The jump of faith: Abandoning spectator ChristianityMark Nysewander makes the case for disciple-making
Remembering Diane Knippers (1952-2005)James V. Heidinger II fondly recalls our friend and colleague
Making sense of the atonementKenneth Collins ponders the question of why Jesus had to die
Food to spare; food to shareJen Waters reports on the nation-wide move to glean food for the hungry
The Call to Holiness:
A statement of Evangelicals and Catholics TogetherThe fifth joint statement of prominent Evangelicals and Roman Catholics
EditorialThinking about our working theology
Renew Women’s NetworkA Christian conversation
Why 17-year olds don't consider Levitical sacrifice a burning issue
Missions in concentric circles
Trumpets and jars
News
Good News calls Stroud appeal verdict flawed, predicts reversal
Ministry fills spiritual need for disabled
Rock, religion, and relief
Chaplain says being in 'hard spots' is what it is all about
Film Focus: Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith
Where hope lies
Film Focus: Cinderella Man
You've probably been in this situation before. You're wrestling your way through another Sunday morning, juggling your Bible, the curriculum, and the one piece of broken chalk you were able to scrounge from the nursery. You're trying to make Leviticus "come alive" to a group of kids who think Levites are people who wear blue jeans. But the only time you've gotten so much as a blink was when you tip-toed your way through an explanation of circumcision.
How can it be that a book as powerful as the living word, "sharper than any two-edged sword" can seem so dull? We know that the Bible is inspired by God, profitable for "teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness," but how do we communicate that to a group of kids who think "John three-sixteen" is a bathroom on the third floor? It's been said before, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." How do we get kids interested in the Bible?
Early in my ministry with kids, a friend introduced me to seven practical principles that have helped guide me as I seek to develop in students an interest and hunger for the Word of God. I still don't run into that many kids who get their ram-burning recipes and dietary advice from Levitical Law! But these principles are helpful whether we're preparing a Bible study, teaching from a curriculum or giving a message based on some text of Scripture, so we're going to take a look at them over the next several issues of Good News.
Law One: The Law of the Teacher. The teacher must know that which he or she would teach.
If we hope to get kids interested in the Bible, we would be wise to pay careful heed to this first law. Essentially, it reminds us that we can't teach something we don't know any more than we can return from some place we've never been! Trying to get kids to develop a taste for Bible study when we haven't acquired that taste in our own life is probably going to be a bankrupt effort.
Nobody wants to learn navigation from the crew of the Titanic, or automobile design from the architect of the Edsel, or get marketing advice from the guy who changed the taste of Coke. The best way for us to build in our kids an appetite for reading the Bible is to allow them to observe that appetite in our own lives. It's not enough that we spend personal time reading and studying the Bible; we must consciously and consistently share insights and discoveries that grow out of our study. Your own quotation of a passage you've memorized, or recollection about how a passage spoke to you in a critical time will teach far more about the importance of Bible study then 20 lessons on that topic.
Law Two: The Law of the Learner. The learner must be interested (or made to be interested) in the material to be learned.
I'm always intrigued by the way airline stewardesses mechanically move through their little pre-flight safety pep talk without the slightest realization or concern that almost 100 percent of the passengers are oblivious to their explanations of critical life-saving information. I've often thought that they could probably beef up the interest a bit if they would just preface their announcement with a simple phrase like: "Ladies and gentlemen, we've been having some real problems with this jet all week, and now the right wing is on fire. Please listen while we go through some of the procedures designed to help you survive this kind of experience."
So much of the time, we launch into our Bible studies full of serious life-support and survival information without ever taking the time to impart to the kids a sense that "the plane is on fire." We're so eager to serve up the meat that we don't take the time necessary to allow a hunger to develop. According to the Second Law of Learning, that is something we cannot afford to do.
Perhaps it's time we admit that we shouldn't be trying "to get kids interested" in the Bible. Instead, our approach should be one of helping kids to understand that the Bible speaks to the issues that they are already interested in. There aren't a lot of kids who feel an innate interest in studying 1 Corinthians 13, but I haven't met a teenager yet who wasn't interested in love.
The Law of the Learner reminds us that our Bible studies will attract student interest only if we speak to their needs and concerns. So often we start with the curriculum and then try to get the kids interested in that, when, in fact, we might be more effective if we began with our student's needs and interests, and used the curriculum to speak to those concerns.
To be sure, there will be times when we must address issues that the kids don't realize are important. Teenagers have some very real needs that they don't even know about. That is when we use role-plays, case studies, and discussion questions to incite interests, and raise questions that will open kids to Bible study in search of answers. But, as a general rule, we need to know where they itch before we open that Bible and start to scratch.
Click here to send your response plus the title of this article to us at Good News.