Learning...You're Doing It Wrong.

Today was teacher conference day so I came home early to hang out with my kids and work some from home. I spent a good bit of that time with my daughter who is in second grade, helping her rewrite a story for school. There was no spell check, no grammar check for me to depend on to help her. I was on my own.

My son is doing division with remainders. Just so you know, I still have horrible memories of learning division with remainders. My third grade year was spent in the hall more than the class so you get the idea. I am not really sure some times even how to help him on some of the stuff they tackle. I feel I am on my own.

Teaching has come a long way since my good old days and I realize my parents must have felt the same way. I can only imagine how teachers must feel.

I guess the biggest change is the idea that all we're trying to do in education is move information from Point A (the teacher) to Point B (the student). That would be great IF everyone learned that way but most of us don't. David Kolb's Learning Styles points to four different ways regarding how we each learn. Learning Styles by Marlene D. LeFever was pivotal in my understanding of this idea. Of course full credit goes to my mentors, Dr. Donald M. Joy and Dr. Catherine Stonehouse who taught me how much more learning is done by living.

Jesus taught by doing, by relaying information, by telling stories and relating to needs. There was never just one method that he used. Today, the church has grown dependent on really, only one style of teaching, that of proclamation. Diane Hynson has a very helpful article on how the church can be more effective in Uniting Knowledge and Vital Piety. Such learning is not merely for children but for us all.

When are we not just going to liberate God from the church but allow God to liberate us from ourselves? I am not trying to fault those teachers and learners who learn most effectively by lecture and proclamation. What I am asking for is for us to consider those of us who who learn better by making a mess! Make room for the servant, for the artist, and the storyteller. My hope is that Crossroads UMC will be the kind of place for faith to be taught in many ways and lived out in every life.

How do you live without doing anything? I think that would be called existing and that does not sound like much of a life. How do you call what you do faith if it is never put to the test by stepping out?

If Jesus never came into our world, would He still be the Savior?

John 3:13-21 NASB "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14) "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15) so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16) "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17) "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18) "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19) "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20) "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21) "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

This Holy Week, here is to all of you practicing the truth - I am thankful that this is one thing I'm not doing on my own.


May I Ask: How do you learn best?

May I Suggest: Consider how people learn. Look at Kolb's descriptions. How would that help you lead better? Teacher better? Be a better friend? Parent? Disciple?