Culture | Knowable Word

Don’t Be Afraid to Teach Children’s Sunday School

April 4, 2016 By Ryan Higginbottom

Ralph Häusler (2013), public domain

As reliably as winter gives way to spring, churches need teachers and helpers for children’s Sunday school.

Not everyone is called to this ministry, but far more are equipped than are enlisted. Why do we have a shortage?

A High Calling

Sunday school is not just a way to occupy the children. For those 45 minutes, teachers talk to students about God, point them toward Jesus, and train them in Christian disciplines. What a high calling! What an opportunity!

We can become fearful when facing a weighty mission like this. Like a pot on the stove, the heat accelerates the anxieties in our hearts, and they bubble to the surface and pop.

Four Fears

Teaching children is difficult work, to be sure. But if we put the difficulty aside, I suspect fear and doubt are at the heart of our reluctance to step into this service.

1. Doubt about calling

Some people think they’re not the teacher type. They worry about connecting with children, answering their questions, and handling crises. They’re afraid of causing long-term damage.

But if you love the youth of your church and are willing to serve, you are ready to talk about teaching. You don’t need to be perfect. In general, children are resiliant and eager to forgive. And your mistakes will be more evident to you than to your five-year-olds.

An additional note: The church at large needs more men teaching our children. Boys and girls need to see godly men and women serving and caring for people of all ages.

2. Fear of missing out

Many people don’t serve the children because they want to hear Bible teaching themselves. They’re jealous for their own sanctification.

However, your Christian growth will not be stunted by teaching children. In fact, you’ll likely mature more through service than through study.

The crucible of preparation and explanation brings a unique clarity and conviction. And your growth isn’t just intellectual. God refines our character through challenges (James 1:2–4) because we’re forced to rely on him. So as a teacher you’ll have tremendous opportunity to flourish, especially if you don’t think you’re a natural.

3. Doubt about the Bible

The Bible should play a central role in Sunday school instruction. But many people think the Bible is too difficult for kids to understand.

They shrink from teaching because they fear the material won’t be engaging, relevant, or meaningful. They yearn for supplements that do all the work and leave nothing to chance. But when we pull the Bible away from our children, we keep them from the fountain.

Children might not understand every passage right away, but they’re usually ready for the Bible before we hand it over. Because it is God’s word, it is powerful and appropriate for Christians of any size, height, or age.

4. Doubt about your skills

Some shy away from teaching because they don’t feel qualified. They know they will be teaching the Bible, and they don’t consider themselves intelligent, studious, or insightful. They would rather the duties of studying and teaching the Bible be left to the pastor and elders of the church.

But the Bible is for everyone. You need no degree, certification, or minimum IQ score. The Scriptures are for the children in the classes and the teachers. Everyone can learn to study the Bible.

While churches need pastors, the most vibrant churches foster a Bible study culture where everyone embraces the privilege and responsibility of digging into God’s word.

Who Will Go?

I don’t write to provoke guilt. Rather, think of the vast opportunity! The children of your church need a teacher, someone who loves God and is committed to His word. Someone who wants to help young people follow Jesus and be changed by the Scriptures. Someone who wants to influence the next generation for the kingdom of God.

Might God be calling you to step forward?

Play the Long Game When Teaching Bible Study

March 21, 2016 By Ryan Higginbottom

“You can’t win a golf tournament on Thursday, but you can lose it.”

Professional golf tournaments stretch over four days (usually Thursday through Sunday), so a strong opening round is essential. But without excellent play through the weekend, a player has no shot at the trophy. He needs a good start, but he needs more.

Stefan Waldvogel (2012), Public Domain

Indirect Instruction

A Sunday school class is a great venue for teaching Bible study skills. But direct instruction like this, while necessary, is only the beginning of lifelong training.

Imagine an aspiring novelist who attends an intense, week-long workshop, complete with all the instruction, feedback, and discussion one could want. A wise writer won’t just lean on this experience; he’ll use this learning, along with inspiration and ideas from ongoing reading, as he works toward a final product.

Over the long term, we all need reminders and examples of good Bible study. So whenever we teach the Bible, we should model and pass along Bible study skills.

How to Model Bible Study Skills

Most churches have numerous openings for Bible teaching: Sunday school classes, Wednesday night studies, even weekend seminars. To build a Bible study culture in our churches, we must take advantage of every opportunity.

When a teacher is intentional, modeling Bible study skills is neither difficult nor time consuming. Here are five suggestions.

1. Practice sound Bible study skills.

The other suggestions on this list are worthless if you’re not studying the Bible using a solid method. Teachers are an example of how to think about, understand, and apply the Bible. By God’s grace, make sure you’re an example worth following. (Start here if you need help learning to study the Bible.)

2. Choose your language.

Develop a “local language” around Bible study at your church so everyone knows what you’re talking about. On this blog we advocate the Observation, Interpretation, Application (OIA) method of Bible study, but the specific words you use aren’t important so long as the meaning is clear.

When teaching the Bible, discuss your observations about the text and use that word. Talk through the different interpretations that came up in your study. And so on. Repeating these words will remind the class about the different phases of Bible study.

3. Structure your teaching around Bible study principles.

If you want discussion in your class, use the structure provided by the different aspects of Bible study. Ask broadly for observations from the text, then start a conversation about repeated words, comparisons, connector words, etc.

On the heels of your observations, ask interpretation questions to move the class along. Having studied the passage yourself, you should be able to explain the main point.

Don’t forget application! Spur on your class by sharing how God has worked in you.

4. Recommend resources.

When modeling Bible study skills, the resources you recommend to your class are a powerful tool for Bible study instruction.

You might prepare a sheet for students to use for notes during class. Construct something simple with Bible study principles in mind. When I taught 1 Corinthians last fall, I emphasized the main point of a passage and subsequent applications. I designed my class handout with this in mind.

Additionally, consider recommending other resources on Bible study to interested students. There are many excellent websites and books on Bible study, including the Knowable Word book by Peter Krol (founder of this website). When people are looking to read and get training on their own, you can give them reliable places to turn.

5. Provide homework.

Some students in your class will be eager for extra work, and some…will not. Be careful to structure your class so no one is excluded.

Make a special effort to connect with the people who are hungry to learn, study, and grow. Your assignments may offer just the extra boost they need.

If you can work a week ahead in your class preparation, distribute a sheet of questions for your students to ponder between meetings. As they think about the relevant Bible text, your handout can guide them through the stages of Bible study.

If you aren’t this far ahead in your planning, encourage the class to study the upcoming passage on their own. Provide them with a few general Bible study guidelines, and urge those who are interested to take some OIA worksheets home with them.

Teach Bible Study in Sunday School

March 7, 2016 By Ryan Higginbottom

MikeDKnight (2007), Creative Commons License

Like the smell of garlic sizzling on the stove, a Bible study culture within a church is evident and attractive. It seeps into everything from the sermon to the conversations over coffee. But how does a church create such a culture?

Culture change begins with individuals, and a large number of Christians have never been trained to study the Bible. A well-advertised class offers an efficient, straightforward way to point everyone in the same direction.

Take Advantage of Sunday Morning

Instead of a weekend seminar or mid-week workshops, churches should consider using the built-in time on Sunday mornings. A Sunday school class will catch most regular attenders in their weekly pattern. And when the training happens over a stretch of six or eight or twelve weeks, the repetition will help students retain the material and build Bible study habits.

Many people within the church need this direct, intentional training. New believers need these skills. Many Christians who’ve been in churches for years don’t study the Bible on a regular basis. And as children grow and mature in the faith, they need an opportunity to learn and practice the Bible study skills they will use for a lifetime.

Barriers to Bible Study

Sadly, not everyone in your church will be excited about a Bible study training class.

Church members who have been through a similar class might resent the repetition. As with riding a bike, they find additional instruction unnecessary.

Others don’t think they are smart enough to study the Bible. They think Bible study is only for professionals and academics. Reading the Bible for inspiration or devotional purposes seems to be working just fine.

Try to anticipate these objections. Exult in the fact that the Bible is for everyone. Remind people that studying the Bible is less like learning to read than learning to paint—we all have lots of room to improve. Plan to discuss why we study the Bible in the first class session.

Seven Tips

If you’re thinking of coordinating or teaching a course in Bible study skills, here are some suggestions.

Sharpen your skills — Review the Observation-Interpretation-Application method of Bible study. I used the Knowable Word book as the core of my curriculum when I taught a class at my church last year.
Pick a book of the Bible — In a cooking class, students don’t learn to crack eggs and use a whisk in the abstract—they learn these skills as they make real food. In the same way, we should teach Bible study skills while studying the Bible. (I suggest a book of the Bible instead of a chapter or long section so the class can discuss a book overview.)
Make the class active — For your class to pick up Bible study skills, they need to dive in. So turn up the participation and dial back the lecture. I suggest loading up on supplies (colored pencils, pens, highlighters) and handing out printed copies of the Scripture you’ll be using.
Arrange the room — If possible, teach the class in a room which encourages an active audience. Tables will give your class adequate space to work and a whiteboard will provide a place to record observations or interpretive questions generated by the class.
Provide other resources — Consider using the Knowable Word book as a textbook. Make a generous stack of OIA worksheets for the class to use on Sunday mornings and throughout the week.
Assign homework — For eager students, suggest follow-up exercises each week. Point them to the next section of the passage and ask them to practice the Bible study skill you just learned. Structure the class so students will still benefit if they don’t complete the homework, but they will grow all the more if they do.
Go slowly — Learning the OIA method will take time, so don’t rush through the material. Spend several weeks on each of the observation, interpretation, and application steps of the process, practicing as you go. Guide the class toward the main point of the passage and dig deep into applications. Be careful that you don’t lose or discourage any students in your class.

Teachers Wanted

Do you want a Bible study culture in your church? Does your church need a class like this? Why not volunteer to teach it?! Teachers are always needed, so if you approach your elders with a goal and a plan, they will likely be eager to sign you up.

Teach Your Child to Listen to the Sermon

February 22, 2016 By Ryan Higginbottom

A trip to the beach is the high point of my family’s summer, and we think about it for weeks before and after our feet hit the waves. My children bubble with excitement when we stuff the car with kites and sand toys. Lovingly prepared lunches and snacks stay untouched in the cooler as they splash and dig and run and build. Back at home, they pore over their shell collections and the pictures we’ve taken.

Ulrike Mai (2014), public domain

Most parents naturally use these three phases mentioned above (before, during, and after) to help their children get the most out of many experiences. These categories provide a useful structure to help our children listen to the weekly sermon at church.

Before the Sermon

Start by introducing the sermon text to your child during the week. If your son has personal devotions, give him the relevant passage for a day or two and see what observations and questions he generates. For younger ones, read them the passage or play the audio version a few times during meals or at bedtime.

Family devotions are a great way to help your children learn to study the Bible. Why not take a night or two each week to prepare for the sermon? This helps both parents and children think through the passage, understand its context, and pray for Sunday morning.

During the Sermon

As with adults, the main challenge for children during the sermon is to listen.

Though children usually enjoy the singing and can hang on during prayer and the offering, the sermon can be tough. How much we should expect from our children varies with age and development. Parents can train their children to sit and listen by providing direction and materials.

When children are very young, tap into their love of crayons and markers. Provide some pictures relevant to the sermon text for them to color. If they like to draw, encourage them to create a picture inspired by the sermon. (Plant picture ideas as you discuss the Bible passage during the week!)

When my oldest could read and write but was not yet able to listen for long stretches, I made a sermon worksheet for her each week. These sheets had some short-answer questions, some blanks to fill in, and some questions requiring more thought. During the sermon I asked her to read the relevant passage and fill out her sheet. After that, she could read or color something else of her choosing.

Older children should be able to pay attention to most sermons. Taking notes usually helps them to focus. Parents can nurture this skill by providing some examples of note-taking and some simple instructions.

After the Sermon

To help your child process the sermon, talk with him about it afterward. Lunchtime on Sunday is perfect for this.

Read the passage again as a family and ask your child to explain his drawing or notes. Find out what he remembers from the sermon. Expand the conversation so that parents and siblings have a chance to share their thoughts.

Parents should lead a brief discussion here: What is the main point of the passage? How does this relate to Jesus? How can we apply the passage individually? As a family? As a church?

Be gracious and understanding as you lead your child through this process. Listening, focusing, and remembering are difficult skills that take practice and maturity to develop.

A Final Note to Preachers

Preachers, remember there are young sheep in your flock. They may wiggle and fidget more than most, but they need the Shepherd too.

I’m not advocating you turn your sermon into a ten-minute Vacation Bible School message, complete with song and costume. But keeping the whole flock of God in mind will affect your preaching.

Take care in your vocabulary. Don’t use unnecessarily complicated words. Define terms that might not be familiar.
Choose illustrations that will capture children’s attention. Don’t be ashamed to pull from nursery rhymes or fables. Throw in some animals, princesses, or battle scenes from time to time.
Finally, remember the children in your applications. Prepare several applications and include some specifically for children. Don’t tire of repetition—children need to hear the commands to obey parents, love siblings, and tell others about Jesus over and over. And remember Jesus in all of your applications! We communicate a lot about God’s grace in the way we frame applications of the Bible.

In some churches, children make up almost half the congregation. By helping them to focus on the Bible through the sermon, we train up the next generation of Christians and add to the Bible study culture of the church.

3 Stages of Listening to a Sermon

February 8, 2016 By Ryan Higginbottom

jacinta lluch valero (2012), Creative Commons License

Want to know which way the wind is blowing? Just look at a weather vane.

Want to know how a church approaches the Bible? Just listen to a sermon.

A sermon won’t give a complete picture. But if a church has a robust Bible study culture, the sermon is a good indicator.

Now a sermon is not like an IV drip, where you passively receive nourishment. Rather, a sermon is like a hearty meal—the cook labors in the kitchen to measure and mix and simmer. He sets down the food and urges you to eat. But you won’t enjoy or benefit from the meal unless you raise a fork and tuck in.

With a sermon, this happens in three stages.

Before the Sermon

To get the most from a sermon, consider two important activities in the preceding week: prayer and study.

Both the preacher and the hearer need God’s help. Pray for your pastor as he studies the Bible and prepares to proclaim it. And pray for yourself and your fellow listeners, that you would understand and be changed by God’s word.

During the week, there’s another way to plow up your heart to prepare for the Sunday morning planting. Find out the Bible passage for the sermon and study it on your own. (If you aren’t sure how to study the Bible, start here.) Take a stab at the author’s main point, connect that to Jesus, and write down some applications. If Sunday morning is the second time you’ve grappled with the preacher’s text, God’s word is more likely to take root and sprout up in you.

During the Sermon

Honoring God during the sermon is straightforward, if not easy: Focus and listen.

We should give our full attention to the preaching of God’s word. Grab a Bible and locate the relevant passage. Think carefully with the preacher as he talks through the text.

For some, taking notes is essential. Writing helps these people follow the main ideas of the sermon and gives them a record to consult later.

For others, note-taking is a distraction. Trying to listen and write leaves them with scattered scrawlings and murky memories. These folks should consider jotting down their thoughts after the sermon, so those God-given impressions and applications don’t flit away.

We all have difficulty listening to sermons from time to time. This may have nothing to do with the preacher! Late nights, a difficult week, restless children, illness, or a hundred other factors may make it hard to concentrate. We should do our best to pray and prepare and focus. Beyond that, remember that God knows his children. His love for us doesn’t increase or decrease based on our attentiveness during the sermon. It is full and secure because of Jesus.

After the Sermon

When the preacher finishes his post-sermon prayer, your obligations are not over. Like The Carpenters, you’ve only just begun. The best ways to promote a Bible study culture in your church after the sermon are to apply and discuss the Bible.

Assuming your preacher handled the Bible faithfully and connected his applications to Jesus, now it’s your turn. With the help of the Holy Spirit, take your pastor’s suggestions, mix in your own, and apply this passage to your head, heart, and hands.

If you question the preacher’s interpretation, study the passage again. Request a meeting later that week. God brought this passage to your attention and you should pursue understanding and joyful obedience.

In addition to applying the sermon text yourself, talk about it with others in your church. If you do so right after the worship service, you have a ready-made entrance to fruitful conversation.

Encourage others with the truths of the Bible you’ve just heard, especially the good news about Jesus Christ. Brainstorm necessary and creative applications, both for yourself and for your church. Confess the barriers to obedience in your own heart and offer help and support to your friends. We need community to apply the Bible.

Make sure your discussions about the sermon aren’t an excuse to criticize your pastor. Talk about the Bible and how best to understand and apply it, but don’t become an Olympic figure-skating judge.

Imagine the growth you would see if even half your congregation invested time before, during, and after the sermon to give attention to the Bible. It would transform your church.

So, what’s on your menu for this coming Sunday?

How the Sermon Can Shape a Church’s Culture

January 25, 2016 By Ryan Higginbottom

A church with a healthy Bible study culture is a blessing to members and visitors alike. Though all aspects of a church contribute to this culture, the sermon is among the most noticeable.

by William Hamilton (1788), license

Evaluating the sermon in this context demands that we move past the good-or-bad question asked over bowls of Sunday soup. How can a sermon help create a Bible study culture?

The Importance of the Sermon

In evangelical churches, the sermon is the centerpiece of weekly worship. Singing, giving, praying, testimonies—these are often seen as appetizers before the main course.

Without minimizing other elements of the worship service, the sermon is critical. For thirty or so minutes, God’s gathered people focus on hearing and understanding his word. The way the preacher handles the Bible communicates the church’s values and shapes the culture.

A Slight Departure

At Knowable Word, we’re committed to helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible. We rarely target preachers. But as preachers prize God’s word and encourage its study, “ordinary people” will flourish.

So, a word to non-preachers: This post is for you, too! Through the sermon, you can recognize a church with a Bible study culture. You should also find ways to pray for and encourage your preacher(s).

Nine Strategies

Enough jibber-jabber. Here are nine strategies for a sermon that can help create a Bible study culture in your church.

Pray and trust God — A preacher should soak all his study and preparation in prayer, relying on God’s strength and grace. The preacher must recognize the power of God’s words, for the flavor of a sermon indicates whether he believes God’s power lies in the Bible or in his own words. Sermons lead people into greater reliance on one or the other.
Choose the text carefully — When preachers expound a passage of the Bible (instead of hopping around based on a topic), they plant the sermon in rich soil. Over weeks and months, preaching consecutively through a book of the Bible builds familiarity with the author’s main point and helps God’s people to see the place of that book within the Bible’s big story.
Show the work — A sermon should both explain and equip, but many focus only on the former. Instead, the preacher should communicate both his conclusions and the way he reached them. OIA (Observation, Interpretation, Application) terminology isn’t essential, but the preacher should have language to describe what he’s doing. One metric for the success of a sermon is this: Are people replicating the preacher’s Bible study process and reaching the same conclusions?
Minimize quotation from commentaries — Preachers often consult commentaries when preparing a sermon, and this is valuable if one avoids common mistakes. But when a sermon is full of quotations from commentaries, the preacher teaches that Bible study is best left to professionals and academics.
Study and prepare — Sermon preparation skills can be divided in two: getting it right (studying the Bible) and getting it across (public speaking). Both categories are crucial! If you need help in the first, start here.
Include application — A sermon without application is like visiting the beach without touching the sand. A preacher should bring applications to his congregation that have already produced fruit in his life. In this way he avoids hypocrisy and his vulnerability (which is hard work!) shows that application is for everyone.
Prune “proof texts” — A preacher shouldn’t pluck Bible verses and wave them around like so many garden flowers. If a preacher needs the support of another Scripture passage, he should take the time to read it and interpret it in context. We all need help with correlation.
Warn against dangers — There are pitfalls associated with every step in studying the Bible. When appropriate, a preacher can highlight any relevant hazards. (Peter has written about the danger of familiarity when observing, the dangers of relativism, presumption, and observation when interpreting, and the dangers of insight and inertia when applying.)
Make a resource sheet — Churches often tuck a sermon outline into the bulletin; why not use this to also recommend excellent resources? A preacher can encourage his people to study other relevant Bible passages and point them to the best commentaries, biographies, histories, and websites. Including the exact wording and source of any extra-biblical quotations from the sermon could also bless the congregation.

Many thanks to Peter for his help with this post. He uses the categories in point 5 but does not claim them as his own—he has seen them in places like the Simeon Trust.

A Bible Study Culture within the Church

January 11, 2016 By Ryan Higginbottom

A group of able, determined people can accomplish what an individual cannot. Witness this video, where about twenty people in China converge to free a woman trapped beneath a car.

Molly A. Burgess (2010), public domain

From One to Many

Personal Bible study is at the heart of this blog. We advocate the Observation-Interpretation-Application (OIA) method, and we produce and collect resources to help Christians investigate God’s word.

When we adopt a habit of Bible study, we cut the ribbon on an adventure. By his Spirit, God changes us—from the inside out—as we give ourselves to reading, understanding, and obeying his word. Such change is not easy; in fact, it is a series of small deaths. But these deaths are life—we are new people being renewed.

Now multiply the effect of one changed life. Imagine a troop of transformed, growing Christians. Think of the impact a united, thriving, God-glorifying church can have within a community.

Churches and the Bible

Many churches say they are dedicated to the Bible. The pastor preaches from the Bible, the confessional standards are dense with Bible references, and the pews and Sunday school rooms are chock-full.

But how much is a broad allegiance worth? Suppose a grocery store promotes healthy eating in its flyer, but within the shop they conceal the carrots and push the pastries. You can see the company’s values by walking the aisles.

For some churchgoers, the Bible seems irrelevant; for others, it’s impenetrable. They may half-heartedly open the book on Sunday morning but it has no place of honor in their lives. As a church loses regard for the Bible, they also lose the power to love and influence their communities.

You’ll see a different picture when Christians are committed to studying the Bible. The distinction is not one of intelligence or morality, but of authority. Because God has spoken, such believers are devoted (by God’s grace) to reading God’s word closely and obeying, no matter how uncomfortable the conclusions.

Blessings of a Bible Study Culture

This post begins a series on the distinctive marks of churches which have a Bible study culture. We’ll discuss different aspects of the church in future posts, but today I want to highlight God’s gifts through churches like these. Here are seven blessings to expect when your church embraces a Bible study culture.

Sound doctrine — A church that studies the Bible can stand confidently for truth against all heretical threats.
Unity — Listen to A.W. Tozer: “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other?”
Obedience — Application of the Bible leads to greater love and obedience, and God blesses obedience. (See James 1:25, Luke 11:28.)
Help — We often need help studying the Bible, and in a Bible-studying church, we are resources for each other.
Encouragement — Because Bible study can be difficult, we need encouragement. We will find ample support among like-minded Christians.
Healthy norms — When a church studies the Bible, it shows how natural and healthy this exercise is. This discipline isn’t reserved for academics or the super-spiritual, this is a normal Christian practice.
Training — If you want to learn Spanish, move to Spain. New members of a church will pick up Bible study quickly if it is part of the church’s culture. If everyone from grandparents to gradeschoolers is studying the Bible, new members won’t be intimidated to begin.

This series is not meant just for information. In the next post, we’ll start to look at some features of a Bible-studying church. Read prayerfully. Then in your own church, encourage what is present and work toward what is lacking.

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