Challenges of Interactive Teaching

Interactive teaching, part 3

Photo by ronnarong

We’ve looked at some of the benefits of interactive teaching. So let’s consider some of the challenges of teaching this way:

“It takes a lot more time.”
This is true. If you’re studying a passage of Scripture, and you have people respond to you, and invite them to raise their hands and ask questions, it’s going to take a lot longer than if you do all the talking. You should know this going in. This is going to frustrate some people, especially those who prefer a short, streamlined service where they can get in, get done, and get out. (A friend of mine calls this “drive-thru church.”) So you need to be clear about what your priorities are, and why. What outcome are we seeking? Are we willing to do almost anything to draw a large crowd, or are we focused on what will be most effective at making faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who are continually learning, growing and maturing?

“Overly talkative people will dominate the interaction.”
This is a real, ever-present, danger. This kind of format can draw people who are looking for a soapbox, a platform from which to opine and share with everyone their incredible wisdom on everything. Others, in their enthusiasm, may forget any self-restraint and eagerly answer every question asked of the people, and pepper the teacher with a barrage of questions. This is something pastors and teachers are just going to have deal with when teaching interactively. (And you do have to deal with it.)

Part of the way we serve the church is by providing gentle leadership to the whole study process. We’re not just teaching a particular passage, we’re teaching how to study the Bible, and how to interact as we study together as a church. From time to time, I have to begin with a reminder: “Don’t forget, questions are welcome, but only questions. There are just too many of us for everyone to be able to share their views and insights on the passage we’re studying. So you’re welcome to respond—briefly—when I ask you guys questions, and feel free to raise your hand and ask a question when something isn’t clear to you. But please hold onto your comments and insights until after the service. We can discuss as much as you want then.”

You’ll be continually seeking balance in this area. It’s a bit like parents finding the balance between being too strict and too permissive. At times we have to do some course correction to bring us back into balance. But this is another thing an interactive teacher must deal with. (And you’ll have to learn the art of gently and inoffensively interrupting someone who’s having difficulty ending their comments!)

“Someone might say something inappropriate.”
Not only is it a distinct possibility someone might say something in a less than appropriate manner during an interactive study, it’s very likely! Or at least it should be. Why do I say that? Because we’re trying to reach the same range of people Jesus reached. He spent quite a bit of time with prostitutes and tax collectors, and I doubt their language and manners were the most genteel.

What’s more important to us, that everyone act like good religious boys and girls in church—even the non-Christians? Or that people are genuinely grappling with, and being changed by, the truth of Scripture at a deep heart level? If a non-Christian is doing this in our midst, and they process some of this out loud in their response or question, sometimes that may be expressed in ways that might make us uncomfortable. That’s good! We need to be uncomfortable! We need to sacrifice our comfort in order to reach people, both outside and inside the church.

Of course, there’s a balance to this, too. If someone is repeatedly dropping F-bombs, it might be necessary to have a gentle, respectful chat with them. But an occasional inappropriately worded response or question can be encouraging confirmation that we’re actually reaching some of the people we say we want to reach! These are the kinds of problems the church should be encountering.

“If I let the people ask any questions, they’re going to ask something I can’t answer.”
Good! That shows they’re really thinking about these things. A good question to which we don’t know the answer should never threaten us—unless we’re pretending to know everything! Of course, we need to be “laboring in the Word,” pushing up our sleeves and doing the hard work of studying the biblical text. We need to be prepared to teach a passage of Scripture, not just deliver a message. So pastors and teachers should have the answers to many, even most, questions that might be asked.

But if we see ourselves as fellow students of Scripture who are still learning and growing ourselves, a new and probing question concerning Scripture should delight us! And our enthusiasm will be infectious. The people will see this isn’t about being self-righteous and assuming we have every detail nailed down. Studying Scripture is about the joy of discovering more about God and knowing more deeply his love, truth, life, grace, holiness, etc. (And one of the best ways to learn to answer tough questions is by answering tough questions!)

“This would be hard to do in larger churches.”
The size of a group will obviously affect how interactive it can be. We have the freedom to be much more interactive in a group of 10 or 12 than we do a group of 100 or 200. So the level of interaction will change in a way that fits the group with whom you’re working. You can still be interactive in your teaching even with very large groups, you just have to think through how you’ll do it. (Will you have microphones on hand for people with questions? Should you have a set time for questions and answers during your study?) If you think your church service is too large to effectively teach interactively . . . then maybe your church service is just too large. (Can a church be too large? We’ll explore this question in a future post.)

“I tried to teach interactively, but I couldn’t control the study.”
Interactive teaching is a very different process than monologue speaking. It’s like the difference between swimming and surfing. I can swim from point A to point B, and it’s a fairly straightforward process. But surfing is entirely different. It’s not that surfers let the wave take them just anywhere; they’re still controlling the surfboard. But they have to ride the wave to get where they want to go. Surfing requires a different skill set.

The same is true for interactive teaching. It’s part art form. Someone who truly loves teaching (not just speaking), who loves to help people learn, who’s thrilled to see that light bulb moment when someone really gets it—these people take to interactive teaching pretty quickly because it’s so much more effective at fostering real learning and growth. And that’s what it’s all about for them—real learning. These teachers also understand that new and different skills have to be learned and practiced, they don’t develop automatically. (Here are some new skills you’ll need: how to get from someone’s rabbit trail back to the flow of the passage in a way that feels smooth and natural; how to correct someone who’s wrong but still encourage them to keep thinking and questioning; how to ask good questions that lead naturally to the next point, rather than announcing the point yourself; etc.)

Some people find it really difficult to relinquish this kind of control. It’s not so much a matter of developing additional teaching skills, they just hate teaching this way. For them, it goes against the grain. If we’re honest with ourselves, it can be hard to put all the time and effort into preparing to teach a passage of Scripture, only to have someone steal your thunder by knowing an answer to a question or by seeing something important in the text—that you thought only you saw! It can grate on us when people ask questions at the wrong time and mess up our outline, or when they don’t word things the way we’d prefer.

There can be different reasons why these things bother us. Maybe we’re struggling with a pride issue. This is something we all must confront at times. How much of my motivation and the way I respond are generated more from pride than a desire to lovingly serve? Does it bother us when we don’t get credit for something we know, or when someone else gets praise for a helpful insight we were going to share? These can be warning signs we’re too focused on ourselves.

These kind of struggles can be opportunities to take another look at our gifting. Maybe teaching isn’t really your gifting at all. I know people who think they should be teaching, but who don’t like actually interacting with people. (Here’s a hint: that doesn’t work!) Some love studying Scripture deeply, but they’re frustrated with the process of helping people learn. Others love the creative energy of crafting something and presenting it to audience—intending to truly move and inspire people—but they feel awkward and ill-equipped about publicly discussing what they’ve created.

In cases like these, both the individual and the church would be much healthier if these people determine their strongest areas of gifting and passion, and find ways to use these gifts to most effectively love and edify the church body. There’s nothing wrong with having gifting other than teaching! On the other hand, if you have a passion for helping people learn and understand more about God, that passion for teaching will inevitably become apparent.

Don’t forget to exhort.
Scripture doesn’t just call pastoral leaders to teach the church, but also to exhort the church. Teaching in the church shouldn’t be merely a transfer of information, teaching should bring about real spiritual growth and life change. There should be an element of coaching in our teaching. As teachers in the church, we should be encouraging and urging people (and ourselves) to take what we’re learning and faithfully live it out in our daily lives.

“But some people won’t like it.”
No matter what we do as a church, we’re not going to please everyone. We can’t. If some people are going to be displeased with us, let’s make sure they’re displeased with us for the right reasons! Are we seeking to be biblically faithful and as effective as possible at helping people come to trust in Christ, and helping each other grow and mature in the faith? If we know biblically what our focus is supposed to be, then it’s much easier to deal with it when people don’t like our approach.

Some people will be drawn to interactive study of Scripture, and others won’t. Some will tell you, “I don’t want to hear all these other people. You’re the pastor or teacher, I only want to hear you.” That’s when we need to be very clear about what Scripture calls us to do, and the most effective ways to fulfill this calling. We must never fail to consider the input of others in the church, of course. But we also don’t decide what’s best solely on the basis of popular opinion. The fact is, we Christians often don’t know what’s best for us. So we’re continually driven back to the Word, and we seek to live out what the Bible teaches as wisely as we can.

Ministry is rarely neat and tidy and quickly concluded the way we see in many books and conferences. Real life is messy; and real ministry to real people can be messy, too. Don’t forget: Jesus didn’t disciple 12 units. He discipled Peter . . . and James . . . and John . . . He discipled 12 individuals (and many others, as well). We, too, are teaching very different people with different backgrounds, different levels of knowledge, different levels of spiritual maturity, different personalities and ways of learning, etc., etc. Some may prefer the antiseptic security of what can be neatly contained, packaged and delivered, but what is sometimes messy can also be organic and thriving and vibrant. There must be order to what we do, of course; a chaotic free-for-all isn’t edifying for anyone. But we can easily have so much order—so much of our control—that we choke off the life.

In his excellent book Teaching to Change Lives, Howard Hendricks asked:

Wouldn’t it be great in our churches if people would simply stand up when they didn’t understand what the speaker was trying to communicate, and say, “Wait a minute. I have no idea what you’re talking about”? It would guarantee no one would go to sleep!

As a young teacher, I read this and wrote in the margin, “Why not?” We need to refuse to be bound by the sacred cows of either what is traditional or what is trendy. We need to be willing to take a fresh look at Scripture, in its context, to see how we can be more faithfully biblical, and also be seeking how we can be wise in applying scriptural church principles in our current context.

When you try interactive teaching, it can be thrilling to see people become active participants in the study of Scripture, to hear their excited questions as they come to better understand Scripture for themselves—and better know God through his Word. But you should also know this. Once people take some sense of ownership in their own process of learning and growing, and they get used to being able to raise their hand and ask a question when something is confusing or needs to be clarified, it’s extremely difficult for them to return to sitting quietly as part of a passive audience.

And once you teachers begin to witness this dynamic process during your teaching, when the people start seeing what you want them to see in the Scriptures (rather than you telling them), when they get so into the flow of the passage they’re naturally asking questions that lead right into the next verse or paragraph, when you see the exhilaration of a Christian personally grasping a key biblical concept or understanding a difficult passage for the first time—not only will it be worth dealing with all of the challenges we’ve listed, but you’ll likely find it impossible to ever return to teaching without the interaction!

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Related posts:

Preaching or Teaching?

Why I Teach Interactively

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