12 "Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. 13 Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil."
Hebrews 5:12-14 CSB
When children are young, parents start with spoon-feeding. But if they stopped there, their children would never learn to feed themselves. As ministry leaders, sometimes it’s easier to give a sermon or lecture and let our church members simply consume what we feed them. But if that is all we do, they will never learn to self-feed. Here are five steps to consider when trying to move people from being spoon-fed to being independent in nourishing themselves.
1. Teach ways to dissect and study the Bible as you teach a passage.
In sermons and lessons, leaders can explain how they arrived at a certain conclusion—for example, sharing that they focused on repeated words, highlighted the importance of conjunctions like “therefore” or “but,” or used a concordance to find other uses of a word. Revealing your methodology helps your audience learn how to do it themselves. Telling members which books, commentaries, or resources you use can also encourage and equip them to study on their own.
2. Ask good questions.
Ask questions that promote critical thinking, such as:
What was God saying through the biblical writer?
How did the original audience understand this passage?
How did you arrive at the answer you just gave?
What Scripture supports your answer?
Are there any passages that seem to say something different? If so, how do we reconcile them?
Rather than relying solely on lecture, allowing members to think critically, guiding them to dive into Scripture and discover answers, helps them develop the skills needed to study Scripture independently.
3. Answer questions with biblical answers and direct passages.
This may seem obvious, but many times we offer brief or generalized answers without clearly connecting them to Scripture. The listener may not know where that answer appears in the Bible. At times, we may not immediately know the answer ourselves, but we can invite others to search alongside us as we learn together.
4. Give people opportunities to teach.
As we teach, we should also be mentoring others to do the same. Teaching in pairs—with an understudy—is an effective way to develop and multiply leaders, especially in small groups and Bible studies. Providing opportunities to teach helps people learn how to study for themselves as you observe their process and guide them in sound hermeneutics and teaching skills.
5. Provide resources and training for lay leaders.
Create a library where members can borrow commentaries, books, and other study resources. Offer basic training in hermeneutics, Greek, or study methods you may have learned in seminary, adapted for lay leaders. Give them a taste of the joy and depth that come from thoroughly studying God’s Word for themselves.