Pastor Pusch

With every job comes it’s ups and downs. There are portions that you love and elements that you endure. I suppose that can be said about much in life. One part my job I really enjoy, an element that keeps me coming back, is the opportunity to be a pastor to pastors; a minister to ministers. Everyday I get to work with pastors and their churches in all sorts of ministry aspects, especially in the realm of Christian Education and Discipleship, an often over looked ministry in the local church.

If there is one are in the local church where we really struggle, it is in the area of discipleship or ’spiritual transformation’. The phrase ’spiritual transformation’ was introduced to me by some friends/Christian Educators who lead in another denomination. I like the phrase because it accurately conveys the change that is to take place while on the road of discipleship. The Greek word for disciple, “ma-thay-tes”, means “learner” or “pupil”. In other words, a disciple is one who is a learner or student. In the world of Christianity, a true believer is one who submits himself as a learner or student of Jesus Christ and His teachings.

Where is the struggle? There several areas within the church that gives explanation as to why they struggle in the area of discipleship. Here are 5 situations I have dealt with the last 4 years, 1. Sunday School/Small Group is just a time filler 2. It’s all about Big Church 3. The Pastor does not care.  4. HELP 5. People just do not get it.

1. Time Filler – Sunday School/Small Group (whatever you call) is more than just “something” till fill up an hour of time. I would almost rather encourage churches not to have such ministries if the only intended purpose was to fill an hour because “that is what you are supposed to do”.

2. Big Church – One of the elements I enjoy most about church is corporate worship; gathering in one accord, the body of Christ comes together for the sole purpose of exalting the name of the Lord. The problem is that most of our attention is given to this ONE ministry in the church. It seems to be the church’s only focus so much so that more effort, time, and resources are devoted to it while discipleship, spiritual transformation suffers. For too long numerical growth has been the measuring rod to determine the success of a church. The thought is that a church must be successful if they are growing numerically. Numerical growth is not necessarily a bad thing, however, if transformation is not taking place, the size of your church means absolutely nothing.

3. Pastoral Apathy – While the pastor may never come out and say he does not care, his leadership would speak otherwise. Pastor Johnny Hunt of First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA reminds his people repeatedly that if there are only going to give one hour to the church, they should go to Sunday School. He knows that is where the rubber meets the road. It is the pastor responsibility to train and equip people for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11-13)

4. Help – Unlike number 3, the pastor really does care about the spiritual growth of his church, but he is having a hard time recruiting help.

5. WE JUST DON’T GET IT! If becoming a Christian means that we believe Jesus is God and by that we accept Him as Lord in our lives then how is it we can ignore the “follow me” imperatives of scripture. By accepting Christ, we are placing our lives in Him, yet the thought of being imitators of Christ is unappealing. It is as if we only want the benefits of what it means to be a Christian without having to become living sacrifices. Instead of placing our lives in His, we place God in our lives. Big difference.

Pastor Johnny Hunt refers to the process of discipleship as becoming “fully devoted followers of Christ.” When we are truly saved, the process of sanctification begins. It is a life long process of become more like Christ.

Last Saturday I was the guest speaker at a Christian Education Summit in North Alabama. I began the 3  hour session discussing the importance of effectively communicating with students (young or old). I shared with them this triangle I developed as a model for how we should approach our mission as Christian Educators/Teachers. This model simply says that “Life is held up by our Faith in God and the Truth of His Word”. My challenge to the group was for them to really focus in on evaluating their teaching style and in making sure they understood the difference between teaching lessons and teaching lives. It was a challenge to focus more attention on the application and response to God’s Word more so than the mere transmission of it. As teachers and Christian educators, we must concern ourselves with the 12 inch journey between head and heart.

For further reading into the difference between teaching lessons and teaching lives, click here.

By the way… I truly enjoyed my time with the people in North Alabama. I believe all of us walked away encouraged by one another. Thank you for the wonderful opportunity.

What is the purpose of teaching? What are your goals in teaching? What is it that you want your students to come away with? Is your role in teaching just to fulfill an hour called Sunday School or Small Group? Are you simply going through the motions? The main question here is, are you teaching lessons or are you teaching lives? There is a huge difference and it mainly comes in the form of Life Change. I believe that Life Change should be the desired result of every teacher. 

Teaching Lessons. When we make it our goal to simply teach a lesson, all to often we get caught in the mere transference of content. Many times it is not about the student at all and more about making sure we transfer lesson content into the heads of our students. We even get caught up in the notion that we have to finish the lesson at any cost. Finishing a lesson is well and good, but when it comes at the expense of our students actually grasping what the Word of God says and applying it to their lives, we may need to refocus our intent. What is the value of the Word of God in our lives if we do not take time to understand it and apply it? 

Teaching Lives. No doubt you have heard me speak or write about the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. I will try not to bore you with a lengthy review only to say that teaching lives focuses heavily on heart knowledge. Teaching lives means that we are more concern with making sure our students know the Word of God, yes, but even more so making sure they understand how to apply it. Our focus is more on the student than it is the mere content of the lesson. Please do not misunderstand, solid content makes for good teaching, however solid content is no good if you do not know how to apply it. 

In his book, Understanding Teaching, Dr. Greg Carlson defines teaching by placing one hand on the Word and God, the other hand on the life of a student, and bringing them together for life change. Go ahead, try it. Stretch your right hand out to your side and call it the Word of God. Take your left hand and stretch it out to your left and call it life. Now, bring your two hands to the middle and interlock your fingers. That is what teaching is all about. We must make it our desire to come along side of our students and not only give them the Word, but help them make the Word of God come alive in their hearts and lives.

Recommended Reading
Understanding Teaching – Dr. Greg Carlson
Creative Bible Teaching – Lawrence Richards
Communicating for Change  - Andy Stanley