ways greatly increases our effectiveness with college-age people. So I want to walk through these [over the coming week or so] and give you some thoughts as to the importance of each shift.

1. From Conclusions to Assumptions

Every church has some kind of doctrinal statement. This is basically a list of all the conclusions the church has come to in regards to major theological issues. In the church we typically teach these conclusions fairly well. We teach messages on them, we have classes, and the major issues are usually peppered throughout small group discussion, class material, and Sunday morning sermons. Kids consequently grow up learning what we believe, but it’s typically our conclusions they come away with. I believe this is one of the biggest reasons college-age people walk away from the church after graduating high school. Their leaving with our conclusions, not their own personal faith.

Junior high and high school ministries of course are seeking to help in this, but even then we can fall into a rut of simply teaching our conclusions. If we want them to have their own faith, at some point we’ll need to help them understand the assumptions we embrace that lead to the conclusions we hold so dearly.

For instance, I personally believe in the Deity of Christ—Christ is God in the flesh. I can point to various passages that lead me to believe this. I have clearly concluded in my own belief that God came to the earth as a human being named Jesus. But there is a lot I assume that allows me to come to that conclusion. I first have to assume there is a God. I have to assume that the Scriptures I’m reading are in fact His words. I have to assume that the version I’m reading is accurate. And I’m assuming a person named Jesus actually lived on the earth.

My point is that I cannot come to the conclusion I did without first assuming all these things to be true. And, it’s helping people think through the assumptions that eventually allows them to personally embrace our conclusions as their own.

Sound like a lot of work? Well, it is in ways, but not as much as you might think. Just begin to think about shifting your focus a little. Instead of just teaching conclusions and showing people [...]

Continue Reading “5 Adjustments When Teaching College-age People (1)”