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| We proclaim Him [Jesus], warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. |
| —Colossians 1:28 |
Having spent the last half of my working career in fire protection engineering as a developer of educational materials, and later as the Director of Training for the large Highly Protected Risk insurance company where I worked for 30 years, I became exposed to a great deal of philosophy and psychology related to educational processes for adults. Eventually, we redesigned our entire trainging program, transforming it from a fact-based lecture/demonstration-type program to a certification-based program with very specific concept-based goals and enabling objectives for each goal.
In learning how to make such a transformation, I spent many hours studying the research on adult learning. I observed how the various concepts of trying to understand how adults learn had shaped various educational methodologies. I saw how typical classroom instruction—such as the type of instruction I experienced in junior high school, high school, and college in the late 1950s through the late 1960s—had changed.
Over time, the lecture/demonstration was out. Learning in study groups was in. Educational program developers moved from lists of facts that must be memorized and repeated to specific problem-solving activities. At the same time, educational psychologists researched how environmental conditions, personal background, race and gender influences, home life stability, and other factors affected how adults learn.
Someone whose teaching career spanned the early 1950s through the early to middle 1980s would be astonished at how the packaging of educational programming has changed. Whether or not all the changes were truly beneficial is a matter for some debate. Nevertheless, teachers from the so-called “old school” would be lost in today’s business-based classroom.
The one place where training and education has not changed—at least has not changed as rapidly—is within the church. Yes, many teachers of Christian Education classes use PowerPoint as a basis for visual learning. But, the underlying educational philosophy of how to teach people about God, His Kingdom, and His written Word have not really changed all that much.
I do realize that some providers of educational materials for the church have attempted to update the educational methodologies on which they base their offerings. But, a close examination of those materials soon reveals that most materials rest on a foundation much more similar to the construction of materials from the 1950s and 1960s.
Let me hasten to add that I am not intending to criticize either the church or the developer of adult Christian education materials. Rather, I am intending to offer a bit of background to my main assertion of this blog post. I believe that the verse printed at the beginning of this blog post contains a valuable clue as to how God expects those teaching adults to go about the task of sharing His divine truth with the people under their care.
Notice what the Apostle Paul writes to the “Christ’s-ones” gathered at the church in Colosse. Paul’s statement includes the overriding goal: “…that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” So, maturity in the faith becomes a critically important goal for Christian formation.
Instead of having countless numbers of so-called “baby Christians” running around the church and the world, God shares, through the voice of His Apostle, that He desires mature Christians. Why? One reason we can seem to discern from other passages of Scripture emerges: so that the mature Christians can face the trials that Satan and the world will heap on them in an attempt to destroy their faith and make them wholly ineffective as faithful servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.
With Christian maturity as the goal, what steps does a teacher take to motivate the adults listening to his or her teaching? The Apostle Paul gives us an answer when he writes: “We proclaim Jesus, warning everyone with all wisdom.”
“What?” you may respond. “Are you suggesting that one teaching adults in the church should warn those under his or her care? And, specifically what should that warning include?”
Yes! I am precisely suggesting that the Apostle Paul urges those reading his words to warn fellow believers. When one warns someone, that warning usually comes in a very direct, very emphatic form of expression. If you plan to step out into on-coming traffic, I may warn you with a shout. I may even try to restrain you from your forward movement. That is exactly the kind of warning that Paul urges those teaching to give.
As to what teachers should warn their adult learners, I would answer that the learners need to comprehend and fully understand every positive and every negative teaching of Scripture. Adult Christians who seek to move into full maturity as followers of Christ do not need feel-good pseudo-psychological self-help messages. They need “iron-sharpening-iron” admonitions and testimonies of what God expects of them and how to begin doing exactly what God expects.
I don’t know how you may feel about my analysis. But, I do know that I am more fully convinced, with each passing day, that the kind of deep-love-motivated, fear-of-the-Lord-encapsulated, packed-with-wisdom teaching must begin to find a place in our Evangelical churches. This will become especially true if the world around us continues to slide more deeply into sin.
