Teach people to See
It has been my experience that within the current model of ministry we often:
feed people the answers...and they parrot them out
when they graduate from college or are put in a situation that does not fit their template of information, they do not know the answer...or how to respond
Though our current model of sharing the gospel ( "The Knowing God personally Booklet, or "The 4-laws") is transferable it is rarely transferred into most students and staff's every day life as a method of shring their faith. As students or former staff move away from Crusade, or are not "on duty" at a summer project, a scheduled sharing time, or a winter conference...they do not use the booklet to share their faith...and share their faith very little..if at all.
As an artist, I can teach you to be an artist in two ways. First, I can teach you a formula of how to draw a tree. Then, I can teach you a formula of how to draw a house...the sun, a person, a cloud, etc. The unfortunate part of this is that you will only know how to draw these items in the way that I have taught you.
Secondly, I can teach you how to see...how to draw, in general. If I teach you how to look at the world...how to think about positive and negative spaces, lines,etc...eventhough you may not have a talent...you are equipped then to draw anything you want.
It is the old idea..."Give a man a fish...he eats for a day"..."Teach a man to fish...he eats for a lifetime".
We must not spin our wheels thinking of the next "post-modern" model of a sharing the gospel track. We must take a step back and teach our staff and students to "see" the gospel, to think about it, to know it in such a way that no matter what situation they are in they can respond authentically. That is transferrable.
This is a scary thing because it takes us out of control....I say it is much more powerful for some to truly have thought, questioned, and known the gospel intimately than for many to have only parrotted one song of it. What if there were only one song about love in the world...eventhough it may be accurate...we would never hear the many expressions and facets that each song writer offers. We must trust and believe in the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit indwelling our staff and students to express Himself and His Kingdom in a variety of ways at appropriate times.
There will still be times to use the "Knowing God Personally Booklet"....but there will be many other times for a unique expression of the gospel and the good news of Christ's Kingdom. Let us teach our staff and students to ask the right questions...and seek God for the answer to "What is the Gospel".
Can you imagine the outpour of "generated resources" that would come forth as we gave wings to creativity and innovation?
feed people the answers...and they parrot them out
when they graduate from college or are put in a situation that does not fit their template of information, they do not know the answer...or how to respond
Though our current model of sharing the gospel ( "The Knowing God personally Booklet, or "The 4-laws") is transferable it is rarely transferred into most students and staff's every day life as a method of shring their faith. As students or former staff move away from Crusade, or are not "on duty" at a summer project, a scheduled sharing time, or a winter conference...they do not use the booklet to share their faith...and share their faith very little..if at all.
As an artist, I can teach you to be an artist in two ways. First, I can teach you a formula of how to draw a tree. Then, I can teach you a formula of how to draw a house...the sun, a person, a cloud, etc. The unfortunate part of this is that you will only know how to draw these items in the way that I have taught you.
Secondly, I can teach you how to see...how to draw, in general. If I teach you how to look at the world...how to think about positive and negative spaces, lines,etc...eventhough you may not have a talent...you are equipped then to draw anything you want.
It is the old idea..."Give a man a fish...he eats for a day"..."Teach a man to fish...he eats for a lifetime".
We must not spin our wheels thinking of the next "post-modern" model of a sharing the gospel track. We must take a step back and teach our staff and students to "see" the gospel, to think about it, to know it in such a way that no matter what situation they are in they can respond authentically. That is transferrable.
This is a scary thing because it takes us out of control....I say it is much more powerful for some to truly have thought, questioned, and known the gospel intimately than for many to have only parrotted one song of it. What if there were only one song about love in the world...eventhough it may be accurate...we would never hear the many expressions and facets that each song writer offers. We must trust and believe in the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit indwelling our staff and students to express Himself and His Kingdom in a variety of ways at appropriate times.
There will still be times to use the "Knowing God Personally Booklet"....but there will be many other times for a unique expression of the gospel and the good news of Christ's Kingdom. Let us teach our staff and students to ask the right questions...and seek God for the answer to "What is the Gospel".
Can you imagine the outpour of "generated resources" that would come forth as we gave wings to creativity and innovation?
posted by Melinda at
5:25 PM
3 Comments:
This reminds me of when I was leading a student training time on "how to share your faith". I talked it over with you since we'd been pecking away at a new way of passing on this faith and discipling in a new way. We came up with having them think about their own lives and seeing who Jesus really is to them and then sharing that with a partner. It was basically what you're talking about here. What is the gospel to you? Who is Jesus to you? That's what will make the most impact when you share it I think. Well, I thought it went well, despite the questioning I got from staff later about why I didn't use any of the methods they had suggested for me to teach. I could have because they weren't bad methods, but it was method I wanted to get away from so they couldn't be so confident in the method as in their own relationship with Jesus. Get the focus off learning the tools and learn who Jesus really is. I like this post..your post on the gospel. Merri's dad Tom Williams told me when I was in college to write my own "4 Laws" I thought it was a good idea, but never did it. While I don't neccessarily want to put anything into booklet form, I still want to sit down and think purposefully about why I love Jesus so much, what He did, who He was and is to me today...think of my story and of His. Tom had a lot of things right. :) The lost, truly lost, were following him and learning from him. It was a real faith.
I should correct that last post and say you came up with it. I was just learning it all from you and trying to put it into the system. Funny how the peg never fit. Good thing you're the one on campus now.
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