Worship: Part V

 Accountability In The Pew?

Whatever the Lord has given you, give it back!

*Go Back to Part I and read the series.

What is required of a believer who graces the pew or chair weekly during the Sunday morning service? Usually not much, because, I feel, that the church does not allow you to give back anything except your tithe or offering unless you are gifted musically or part of the staff helping with the service.  The worship leader or choir director leads the music, the pastor or member of the staff preaches the sermon while Joe Christian just sits in his pew and follows.  In some churches they even supply road maps called church bulletins to make it even easer for the dumb sheep to follow their shepherds.

After church the staff discusses why there seems to be no life in the service, blaming those in the congregation for lack of participation. The pastor wonders why not one responds to this preaching.  Well, maybe it is because the congregation did not come prepared to respond, nor allowed to respond if even given a chance.

Maybe as a church we need to nurture a different mindset that allows the congregation to prepare for Sunday Services rather than the staff prepare Sunday Services for the congregation. If a church has a vibrant private prayer and worship life through its individual members, then we need to allow for a corporate expression allowing them to give back what the Lord has individually given them during the week: a scripture, a testimony, a teaching, a new song, a poem, a painting, or even a dance.

     The church where I grew up at one time allowed no instruments in the sanctuary. When they built a new sanctuary, they got a piano and organ, but no other form was allowed. Youth with drums, electric guitars, moog synthesizers were not allowed to share their musical talents. If I would have remained in that environment, both of my sons would have not been permitted to give their musical talents back to the Lord (drums and bass) in the sanctuary. How sad, and the church wonders why their youth go to secular music? It is because there they are allowed to express their musical talents.

What would happen if we just allowed the worshipers in our congregation to worship, actually allow them to express their forms of talents by giving them back to the Lord.  I think we just might see life.

Teaching: Head Or Heart?

Study of God or Knowing God

Theology: Theo means “God”; ology means “study of”, so theology means “the study of God”. 

Unfortunately with the world of Western civilizations, theology has become pure academic which most churchgoers have no idea what it means. As an undergraduate course, one studies the books of the Bible, etc., but at the graduate level, theology, where so called Biblical scholars give their interpretation of the scriptures, mirrors the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ day. When I took a course in Biblical Theology, I had to read many paragraphs two three times before grasping the meaning of the passage.  By the time I finished, I knew little about who God is, but much about what man thought of God.

When Moses climbed Mount Sinai, he “met” God, and when descending that mountain he “knew” more about God than he ever did before because he had just “experienced” God.  God explained to him who He is, because His name was “I Am”!  The rest of Moses’ life God reveals who He is!  “I Am your deliverer, your savior, your banner, your strength, your healer, etc.”  God’s statements were simple, very clear, and left no room for debate, for He said, “I AM”.

God allows us to go into the Holy of Holies, His Presence, when we worship Him. It is there, in His Presence, that He reveals Himself to us in a way that is relevant to our personal lives.  Would not experiencing God who teaches us who the “I AM” is rather than studying exegesis or passages by renowned men claiming to be theologians, men who study who God is.

I have personally learned that most of my theology, academically, gets thrown out the window when I truly “experience” the “I AM”. Relationship is always better than rhetoric. I want to “know” God rather than “know about” God.

Road to Emmaus: Part IV

Lesson #1: Road To Emmaus Worksheet

A Assignment

Directions:   Reread the Luke 24:13-35 passage throughout the coming week. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal even more truth about the lesson.  Here are some questions that may arise that you and your group did not see.  Answer them if you wish!

What significance is there to the “breaking of the bread” that Jesus did and the opening of their eyes?

What significance is there to when their eyes were opened and they recognized him that immediately he disappeared from their sight?  Is there a correlation between that principle and faith?

What was their “emotional” reaction to their recent walk with Jesus?

What did Jesus “open their eyes to” in verse 34?  What does that say to you about daily Bible reading, devotions, and meditation?

Verses 33 & 34:  Their experience confirmed what to them and to the other believers?

Bottom Line:  What was the purpose of Jesus walk with them?  What did all this lead then to do?

Road to Emmaus: Part III

 

Lesson #1: Notes For The Teacher

Assessing of Lesson:

• o   Guidelines to tell the class:  On an easel, whiteboard, etc. have each group share insights as you list then.

Lesson Techniques:

• o   Ice Breaker: [You are making them spontaneously think already as well as personalizing the instruction and sharing their observations. Your are modeling technique to be used later in lesson, just through the introduction.]
• o   Reading: Your reading with out them doing anything forces them to listen. This is NOT to be an exercise of scriptural exegesis, thus DO NOT let them use their Bibles at this stage.
• o   Reflection: :  THIS IS THE KEY TO THE LESSON!  This is where you allow the HOLY SPIRIT to be the teacher, not you. Your opinion and expertise DOES NOT MATTER. KEEP QUIET! NO COMMENTS. If your class learns to “listen to the still small voice” to teach them, you have succeeded in the lesson.  By forcing them to do the second part, it takes them away from the familiar section and forces them to think beyond what they know.
• o   Retelling:  This allows the group to see the height and width of scope of the knowledge of the Holy Spirit, who is omnipresent, and can see a lesson from all points of view.  It also shows the diversity within the body to react to, interpret, and make meaningful a lesson that individualizes it just for them, and also the group corporately.  {This will show the power of individual Bible study and/or worship as well as corporate Bible study and/or worship.)
• o   Reactions:  Versus 33 – 35 is all about reaction.  REACTION to what has been SEEN and HEARD through the teaching of the Holy Spirit is crucial.  The book of Acts is about how everyone Re-Acted to the Holy Spirit’s teachings and leadings.  Begin to have “Re-Acts” time to bridge the 2000 year gap from when the New Testament was written up to today. The Holy Spirit keeps the standard of truth, but makes it relevant.  Allow him to do so!
• o   Assignment:  Lessons are to be life long, life changing, foundational principles, so making the class continue throughout the week to seek the scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to teach them is crucial for the growth of the believer.
• o   Time Essential:  Watching your time, but keeping it moving is crucial.  But if the Holy Spirit is teaching, always allow Him to change the agenda!

Bottom Line:  Ask the class what was “your opinion” or “your analysis” of the lesson.  Of course they will not be able to tell you that, because although you guided them through the lesson, YOU DID NOT TEACH IT, THE HOLY SPIRIT DID!  That was precisely what this lesson was all about as a teacher.  You can be a facilitator, listening yourself to the Holy Spirit as to what to do when, but He is the Teacher.  He is the Conductor of the symphony of this lesson.

Road to Emmaus: Part II

 

Lesson #1: Road To Emmaus: The Spirit of Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit Is The Teacher!

Introduction of Group Members: 

-       Ready:  Make small groups of three or four

-       Introduce oneself: name, occupation, marital/family status, and tell of one object you have that best illustrates your life (i.e. Pocket knife because you are an avid hunter) and one object you have you should throw away. (10 min.)

Introduction of Lesson:

-       Reading: Teacher read Luke 24:13-35 – Road to Emmaus passage as everyone sits quietly and listens.

• o    Break the passage into two parts verses 13-27 and pause for a time of quiet reflection, then verses 28-35.  (10 min.)

Developing of Lesson:

-       Reflection: They are to sit quietly, individually, and reread, think about, meditate upon, or picture being a part of the actual scene of verses 28-35.

• o    Guidelines to tell the class: 1) There is to be no talking or movement at this time.  2) They should sit quietly, they may have pencil and paper if they wish to jot down reflections, narrations, etc., but prefer they do nothing but mediate on the passage. 3) They will have (15 minutes) of this total silent period for reflection.

-       Retelling:  After silent period concludes, have them begin to share within their small group what they have seen and heard.

• o   Guidelines to tell the class:  1) only one-person shares at a time. 2) The others in the group CAN NOT comment or say anything while one is sharing. 3) You only have 5 minutes per person to share. 4) At end of 5 minutes, next person shares without comments from group until all have shared. (15-20 min.)

-       Reactions: What new insights and strong points were shared by the group?

• o   Guideline to tell the class:  Share among yourselves a) the new insights, the different point of view, the uniqueness of what each other shared as well as b) the strong points that were emphasized. c) Was there one theme that ran among all in your groups lessons?  List your answers on a piece of paper. (10 min.)

-       Assignment: Have a handout to keep them thinking all week.  They are to meditate on this passage as their devotion all week and answer some of the questions on the sheet!

Road to Emmaus: Part I

 

Holy Spirit As Teacher

     A new mindset of a teacher is NOT to expound information he/she knows intellectually to a group, but teach the group to allow the Holy Spirit to be the teacher.  Jesus promised that when he would return to His Father that He would send the Holy Spirit who would teach His believers all things.  We have to learn how to let the Holy Spirit be the teacher. The question is how? And do we tust the Holy Spirit?

What I hope to do in the next couple of blogs is share a sample lesson you may try with a small group to teach them to get into the Word, the Bible, living word.

Road to Emmaus: Part II will be the actual “Road to Emmaus” lesson, Luke 24:13-35 to be taught.

Road to Emmaus: Part III will be comments/ directions to those leading the small group event. (The teacher)

Road to Emmaus: Part IV will be a homework sheet the members of the class can continue to work on during the week.

Again, this is just a sample lesson.  The result may vary as the Holy Spirit leads. It could be quite an adventure.

A Century Congratulations

Salute to New Fairview 

Today I was honored to attend the 100^th Anniversary of New Fairview Church of the Brethren in York, PA, the church I attended through my youth and early twenties.

It was interesting to find out that a few families, one with eight children, birthed the church since it was quite a distance between nearby Brethren Church, today 20 minute drive one way! Only having “church” once a month, they had “Sunday School” every Sunday afternoon until they grew in numbers.

Those who started the church dressed plain, women sat on one side of the church, the men on the other; everyone sang accapella, four part harmony. They had the free ministry, raising ministers from within the congregation who were not paid but called to serve for life. 

They have come from a church plant from the Codorus congregation, to birth their own congregation, to maintain it, and watching it develop and grow into the congregation of about 300 that it is today.

One question that arose during the sermon was do we live with the history of the past, or do we move on with the future.  As we sang the closing him, the line “taught by the Bible, lead by the Spirit, I will follow Him.” How will the Spirit lead in the future, and will we be willing to lead by Him?  Can we trust the Holy Spirit, or should we hang on to history, on to tradition?  A question we will be asking throughout our blogs. 

Christian “Consumers”?

 

How Did We Get There?

 I am still thinking about C.B.S. News Sunday Morning Program (Oct. 6, 2009) segment on “Faith in America” when they reported that “Americans shop for churches like they shop for everything else. They are consumers. It is what is best for me.”

History:  The local church anchored communities during the nineteen and early twentieth centuries in America, basically because of transportation.  Although a Methodist church was at one end of town, a Presbyterian church at the other, and a Catholic parish in between, people whom you lived with seven days a week were part of the church family.  The church was not only the spiritual life of a community, but also the social life.

Toward the end of the century, schools became the social centers of activities. Families, now mobile because everyone had a car, now became transient, even when deciding where to worship.

Since the beginning of this century, church hopping is common. The mega-church could offer services that small congregations could not touch: more professional music, all kinds of specialized small and support groups, social activities on a grander scale, huge youth groups, super children churches, etc. Small churches based on generations of local families began to witness a decline in attendance. They just couldn’t compete.

Today people do “shop” for churches. What do they look for? What is best for them! If the church offers a super children’s church and I have small children, I’ll come, or an out standing Youth Group if I have teens. More up beat music sounding like one hears all week on secular stations beats out heavy pipe organ blasts.  Big screen projection, super sound system, stage presence for choir or worship band, lighting, theatrical productions, as well as church web pages, blogging, a Facebook page, twittering, and following an online presentation of the sermon attracts the techno-generation, supported by huge staffs and inflated budgets. The small church with aged hymnals, an old electric organ, a subpar sound system, a staff of one, and strapped financial resources can’t compete.

Churches are trying to “create” “community” through their structure and programs, something most churches have losing since they aren’t locally community based anymore. The mindset is for the “staff” to offer all things to meet “my needs”, the “consumer’s”! And it is working!

 What ever happened to humility, selflessness, loving your actual “neighbor”, and commitment to those believers that live in your local community or neighborhood?  Shouldn’t “how can I serve you” replace “what is in my best interest?”  What every happened to I John 3:16: “You know love by this, that you will lay down your life for your brethren.”  We might have to rethink our motives and mindsets to get out of the American “consumer” mentality and back into the Kingdom of God mentality!

Been Busted By Pollsters! Cont.

Busted, By A Mindset

In my last blog I found myself stunned when sensing that I too am falling into the 50% group that do not necessarily “attend a church service faithfully every Sunday”.  Going from five times a week of church to only two hours, if I make it, was quite a revelation.

I would like to look at the mindset of church services today. I was brought up that their redeeming quality was to prepare me to face a horrid week ahead.  My strength was to come from singing hymns and listening to a sermon.  Today I would like to propose that the church needs a new mentality about Sunday morning services, for it has the horse before the cart, ass-backward is you want to put it that way.     

      There is not much accountability to a believer on a Sunday morning, except for their financial check in the offering plate and trying to sing on key.  What would happen if the Sunday service would not be worship band/clergy sermon centered but a copulation of offerings from the faithful in the congregation.

 Have they been spending a quiet time with the Lord during the week?  Have they been reading their own Bible?  What has the Holy Spirit revealed to them during this time?  Has a member of the body “ministered” to them this past week that displayed Jesus in their life? Has the Lord given then a “new song”, “a new poem”, “new” art forms, etc. that they could share?  Is there a “prayer warrior” amongst the group waiting to be “unleashed”? Are there prophetically inspired people in their midst who would have words of encouragement for others?  I don’t know, for the church has been so effective in hiding them well, if they are there!

What would a service be like if they were allowed to “give back to the Lord” those words, those inspirations, those insights, those “new” things on a Sunday morning?  I think one would experience “life” back into the service.

It hit me the other week at church that there were over 150 people there. I had never heard one of them personally share their “salvation/born again” experience. There was no room for testimonies in the service.  I didn’t know if anyone had ever been “healed”, “delivered”, nor “freed” from those things that entangled my life during the week. The church had hidden them well, for although I had gone to this church for almost fifteen years, I did not know much about the people attending.

     What if people were “allowed” or “freed”, to be part of the service, actually pray for others, encourage others, share with others, become a family?  Giving back to the Lord, giving to their own brothers and sisters of faith, would break down the fear and doubt of giving to those who aren’t Christians we meet every day in our lives. If the church isn’t a safe place “to practice” this among ourselves, then don’t be shocked if the people aren’t doing it outside the church’s walls. 

I have sporadically experienced such a “freedom” of Sunday morning bondage in the fifty years of my Christian life, where congregations were “allowed” to share their faith, give back to the Lord and the Lord’s people during a service, and the people always left renewed, encouraged, feeling the service had somehow come “alive”.

People who are not church-goers may become one if they can identify with the many stories, gifting, ministries, etc. God’s people have to offer, and the church faithful may want to stay “expecting” God to move “amongst His people” every time they meet. Isn’t God moving in the midst of His congregation, among His people, is what it is all about?

Sunday Morning Services need a different mindset,

Been Busted By Pollsters!

550% Come; 50% Don't

C.B.S. News Sunday Morning Program (Oct. 6, 2009) had an interesting segment on “Faith in America”.  Some of their insights were:

 “Americans shop for churches like they shop for everything else. They are consumers. It is what is best for me.” Wow! What does that say about us of Christian faith of loving your neighbor as yourself? Have we become “me”-centered believers. Hmmmm a topic for another blog!

“According to today’s Parade Magazine’s report ½ of the people who attend churches do not go to the church in which they were raised.”  I personally have gone to six different churches, all under different denominations or labels, since I left the church of my childhood although I still keep ties with that church.

According to the same poll “Americans say they are “spiritual” rather than “religious”, and only “50% of those claiming to be spiritual attend services”, and here I am on a Sunday morning writing this blog while my home church is having a “service”.

So there may be something to these polling facts, at least they have affected my life. I thought it interesting that when I am questioning the relevancy of “Sunday morning church services” this report is released.  Many church’s marquees boast “Sunday Worship Service” and times, now offering different “styles” of worship, contemporary or traditional, to reach the American Christian “consumer”. Music styles may vary, but structure hasn’t as music and the sermon are still the anchor of church services. Choirs have been replaced by Worship Bands, pipe organs by electric guitars, but the sermon is still monopolized by the clergy.

I find myself going to a service that requires nothing from me but my tithes, my money, and possibly singing along with the worship band if I know the songs or tune. We shake hands, pat backs, greet one another superficially for five minutes, but that is my spiritual community social life for the week.

Why have I fallen into the 50% category the pollsters have recorded? In my next blog, I would like to share a possible mindset change the church should face that may attract believers back and accountability to their believers.

Worship: Part IV

Bringing a Gift

Bringing A Gift

Whatever the Lord has given you, give it back!

*Go Back to Part I and read the series.

“Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.  No man should appear before the Lord empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.”  Deut. 16:16-17

This is one of my favorite Old Testament scriptures for I believe that three times in a person’s life one is faced with crucial decisions about Jesus.  Feast of Unleavened Bread, Passover, is when one is faced with Jesus as his Sacrificial Lamb, his Savior. The Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, is when is faced with Jesus as Lord.  Finally, the Feast of Tabernacles is when one is faced with eternal life with Jesus.  Although each person’s testimony is different in conditions and place, they are uniform spiritually.

For each one “no man should appear before the Lord empty-handed”.  In Old Testament time a different grain offering was given at each Feast. Today something must be given at each spiritual event in one’s life, “a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.”  That’s worship: giving back the proportion that the Lord has blessed you.”  Passover, being “born again” requires giving up your “garbage, you sin, your baggage” for Jesus to be your Savior.  Pentecost requires giving up your “all” for Jesus to be you Lord where he reigns, not you. Feast of Tabernacles is when you give up “your life” here on earth to be with Jesus eternally in His Presence. 

Each of the three spiritual events in one’s life requires the giving away of something.  Worship is giving back to the Lord what He has given you.  That gift when placed on the altar will either be given back in even a greater measure, or consumed, and something new will be reborn.  Worship is giving.  Jesus “gave” all the credit to His father; he “gave” up his life for us.  He continues to give to us; all we need to do is give back. That is worship.

Worship: Part III

Those Who Did Not Practice Worship

Whatever the Lord has given you, give it back!

*Go Back to Part I and read the series.

The rich young ruler wanted to be a disciple, but Jesus knew that where one’s heart is, there you find one’s treasure.  This young man’s treasure was in his increasing financial empire, so Jesus required of him to give back to the Lord his wealth to the poor that he was unwilling to do. He missed an opportunity for true worship.  We do not know his fate, but he left with a heavy heart, not willing to pay the price while missing a golden opportunity.

The most famous case of squandering the opportunity to give back to the Lord is found in the book of Acts with Ananias and Sapphira. They sold a piece of land and purposely kept back part of the money for themselves and lied about it.  Peter proclaims to them, “You have not lied to men but to God.”  Both fall over dead and “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.”

Jesus told the woman at the well that we are to “worship in spirit and in truth”.  Neither the rich young ruler nor Ananias and Sapphira would accept that truth in their own lives, thus losing a precious opportunity to worship Jesus.

Maybe we should realize that worship is not something to play with, but is an unique opportunity to give back to the Lord what he has already given us. Thank heavens that the Holy Spirit is not doing to the church today what he did with Ananias and Sapphira or today’s obituary column might be full. 

Worship: Part II

Those Who Practice Worship

Whatever the Lord has given you, give it back!

*Go Back to Part I and read the series.

Abraham gave his son Isaac back to the Lord, to the point that he was willing to sacrifice him, even though he was his only beloved son.  Because his act was an act of worship, God supplied the sacrificial lamb caught in the thicket so that the sacrifice could be complete.

Hannah kept her vow of giving her son Samuel back to the Lord by bringing him to the temple, the place of worship, the House of the Lord, and Israel finally had an ear to hear the voice of the Lord in the midst of a corrupt priesthood.

The three wise men were very wise because they came to worship the babe, the new king, and they did not come empty handed.  They were ready to give back some of their wealth, gold, myrrh, and frankincense, not knowing how those gifts would be used.  All three were used for funerals. Because of their act of worship, God supplied what the “Sacrificial Lamb” needed to fulfill His mission, His Death and Resurrection.

Worship: Part I

Simple Definition

 

Worship Is...

Whatever The Lord Has Given You; Give It Back!

Teaching: Where’s My Classroom

 

Which Is More Effective?

•      Memorizing the critters living in your nearby streams from a list of pictures for a test when you will never see one in your life if you don’t go in water, or…  
• Explore your local creek, turning over the rocks on the floor or the stream and discovering the multitude of life that was hidden, but now alive!
•      Read in your Civics book about government and elections, or …
•      Volunteering to help a candidate actually run for office, defending their stand on issues!  
•      Read a poem in a literature class, then discuss the imagery, symbolism, and interpretation you and Literary Scholars claim are in the work, or …
•      Listen to the poet read his own poem with inspiration, rhythm, diction, and meaning, never analyzing his own work, but allowing his work to speak for itself!
• Read a psychology book on mental health diseases, their effects and side effects on people who suffer from those diseases, or … 
•      Befriend a person struggling with schizophrenia or paranoia or being bipolar, helping them in their rough times, working on bringing healing in their lives!
•      Study your Bible looking up the latin or greek origins for the meaning of key words like “love”, “peace”, “hope” or …
•      Actually giving “love, peace, or hope” to a stranger, or a struggling friend, or a love one!

I am a firm believer that one must be “taught” “love”, but is approaching it academically the most effective means for one to learn from?  “Modeling” love is far more effective than “defining” love, or debating the “meaning” or “origin” of love. 

The Jesus taught love by modeling it. He did it! He then made the learners, his disciples, “experience”, or do it, themselves which produced “life changing” results!  We need not know more “about” Jesus; we need to “know” or “experience” Jesus. That is the challenge of the Teacher!

Teaching: Hearing and Responding

 Jesus said that we should not only be hearers of the word, but doers.  It is not enough to be introduced to tennis (evangelist), coached in tennis (shepherd), and even taught the fundamentals of the game (teacher), the athlete has to just be able to go out and “do it”.  Nikki shoes patented the expression “Just Do It” that became a successful sales logo.   

 Most pastors and teachers in the Church use the lecture teaching method with sermons, Sunday School Quarterlies, etc. It’s “talking-the-talk”, but few personally “walk-the-walk” with you in their lesson or sermon.  As a teacher we want “response that will change lives”.  Which is more effective: Preaching about Jesus feeding the thousands or going to the local soup kitchen or Rescue Mission and serve meals?  Preaching or teaching about the Great Banquet which most of the invitees refuse giving excuses, so the master tells his servants to go to the highways and byways and bring in the homeless, the poor, etc., or having Church in its social hall have everyone bring a “non-Churched” heathen or derelict to have a meal (pastoral/shepherding) and hearing the gospel (evangelist)?

Why do we have to go into a building (the church) in order to hear the gospel.  Isn’t the Great Commission to go outside those walls to the world?  The Lamad method of teaching is to have learners “experience life lessons” by “responding” to “revelation”. There are people hungry, poorly clothed, in prison, and lonely. (What a revelation!) Church now respond! When you do, your fruit will be “changed lives” to those you served, and more importantly to those who did the serving.  That is the teaching I want to emphasize in the five fold, “living service”.

We need Christian teachers who will get outside their classrooms of their church building into the classrooms of life, living experiences.  They need to apply Biblical Truth, “revelation”, to practical everyday living situations, and they will reap “changed lives”.  Teachers in the Christian Church listen: “Just Do It!”

Teaching: The Goal To Change

Mark VirklerIntellect vs. Experience

I think Virkler is on to something with his Lamad method of learning which he states is, “All learning and teaching is ultimately to be found in the fear of the Lord. The goal of teaching is not the impartation of facts but the changing of lives. For the Hebrew, knowledge (yadah) involves personal encounter and response to God’s revelation. The classroom is not separated from life but is actually part of our lives.”

The Church has to take a different mindset towards its teachers if it is to effectively minister from a five-fold perspective. Learning isn’t what you know, but how to use what you know effectively producing changed, Christ-like, Godly, lives.  It involves personal encounter, experience, and response to God’s revelation.  It is one thing to intellectually know what forgiveness is, but it is another to actually accept it in one’s life and extend it to others.  How do you teach forgiveness? Memorizing its definition, studying what noted theologians in their academic verbiage have spouted, or reciting the many scriptural passages on it?  Or do you actually forgive your brother or sister who erred you, and also receive forgiveness from those you have wronged?

Field Trips are always better than bookwork in a classroom because they become practical everyday “life experiences”.  Jesus constantly took his disciples on field trips, which we will examine in future blogs.

When I think of the hundreds of hours I have spent listening to academic sermons from the pulpit, speakers at conferences, Sunday School and Bible School teachers as a kid, and Bible courses I have taken, I question how effective they were in changing my life.  Walking the streets witnessing with an experienced, gifted, passionate evangelist was far more effective than reading about evangelism from a book or writing a paper about it. 

It is good to get a revelation through the Bible, taught to us by the Holy Spirit, but it is in the “response” to it in “life experiences” that bring the change.  Let’s examine in the next few blogs, how to do that!

Teaching: Head or Heart

 

IIntellect vs. In tuition

The Bible tells us that “your treasure is where your heart is”!  It does not say that “your treasure is in your intellect”, yet the Church has chosen to take intellect and reason over intuition and faith.

David was known as “a man of God’s heart”, while Solomon was known for his “wisdom”, not necessarily for his intellect.  I have known many men who were not intellectual but very “wise” men.

Mark and Patti Virkler created the Communion With God Ministries to teach the “lamad” of learning. On their web page www.cwgministries.org/The-Lamad-Method-of-Learning.htm Virkler explain the Lamad Method:

“The Hebrew language uses one root (lamad) for the two words "to teach" and "to learn." In the Hebrew culture, the teacher has not taught unless the student has learned. All learning and teaching is ultimately to be found in the fear of the Lord. The goal of teaching is not the impartation of facts but the changing of lives. For the Hebrew, knowledge (yadah) involves personal encounter and response to God’s revelation.

In the lamad method of learning, we are returning to the Hebraic concept of education, including this personal encounter and revelation. The classroom becomes a place of impassioned discussion and the sharing of real life experience. It is a place where we meet God and share in the life experiences of others. It is a place where we practice truth. The classroom is not separated from life but is actually part of our lives.”

Jesus never founded an university, seminary, or Bible college.  He never inferred degrees upon anyone.  He just walked with the twelve ordinary men and others while building relationships and changing lives.  Instead of facts, He taught faith.  Instead of building an entourage of educators to expound data, He promised the Holy Spirit to come and be the teacher to all believers.

We will examine teaching and learning from the Western perspective and from the Jewish Lamad method.  I too hope too also experience personal encounter with the rear of the Lord and respond to God’s revelation resulting in change.  This journey could be another change in mindset, this time for the teacher.

Nurturing: The Reward

Thanks

As I conclude this segment of blogs on nurturing I got the most encouraging emails from a beautiful young lady who was one of our “young’uns”.  I would like to share some of her encouragement to my wife and me. She wrote.....

“I just wanted to take time to thank both of you for such an amazing amount of love you gave me as a teenager.  I don't know if you realize how tremendously you impacted that part and time of my life.  In a time when I felt worthless and hopeless, you loved me and treated me as part of the family.  I treasured the times I spent at your house, never wanting to go home.  I didn't want to leave a house so full of Jesus…..   A (family member of yours) invited me to church, and here I am still apart of that church today.  I don't know where I'd be without Jesus!  Deb always answered any questions I had and helped me understand things I didn't understand.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, Thank-you for accepting me just the way I was!  Thank-you for loving me and caring for me and always having an open door!  You'll never know the impact you've had on my life.  I hope you'll experience it when the day comes for you stand before God and He allows you to see how amazing you were to me!”

Wow! I am speechless!  Nurturing one toward Jesus is rewarding!

Nurturing: Availability

 

Any Time; Any Place

One of the greatest assets in being an effective shepherd is availability.  To help someone grow, one needs to be available: to be there when needed no matter what time of day, to be a listening ear when it seems no one is listening, to have unconditional love when the conditions seem grave, and to have access to breaking through the screens that keep us separated.

In a day when “Caller I.D.” helps screen calls, it needs to be the key to availability.  When the person you’re nurturing calls, you need to answer. To avoid control, a good shepherd knows when to give space and when to be near, when to lend a hand and when to allow one to be independent, when to encourage and when to be a straight shooter. 

Sheep love to wonder and explore but need guidance.  A shepherd cannot stand beside each sheep when many are wondering in different directions. Sheep love to graze; they are not force-fed.  Sheep know their shepherd’s voice and know the tone of that voice.

Much goes into the art of shepherding for there are many demands, but the rewards can be eternal.