The Need for Teaching the Words and Works of God

Written by Sharon R. Berry, Ph.D.

 The need for early training in the words and works of God has never been more evident. Popular media articles often report the disconnection between lifestyles and Biblical teaching, even for those who attend church regularly. For example, a 60% divorce rate, only 9% who accept the Bible as absolute moral truth, a 50% dropout rate from church between high-school and college graduations, no differences in pre-marital sex and drug use for students who attend church, and the list could go on and on.

Effectively teaching Bible is a challenge facing every Christian teacher. The questions related to elementary-age students are fairly simple: What shall we teach? When should we teach it? What methods should we use? How can Bible instruction be integrated throughout the day? How do we achieve congruence between knowledge and behavior? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are not so simple.

What to teach and when to teach it are perhaps the easiest questions to answer. In accordance with an understanding of children’s development, we want to present truths at each grade level that match their cognitive abilities and interests. Most instructional materials begin, therefore, with simple Bible stories of favorite people — Joseph, David, Moses, Joshua, and Christ’s miracles and teachings. Initially we emphasize God’s loving care of us and our families.

As the children grow older the stories become longer and more detailed. We then add the emphasis on the life lessons to be learned — how to react when mistreated, how to seek forgiveness after making a wrong choice, and others. Eventually, we can draw from these stories the over-arching principles and illustrations for doctrinal truths related to God’s nature and plan, mankind’s sin and need of redemption, salvation through Christ, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the renewal of our lives through daily devotion and obedience.

Our methods of teaching depend on the nature of the children being taught and the emphasis of the lesson we are teaching. Following the example of Christ the Master Teacher, high priority must be given to methods that:

• Build from stories related to natural experiences
• Include visual representations
• Lead to conclusions based on question-answer techniques
• Limit the amount of lecture
• Involve the learners
• Display high creativity and interest
• Make the link between spiritual truths and personal actions
• Back up the teaching with life example, loving concern and correction when necessary

Obviously, the question of greater challenge is how we can consistently engage children into meaningful interactions with Scripture. The teachers themselves must be passionate about the Bible class being the most anticipated event of the day. They must model their own excitement, as well as the integration of Biblical principles, into how they treat students and manage the challenges of everyday life. The selection of good curriculum materials that provide creative ideas and resource materials is critical in facilitating the demands of good preparation in light of the various other subjects that must also be taught.

Beyond the Bible class itself, a teacher must be sensitive to the times throughout the school day when Bible truths can be naturally integrated into the subjects being taught (science, for example). There are also occasions when it’s appropriate to quote a memory verse or stop for a moment of prayer (a need for kindness to be displayed or a challenging task, for example). These are the times when Bible truths are more caught than taught.

Beyond the questions of what, when and how, the question of translating knowledge into action is the most challenging one. For young children, we must be careful to not convey that conformance to rules leads to a right relationship with God. While we want them to develop character traits such as kindness, truthfulness, obedience, and responsibility, these are issues of fair treatment of others and submission to authorities. When we come into right relation to Christ, we become partners with the indwelling Holy Spirit in developing these character traits, along with many others. Thus, our appeal must be a commitment to love God then obey His commands.

Every Bible lesson must be presented with the dual emphasis on the truths of Scripture and the application to life. Knowledge alone leads to pride and bigotry. The words of Christ must be so deeply embedded as to make a difference in how we live. Otherwise, they are of little value. Therefore, all Bible teaching must transcend from the story to application. Students must be challenged to consider the implications of the truths, how they can be integrated into life, making purposeful plans toward life changes, and evaluating the results. For example, a lesson on Peter could lead to the discussion of the consequences of speaking before thinking. After considering how to manage that challenge in their own lives, the students could be given the task of daily evaluating how they did by marking a checklist:

The defining characteristic of the LifeWay Quest Bible series, beyond its solid organization and its creativity, is the commitment to the integration of Biblical truths into students’ lives. The WisdomQuest program seeks to help students extract principles of making wise choices based on familiar passages of Scripture. Subsequently, DecisionQuest leads students through basic doctrinal truths with touch points related to decisions about the purposeful course of their lives. Together, they form the foundation for adopting a Biblical worldview with its implication for the integration of Scriptural principles into all aspects of life.

Whatever curriculum is used, the ultimate challenge for us, as teachers, is to daily bring students into the awesome presence of God through the study of His Word. As we faithfully do our part, He has promised that His Word will not return to Him void but will accomplish what He has sent it to do (Isaiah 55:11).

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