Teaching to Change Lives

To teach is not an easy task, it can be one of the hardest things we have to do in ministry. Just to reach others takes a lot of work in and of ourselves. We need to be relatable, real, and most important we need to be seeking knowledge ourselves. The idea of teaching is not an easy thing, but it's one of the most satisfying things we can do. Constant learning is something few professions require now a days. One of which is a doctor, the medical field is always changing and advancing. So doctors must have continuing education to stay ahead of different diseases and even gain new skills for helping their patients. Much like the doctors we also need to continue learning. There can always be something new to pull from the Bible for ourselves and for others. We should be constantly in the Word and learning from it. Also we can learn new ways to convey a message to our people (one example is for instance reading this book). The book mentioned a woman who was eighty-six years old when she died, yet just before she died she had written out her goals for the next ten yea! How full of life she must have been! At eighty-three she was walking around Israel telling professional football players to hurry up! That woman was a learner and was ready to show she wasn't too young to teach. Labels are a dangerous thing, they limit people and have a tendency to control how people flourish or fail. We recently talked about this in a devotions session during Choralons, I of all people firmly understand the devastation labels can have on a person. So I gladly spread the idea that we should cease labeling others, no more favorite children, and no more "worst-behaved" children. They are all precious and should all be treated as such, not one more than another, or one less than all. If God treated us in that manner I would be so low on the totem pole what hope could I have? "The Law of Activity tells us that Maximum learning is always the result of maximum involvement." I can fully get behind this statement. Often I learn most through doing, the statistics in the book even prove this is one of the best ways to remember concepts. That does not mean that something physical is always the best option. If there is no purpose to the movement then it is useless and a waste of time. Distractions, as an ADD kid I can relate to how distracting it can be in the audience. Not only is the audience distracting themselves but they can also distract the speaker. Even worse is how disheartening a distracted audience can be, it's enough to make you never want to speak again. The worst distraction I feel is when someone leaves, most people don't know how to handle it, the book actually talks about calling out such a person, playfully I'm sure. Much like anytime you speak you need to know your audience. In my situation I need to know the children I am teaching. This can be done in several ways, the first and best is to talk to the child themselves. Find out what they like, for instance we have one boy who I know likes Legos and Halo, so when I talk with him we talk about things like that. The next best thing I feel is talking to the parents about their children. Find out about sports, birthdays, recents events, all kinds of things. It takes a bit of time after church but it shows the children that I actually care about them and their interests. Also shows the parents that we really want to invest in their kids lives. You see, teaching is not the least bit about me. I am merely a vessel to be used for God. The way I teach is crucial to my mission. After all if I am teaching, yet no one is learning, there is a problem. A dangerous problem, my mission is to reach many for God, and if I am the one impeding my mission I should be the one to fix it.