Category Archives: Church Ministries

People may not always be able to put what they want from their Bible teachers into words but their inattentiveness, and maybe even lack of attendance, suggest they aren’t finding what they want. Here are three things that have biblical merit.

What do people want from their Bible Teachers?

1) People want Bible teachers to provide real answers to real problems.

Bible teachers need to respond with candor rather than mere cliches, fluff, and ‘Christianized’ language. And, they need to be answering the real questions, the ones people are asking, not just the ones they think people should ask. They need to be willing to truly engage people and not shut them down or minimize their questions. If their Bible teachers aren’t going to provide realness, they may turn to the world for answers.

Let’s remember that God intends for His Word to be useful in people’s lives.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

2) People want Bible teachers to be relational, not merely dispensers of knowledge.

Despite all the social media in our high tech world of information overload, people still feel a disconnect. Bible teachers who take a holistic approach to students will touch their lives so much more than those who merely show up and pour all they know into their students. Teachers who structure for dialog and interaction among fellow students, as well as themselves, will tap into a need people may not even acknowledge they have. If Bible teachers aren’t consciously promoting community in their class, they may be blocking it, and hence perpetuate the disconnectedness people already feel.

Let’s remember all the “one another” commands of Scripture that promote supportive relationships.

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Rom. 12:5)

3) People want Bible teachers to be relevant.

Bible teachers who tap into the real needs of students will make greater inroads into their lives than those who fail to consider the implications of the lesson to people’s lives. Relevant Bible teachers tend to grab people’s attention so they can step out of the world and into the Word wherein they will find a God who not only cares about but is also able to meet their needs.

Lets remember that walking the walk goes beyond head knowledge to being able to see the implications of truth to our lives and then applying it.

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience … (Col. 1:9-11)