In the last two posts, we have considered how people are trained, equipped to successfully carry out the responsibilities of their work. Whether it be a professional, such as a doctor, lawyer, or accountant; or whether it be one who works as a mechanic, mowing lawns or digging ditches; all are equipped following a similar process. They are told what to do, instruction. Someone checks their work either as they are doing it or else after it is complete observation. They are given feedback on how that work was done and possibly given pointers on how it can be done more effectively critique.
The contention here is that the one place that does not happen consistently is in the Body of Christ.
So what do we do instead? We lecture.
Whether it be Sunday morning, Wednesday fellowship or Bible study, a small group, etc. A pervasive pattern is that one teaches and the others listen.
So what happens if there is no one to teach?
What happens if the pastors and teachers are all arrested and either jailed or executed? That does happen.
What happens if you are not able to go down to the local Christian bookstore and purchase a commentary on a book of the Bible? In much of the world that is not possible.
If all we do is proclaim the Word, teach from a lectern, a chair, a book that leads someone through a study that we have already done, or have them watch a video on a device, then we are not equipping them to stand on their own in the Scripture. Those whose only input is what has been described, are not able to open their Bible and with a blank sheet of paper and a pen begin to successfully study God’s Word.
Teaching a person this way makes that person dependent on more of the same teaching. In a real sense that dependency has crippled their ability to independently walk with God.
If I am reading the Great Commission correctly, Matthew 28:18 – 20 (here @ Bible Gateway); Luke 24:46 – 49 (here @ Bible Gateway); John 17:18, 20:21 (here @ Bible Gateway), and 2 Timothy 2:2 (here @ Bible Gateway) – and at a significant level the passage we started this with, Ephesians 4:11 – 16 (here @ Bible Gateway). Then it is the responsibility of leaders not to share what they know, necessarily, rather, it is to equip those to whom the Lord has called them to serve to be able to learn what they know through personal engagement in the Word of God.
To do otherwise, it seems to me, is to perpetuate the creation of dependent cripples in the Body of Christ.
So what do we do instead? We lecture.
Whether it be Sunday morning, Wednesday fellowship or Bible study, a small group, etc. A pervasive pattern is that one teaches and the others listen.
So what happens if there is no one to teach?
What happens if the pastors and teachers are all arrested and either jailed or executed? That does happen.
What happens if you are not able to go down to the local Christian bookstore and purchase a commentary on a book of the Bible? In much of the world that is not possible.
If all we do is proclaim the Word, teach from a lectern, a chair, a book that leads someone through a study that we have already done, or have them watch a video on a device, then we are not equipping them to stand on their own in the Scripture. Those whose only input is what has been described, are not able to open their Bible and with a blank sheet of paper and a pen begin to successfully study God’s Word.
Teaching a person this way makes that person dependent on more of the same teaching. In a real sense that dependency has crippled their ability to independently walk with God.
If I am reading the Great Commission correctly, Matthew 28:18 – 20 (here @ Bible Gateway); Luke 24:46 – 49 (here @ Bible Gateway); John 17:18, 20:21 (here @ Bible Gateway), and 2 Timothy 2:2 (here @ Bible Gateway) – and at a significant level the passage we started this with, Ephesians 4:11 – 16 (here @ Bible Gateway). Then it is the responsibility of leaders not to share what they know, necessarily, rather, it is to equip those to whom the Lord has called them to serve to be able to learn what they know through personal engagement in the Word of God.
To do otherwise, it seems to me, is to perpetuate the creation of dependent cripples in the Body of Christ.
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