Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Bible Pure & Simple: The Priority of God’s Word in the Classroom

The focus of any Sunday school class should be the teaching of God’s Word from God’s Word. Kids and teachers bring their bibles to class but sadly they are rarely opened and studied these days. Are you ready for a refreshing perspective and renewed commitment to the only way to know Jesus – know His word?

We are in a silent battle for the priority of the Word of God in all of life as well as the classroom. You may never have thought about this battle but I’m certain you have been the recipient of the wounds and scars from this battle. It may have been your own church, a class in a Christian college, a Sunday school classroom or a sermon, maybe a podcast that left you high and dry because God’s Word was marginalized, minimalized or completely left out of the message. I remember attending a church in Tennessee years ago with my folks and when it was time for the sermon a passage of scripture was read and then a twenty minute rambling message seemingly out of left field with nary a reference to the bible or the passage in ‘focus’ for that morning. Sad? Certainly! Uncommon? Certainly not!

As Christian educators, pastors, teachers and leaders we have dedicated our whole lives to moving the Word of God from the pages of the bible into the hearts of our students. As we all can quote from memory, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Romans 1:16. Our gospel is found in the pages of the bible and so the bible is a top priority in the church. To accomplish this goal every church uses some form of curriculum either purchased, borrowed or self written. The basic idea is that we start with God’s word and through the process of a curriculum attempt to filter, transfer and translate God’s word into student friendly, accessible, effective and enjoyable learning. There are many well established benefits to using curriculum such as increased learning, student retention, teacher ease, consistency, guided application and age appropriate bible coverage to name a few. But, as you can imagine, any man made attempt at presenting God’s word can be fraught with dangers and pitfalls such as: God’s word actually being left out of the lesson or in the very least, marginalized or poorly interpreted leading to incorrect application and thus faulty actions just to name a few.

There is an approach to teaching that can keep our actions and teaching on track. We must begin our journey to Bible centered classrooms by following a correct, biblical view of the bible itself.

Here is where we must pause and ask ourselves some key philosophical questions about our beliefs about the bible. What is your view of the bible as it pertains to education and growth in the Christian life? In other words, what causes spiritual growth and how is this accomplished in our teaching? We have all taught many times but how often have we paused to consider how students will actually learn and apply the lesson? How you answer this question will determine not only your curriculum choices but more importantly your educational or teaching model and techniques.

I believe the proper way to answer this question is to ask God Himself and His answer is found, you guessed it, in His Word. (See, I’ve already revealed to you two key beliefs I have about God’s word: it is the exact words of God and it can be understood because it is clear or has perspicuity.) This means that God’s word is sufficient for our every spiritual need and it is authoritative, it has the answers we need.

For the remainder of our time together I want to focus on exactly what God’s word does for a person and how that should influence the classroom. God actually uses His word, the word of God found in the bible, as a means to accomplish His work in our lives. The Holy Spirit takes the word, the word preached, taught, read and memorized to change us. Look at a few biblical examples: I Peter 1:23 "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” We are saved by the word of God. Paul makes this crystal clear in Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Where is this gospel found, again, it is found in the pages of the Bible. Romans 10:17 “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Where is the gospel? Yes, it’s found in the word of God, the bible. Where does our faith to believe come from? Again, the word of God.

The testimony of the bible about itself convinces us of the primacy of the word in the believer’s life. Now, this conviction needs to trickle down into every classroom and every teaching session in our ministries. Too often the curriculum that we use actually limits the use of or ignores the bible outright. Think through your last teaching time or when you observed one of your teacher’s sessions. What was the actual amount of time the teacher used the bible and the time students actually used their bibles? Not just referred to it or referenced it but actually dug in and used the bible? Also think about the bible story time. Surely this would be the place in every classroom where God’s word is opened up and read, studied and used. Even in the best of written curriculums I have found this time ends up being the teacher reading a paraphrase from the teacher’s guide with no need in opening up an actual bible and reading the word. A few verses may be quoted and then ninety percent of the time is spent talking about other things such as object lessons or illustrations. As memorable as this lesson may be I must ask how effective it was? God has promised to use His Word not crafts, games or illustrations based on His Word. I would dare make the bold statement that the average children’s Sunday school class uses the actual bible for maybe five short minutes or even less out of sixty minutes.

I hope you will find this as shocking and disturbing as I do. We have spent way too may years in training and preparing to be leaders in God’s church to allow this lack of priority of God’s Word in the classroom to continue. Shock is a first good step to recovering the priority of God’s word in the Sunday school and any other teaching we offer in our churches. The bible calls this repentance and it is a good, healthy response to His Word. Next, we need to cultivate a strong faith in the effectiveness of God’s Word. Henrietta Mears, founder of Gospel Light in 1933 and Education Director for Hollywood Presbyterian church from the 1920s till her death in 1963, was fond of reminding her teachers about the truth found in Isaiah 55:10-11. “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” She knew the secret to Christian growth was dependent upon God using His own Word to accomplish His own purposes upon the earth. Finally, we need to overhaul every classroom and every lesson, yes, every section of every lesson making sure that the lesson features drive the bible home. No, maybe a better way to say this is that the Bible must drive every feature of the lesson. Make sure every part of every lesson is opening up God’s word in fresh, creative ways so that God the Holy Spirit can bring that message to bear, not returning void.
Do you need to consider a complete curriculum change or overhaul? I have no idea but regardless of what curriculum you use make sure your teachers and students are opening God’s word with more vigor. purpose and frequency. Make sure that you and your leaders are convinced without a shadow of a doubt concerning the sufficiency and usefulness of the Word of God. Reader, there is no other way or means that He has ordained in which we grow towards maturity in our Christian lives. We have such a limited time with our students so let’s make sure we are opening His word so He can change us, save us, give us faith and guide us and our students.

Mark Smith is a Church Field Manager with Gospel Light for the past 12 years. He spent over five years in full time church ministry as a Children’s and Youth Pastor out of Dallas Theological Seminary. He currently lives in Brentwood, TN with Jennifer, his wife of 22 years, and five children ages 17 to 8. Currently he serves his local church as resident comedian and is a volunteer director of TNT Boys for the AWANA ministry.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Good news story in bad world days

This is a very heart warming story of a person who decided to pay attention to someone other than himself. Enjoy.

in reference to: Loving Your Neighbor Xtreme (view on Google Sidewiki)

Saturday, October 17, 2009

The Tallest of Tales


The mark of any great children's book surely must be the "read it again daddy!" factor. I believe this book has that potential. Now I will be the first to admit that upon the very first read I was left a bit underwhelmed, confused even. I found the font to be confusing and overly complicated, I thought. The artwork is cool but maybe a bit overdone and busy, especially for a smallest of smalls. However, upon further readings I enjoyed the book and was delighted with the ending and the overall story. Lucado creates a wonderful tale bringing in the full range of human behavior: grass is greener on the other side, envy, pride, bitterness, class struggles, depths of despair, heights of success and probably many more nuances that I missed. Where you may miss them in the text you will certainly catch them in the detail and unique perspectives in the artwork. For example, my favorite page of art is the foot page. All you see is a view from the top looking down at Ollie's and Jesus' feet. Its very emotive and really captures the whole message of the book in a single image. Here is where Ollie, who has been looking up his whole life wishing he could look down on others, now looks down in this defining moment of repentance and true humbling. Don't climb up to look down but look down from being knocked down and you will see a Savior who was humiliated in every way beyond our imagination.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Krattenmaker gets it right! Jesus is exclusive!

Tom Krattenmaker clearly understands the implications of John 14:6. Jesus said, "I am THE way, THE truth and THE life. NOONE comes to the Father except through me".

Way to go Christian sports world for taking a stand for the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. It is biblical, it is right and it is exactly what Jesus said. Krattenmaker's article is persecution or at least the beginnings of it. He has seen a true Christianity exposed: Jesus is right and every other religion is fake and every other religious leader is wrong: Fill in the blank on the religion, unless you trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation you are doomed to eternal punishment otherwise known as hell. There is hope, you can be saved by trusting in Jesus alone, exclusively.

in reference to: Column: And I'd like to thank God Almighty - Opinion - USATODAY.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

VBS with the gospel everyday

Jesus and the gospel presented everyday not just on the last day like most if not all other vbs programs.

in reference to: Facebook | Gospel Light VBS (view on Google Sidewiki)

Still one of the best Study Bibles ever published

I have used many different study bibles and have examined still more. The Thompson is still the most practical study bible of them all. If you are in a small group study you will be the first one with cross reference answers over and over again. In reality, this is a true study bible and not a commentary (someone else's study) jammed in to a bible. You will be equipped to study the bible on your own without overbearing biases found in other study bibles. This bible has the horsepower of topic chains, indexes, and a very complete concordance. You will not find a more practical or easy to use bible anywhere on the market today! Own the version that Henrietta Mears owned and used.

in reference to: Kirkbride Bible- Thompson® Chain-Reference® Bibles (view on Google Sidewiki)

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Pint sized pilgrimage into the Guinness family


"So like, what does Guinness do?" she asked. With that innocent question Mansfield ferments a tall pour of a tale about the Guinness family, brand, social responsibility, religion and oh, the beverage.
Effervescence of refreshment, a mug of living history this book is. Did you know that the same yeast strain that fermented the first glass of Guinness has been carefully cultivated and preserved for the glass of modern Guinness? With that same care the Guinness family cultivated a relationship with God, their employees, their country and the world around them. The God behind the brand of Guinness is a refreshing tale of 5 generations of brewers that cared as much about people as they did about beer. Could anyone image from the glass of Guinness, as the last frothy foam is enjoyed from the tilted tankard is a view through a kaleidoscopic porthole into a world of social reformers, Sunday school champions and lover's of righteousness.
What's up with mixing God up with beer? Isn't beer a sin? I mean everyone knows that proponents, purveyors and pursuants of pervasive pleasures (alcohol, liquor, beer and wine makers and sellers) are evil and are only out to make a buck off of the lowly addictions of winos and drunks. Pimps, drug dealers and bartenders are all cut from the same bolt, right? Wrong! The bible is clear in no uncertain terms: Don't get drunk on wine. Another passage states: wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. So if getting drunk is a sin, therefore it stands to reason that anything that can make you drunk should and must be avoided. The Guinness family begged to differ. Getting drunk is clearly wrong but enjoying a glass or two of alcohol is not. Obesity is a sin too, but little is mentioned in our modern society about banning the consumption of food which is scientifically proven to cause weight gain. Food makes 60% of Americans obese so just ban food! Add the next amendment, burn the crops, kill the cows, chickens and pigs. Tear down the supermarkets! The Guinness family taught us moderation.
Mansfield does a very nice job of filtering out the Guinness clan from the sediments of the historical records. I could not put the book down once I started it. You too will enjoy their story.

Book blogger for Thomas Nelson

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Simply the best Barnes & Noble reviewer

Anyone can read a book and write about it. The key is you have to read the right books and then give the right review!

The right books combined with the right review.

in reference to: Steelsmitty's User Profile - Barnes & Noble (view on Google Sidewiki)

Steel Lore is the best blog ever.

Thoughtful, funny, a loose canon of pure wit.

in reference to: Steel lore (view on Google Sidewiki)

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Tom Sawyer is the master marketeer

Tom was being punished and a giant fence needing whitewashed was his task. Could he get any help at all with hiring his fellows? No, the price for this miserable work was too high and he was broke. Solution? Yes! Enjoy this chapter to find the keys to marketing.

in reference to: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (view on Google Sidewiki)