About a month ago, I received this comment about my talk posts:
 

Her interpretation of the Bible stories is usually from a very different perspective from mine….makes me think!

 
After recently blogging about the process of teaching being a process of learning for both the child and the leader, you can imagine I took this as a huge compliment.

I firmly believe that Christian parents should be reading the well known stories of the bible to their children, that the teaching time should be additional to that. In that light I often strive to see different twists on the stories as a way of diving deeper into what may already be familiar.

However old or new the passage is to me, I always start with these 3 : perspective, history, and application.

The bible gives us lots of room to move our viewpoint. It’s often useful to identify all the characters, who is speaking, who is on the sidelines. Could the story be told with a different voice? When you look at David and Goliath from the philistine camp it looks very different, the character of David pales before the might of God. Imagine telling the story of Jesus’s temptation from the view of the sand dunes or perhaps an angel taking watch in Heaven. Also, speaking from a different time frame allows us to show outcomes of actions rather than leave the story hanging outside of the big bible narrative, many of these stories came by oral tradition.


Historical study on a basic level makes a big difference. Social history can place a story and inform you of the important factors through the witnesses eyes. Where in time was the story placed? What the clothes, food, and social rules were, can shape the events? Fishermen were amongst the hardest hit by the tax collectors in gospel times and the Sabbath rules make Jesus’s actions even more scandalous. Also go wide on the personal history of the characters, the other times they appear in scripture. Their past and future, shape how we see the actions in a given story. Mordecai was a descendant of Saul who had fought the Malachites, Haman’s people, the story is an important echo of events.


Often we choose the controlling action in a story in a bid to get the children to, or not to, repeat it. Acts of the bible aren’t always repeatable, but the emotions and motivations often are. I had always taught John the baptist linked to baptism, but on JWL I linked it to humility. Here was the great newspapers Elijah so humble that he wouldn’t dare to untie the sandal of Jesus. I’ve never baptised anyone, but I can show humility. Equally, the negatives aspects can also be positive. Saul’s blindness was a gift, for his eyes opened in more ways than one. Examining the ways of worship, and discoveries made can also lead to a huge array of applications that can move passages from the dry page and into everyday action.
 

 
Let me paint you a picture.

The conference was but a few days long: There were streams of teaching – small group sessions where we explored together, beautiful united worship – though we spoke a plethora of languages, and much sharing of stories. During the first meeting we were told we would not simply be talked at but learn from each other, as we journeyed together. At the final seminar we sat in the auditorium for a Q&A . On the stage were the session leaders, people who had taken each group through 8, hour long, conversations on an aspect of ministry. So, I asked the question “What have you learnt during this conference?” * and silence ensued. The leaders looked at each other uncomfortably, the audience shifted in their chairs as the pause became a gap. Slowly some of the respect I had for these leaders imparting their discoveries about God’s Kingdom started to evaporate. Eventually two ventured answers, the others didn’t even try.
 

Teaching is not a one way process. We should learn from the process of teaching. Sometimes we learn something new, sometimes we re-learn something and rediscover something we had forgotten.

 
However much we nod our head at this statement many of us simply don’t take the time to look at the lesson as a place to feed us as teachers. For many teaching becomes a one way process of giving, rather than an act of discovery as we join in reading the life giving scriptures together. This can lead to resentment at being ‘stuck’ in the children’s ministry and not able to be fed in the ‘adult’ service.

So where can we look to learn? Here are a few suggestions – feel free to add yours in the comments below.

What does this passage reveal about the world at that time or in general?
How would this story challenge me if I’d never heard it before?
How can this story transform a child’s life?
What insights can the mind of a child bring to my perspective?
How can I reflect on this passage through the week?
What have I learnt abut the materials and mechanisms of teaching this lesson?
What have I learnt about the mind and heart of a child today?
What have I learnt about my church community today?

 
* the question was specifically, “What have you learnt, as opposed to been inspired by, at the conference?” – the conference was very inspiring, but inspiration doesn’t change things, things change when we learn to act upon them.