Way back in my college days, I took a couple of organic chemistry classes. Anyone who has taken organic chemistry probably recalls the nightmares that organic chemistry presents. The first class wasn't too bad. It was about nomenclature, which is to say, it's about naming the different molecules and processes. Overall, not too bad, especially if one has a decent memory.
The second class, though, proved to be something else. This class was when all those names started to interact together. I remember looking at some of the models and processes and wondering if my mind would explode. The thing that perhaps hurt most was the way that the class was conducted. Now, I'll admit that I'm a very hands-on learner. I learn by trying out stuff and seeing how it works. But my second organic chemistry class was a pure lecture. In an auditorium seating a few hundred, the professor stood in front with a microphone and slide show to teach. Needless to say, I struggled with that class. (To this day, it's the only class I have ever dropped, simply because I absolutely could not grasp the material, at least, in the way it was presented.)
Different people learn in different ways. Some people learn by hearing. Some people learn by seeing. Some people learn by interacting. Some people learn by some combination of these. We've all run across that person who got a lot out of a lecture, whereas you fell asleep. There's that person that wants to read the directions all the way through before beginning the assembly, and then there's the person who wants to start putting it together without ever opening the directions.
We learn in different ways, and that same thought should carry over to the preaching task. Simply standing in front of everyone and delivering a sermon that resembles a lecture fails to take into account how people learn. Yes, God's Spirit can and does still work through such an approach, but that same Spirit also works when other approaches are brought out in the preaching task. A story may reach the heart of someone that a lecture would have put to sleep. An object serving as a sign might catch the interest of that person who is easily distracted. A short, memorable phrase repeated over and over may catch in the mind like a song lyric. A brief skit may cause the listeners/watchers to engage the teaching in a more effectual way.
We're all created unique, which means that we learn in different ways. Thanks be to our God, who demonstrates His creativity, and may He guide our wisdom to recognize that and make use of it.
The second class, though, proved to be something else. This class was when all those names started to interact together. I remember looking at some of the models and processes and wondering if my mind would explode. The thing that perhaps hurt most was the way that the class was conducted. Now, I'll admit that I'm a very hands-on learner. I learn by trying out stuff and seeing how it works. But my second organic chemistry class was a pure lecture. In an auditorium seating a few hundred, the professor stood in front with a microphone and slide show to teach. Needless to say, I struggled with that class. (To this day, it's the only class I have ever dropped, simply because I absolutely could not grasp the material, at least, in the way it was presented.)
Different people learn in different ways. Some people learn by hearing. Some people learn by seeing. Some people learn by interacting. Some people learn by some combination of these. We've all run across that person who got a lot out of a lecture, whereas you fell asleep. There's that person that wants to read the directions all the way through before beginning the assembly, and then there's the person who wants to start putting it together without ever opening the directions.
We learn in different ways, and that same thought should carry over to the preaching task. Simply standing in front of everyone and delivering a sermon that resembles a lecture fails to take into account how people learn. Yes, God's Spirit can and does still work through such an approach, but that same Spirit also works when other approaches are brought out in the preaching task. A story may reach the heart of someone that a lecture would have put to sleep. An object serving as a sign might catch the interest of that person who is easily distracted. A short, memorable phrase repeated over and over may catch in the mind like a song lyric. A brief skit may cause the listeners/watchers to engage the teaching in a more effectual way.
We're all created unique, which means that we learn in different ways. Thanks be to our God, who demonstrates His creativity, and may He guide our wisdom to recognize that and make use of it.
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