What Are You Willing to Do?

A school not far from where I live is changing the way children will learn. They are investing a large sum of money to make this change, but the end result is the children will actually learn. 

What are they doing? Well, they are rearranging the classrooms from straight rows of chairs and a model where the children listen to the teacher talk, to round tables where children work in groups to learn together, guided by the teacher.

Why am I writing about this? Because we in the church need to be like this school. We need to stop using a model for "teaching" which was started hundreds of years ago - if not longer.

We now know children learn - yes, actually learn when they are able to interact and participate in the learning process. Not when they are supposed to sit and listen.

If a school is willing to make such a big change - and spend the money required to make this change, then why isn't the church? Yes, what they teach in school matters, but what we want children to learn in church is far more important.

Children learn, truly learn when they are able to be involved, engaged and part of what is happening. Whey they are able to discover for themselves the truth of God's Word. And, when they learn in this way, they are far less likely to end up learning what we do not want them to learn . . . God, Jesus, the Bible and church are boring. Far too many churches teach this and it is not true.

So, what are you willing to do to be sure the children in your church actually learn the truth - God, Jesus, the Bible and church are not boring and they are able to learn, love and walk with God?