Every week, youth workers devote countless hours to teaching. They hope this investment will enable lives to be transformed as students encounter Christ, but what makes teaching effective and engaging? To find out, we talked to four youth ministry veterans:
Youth ministry guru Duffy Robbins is a well-respected speaker and a Professor of Youth Ministry at Eastern University. Duffy is also the author of several youth ministry books, including Speaking to Teeangers: How to Think About, Create and Deliver Effective Messages, which he co-authored with Doug Fields.
The founder of the popular youth ministry website, LifeInStudentMinistry.com, Tim Schmoyer is also a regular contributor at Dare 2 Share’s “Relational and Relentless Blog.” He’s author of Life in Student Ministry: Practical Conversations on Thriving in Youth Ministry.
Josh Griffin, the high school pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., blogs frequently at the widely read site MoreThanDodgeball.com. He’s also the author of 99 Thoughts for Youth Workers and 99 Thoughts for Small Group Leaders.
Pamela Erwin’s desire to help students think critically and creatively is evident in the 25 years she’s spent investing in youth. Pamela is a professor of youth ministry and practical theology at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn., and author of A Critical Approach to Youth Culture: Its Influence and Implications for Ministry.
YouthWorker Journal: What goals in youth ministry are achieved through teaching?
Duffy Robbins: Helping kids nurture a relationship with Christ, make good life choices and be equipped for ministry. All of this is drawn from
Josh Griffin: Dispensing information is part of teaching, but far more important are inspiration and challenge. Teaching gives youth workers the opportunity to combine personal experiences and story with the eternal relevance of God’s Word.
Pamela Erwin: Critical thinking, biblical literacy and teaching the story of God’s revelation. There’s a tremendous difference between teaching objectives (what content we want to communicate) and learning objectives (the transformative learning that takes place through an experience). A primary transformative skill is thinking critically. Youth ministries are excellent places to teach biblical literacy basics such as the books of the Bible and key characters of Scripture. Youth workers also need to help students understand the big story of God’s work in humanity from creation to Revelation, along with the individual stories of God’s activity in Scripture coupled with how God is constantly pursuing them. Students need to know their stories are as important to God as those in Scripture.
YWJ: What makes teaching effective?
Tim Schmoyer: It’s got to be real to the person teaching it. Too many people teach out of a curriculum rather than from their lives. You’ve got to have a lesson plan, but it has to be authentic. When someone is passionate, you can’t help but be intrigued.
Duffy: An inductive approach, which says students need to explore before we explain. We learn best what we learn ourselves. If there’s not solid teaching, it’s a body without a skeleton: Lots of nerves, with no structure.
Josh: Effectiveness is in the hands of the communicator and the Holy Spirit. As teachers, we communicate to the best of our ability, prepare and make the message memorable by engaging students with relevant teaching, humor, illustrations and testimonies. At the same time, God’s Spirit works to change hearts and lives.
YWJ: Is giving a message the most effective way of teaching students?
Josh: It’s effective and God’s chosen method. He’s the One who chose the foolishness of preaching in Scripture.
Pamela: Giving a message is only as effective as the experiential opportunities that are integrated with it. In a 30- to 45-minute teaching session, interspersing two to three five- to 10-minute messages with activities such as one-to-one responses to questions or small group discussions can be helpful.
Tim: The most transformational teaching I’ve seen is not a sermon or a youth group lesson. It’s sharing life together. I see that happen most on international mission trips, when you’re putting kids in uncomfortable positions and processing so they discover the truth for themselves. When kids discover, they take ownership long-term.
YWJ: What’s the difference between entertaining and engaging students?
Duffy: Passivity verses activity. I watch entertainment. It doesn’t require anything of me. With engagement, we’re intentionally provoking and causing dissonance. We’re trying to move for decisions and choices. Engagement is saying, “I want there to be activity on the part of the audience.”
Pamela: There’s a cartoon I use when talking about teaching. A college student meets another student after class and says, “That lecture was amazing. Dr. Smith is an incredible teacher!” The student’s friend responds, “What was the class about?” to which the student says, “I have no idea.” It’s sometimes easy for youth workers to impress students with knowledge of the Bible and by telling interesting and funny stories, such that they walk away thinking we’re wonderful and funny, wanting to come back. That’s entertainment. Engagement compels students to encounter a question and respond with their emotion and intellect to the ideas—not the person.
YWJ: How can youth workers engage students who have different learning styles and are different ages?
Duffy: Engage them by recognizing there are some kids who learn by doing; others by feeling, listening and questioning. Give experiences that address different learning styles. Communicate well. Use every engaging process you can: words, narratives, hand motions and eye contact. Ask kids to raise their hands. If your ministry is only speaking, then you’re ignoring multiple learning styles.
Tim: Authenticity connects with whatever age group you’re speaking to. Younger kids might not know what you’re talking about, but they’ll be intrigued because you’re vulnerable. That earns respect and builds trust.
Pamela: Incorporate teaching methods that target different learning styles and ages. Teachers typically teach to their own learning styles. Be conscious of that as you plan and incorporate styles that might be uncomfortable to you. As far as multiple ages, plan activities that pull older students into leadership roles, such as appointing them as facilitators in small group discussions.
YWJ: What role does technology play in teaching?
Duffy: It gives you one more tool to help people explore. Images can sometimes paint something vividly where words fail to communicate. The downside of media is that pictures don’t tell the whole story. They’re limited in their vocabulary and range of topics. If it’s used wrongly, technology preoccupies the speaker and distracts you from your relationship with the audience. If you’re going to ask the audience to make decisions, you have to build rapport.
Tim: We ask, “How can I utilize technology in my teaching?” but maybe our teaching doesn’t need technology. Maybe our lessons would be more effective without distractions. Maybe kids would think more if we didn’t skip to a video clip. Technology is a tool. Use it only if it enhances your message. That’s fewer times than you think.
Josh: I love when an advance in technology gives us the chance to deepen students’ experiences and retention. We often use students’ cell phones in services. We’ve issued Facebook challenges to be done right during the talk. I also love when technology is underplayed, such as at a winter retreat in the mountains where cell phones wouldn’t work even if students did bring them. Those are times when disconnected students get connected to God’s still, small voice.
YWJ: What’s the difference between teaching and preaching?
Duffy: Preaching is a category of teaching. You also can teach through games, movies, music and travel. When you’re preaching, you’re teaching something, even if you’re not teaching it intentionally.
Pamela: Preaching is about proclamation. At best, effective preaching exegetes a passage of Scripture, communicates one point and invites a response. Teaching is about engaging students intellectually and experientially in ways that foster a broader sense of learning.
YWJ: Imagine you’re talking to a youth worker who’s been asked to preach to the congregation. What advice would you give him or her?
Tim: When you teach at big church, not everyone knows you; but they’ll develop opinions about you based on your message. They’ll form assumptions about how good of a leader you are, if they’d trust their kids with you and how mature you are. Put your best foot forward. Directly handle God’s Word. Don’t treat it as a big youth group lesson. Treat it with reverence and respect by risking vulnerability and teaching from your own life.
Pamela: Keep it simple. Study and pray over the Scripture passage, identifying the key principle of your message. Ensure that every word, thought and idea moves you toward the question to which you want listeners to respond.
YWJ: What else do we need to know?
Duffy: There are five big weaknesses of spoken communication. The first is that we don’t do our homework. We don’t take words seriously enough. A second is that we jump from one amazing story to the next, but we don’t really develop an appetite for Scripture in kids. We develop an appetite for stories. While stories are all over Scripture, there’s also history, poetry and didactic passages. The third mistake is not using an inductive approach. It’s explaining without exploring. That couples with a fourth mistake. We’re talking before kids are listening. We don’t work hard enough to engage their attention. The fifth big mistake is to assume we’ve just got to deliver the goods. If all we had to do was give kids meat, that’d be easy. Instead, we’ve got to make them hungry for meat.
Tim: Think of teaching not just as a stage thing, but as a life thing. Use teachable moments. Ask good questions. Learn, grow and stretch yourself so you can teach from what God is doing in your life. Listen to other teachers, remembering you’re learning from them, but still becoming who God created you to be.
Josh: Service projects, praise and worship nights, and a great video are all part of teaching. The age of the talking head has passed. Jesus was never just a talking head. His messages were filled with stories, images and illustrations.
Pamela: Teaching is serious business. Youth workers need to realize the weightiness of the privilege of instructing students. At the same time, I’ve learned I can show up to a teaching context well prepared and work hard to create an optimal learning environment, but the task of learning is ultimately up to the student, what’s going on in her life and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Recommended Resources:
Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication by Andy Stanley and Lane Jones
Speaking to Teenagers: How to Think About, Create and Deliver Effective Messages by Doug Fields and Duffy Robbins
Creative Teaching Methods by Marlene D. LeFever
Learning Styles by Marlene LeFever
Preaching for Life Change DVD series from Rick Warren
Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
