Sorry for the long break in this blog series. Had a few things going on including my wife’s surgery and the new single coming out. But now we’re back. If you missed part one, you can check it out here.
Ezra and Special Education, part 1
I was once in school and had teachers. My parents were teachers. I’ve had many friends that were teachers. And now, I have kids in school. Where they have teachers. So I’ve been around a lot of teaching. And I have noticed that over the years we have put more and more effort into understanding how people learn. We are realizing that people learn differently, and therefore we must understand how they learn in order to teach them well.
And so I have begun to wonder why we don’t use these same techniques to share the gospel, to make disciples, to introduce Jesus. I know that some people are doing just that. Some churches are doing awesome jobs. But I don’t know very many of them. I hope some of you will comment below and share with me the things you’ve seen. I’ve seen art used in beautiful ways by Jamie and Jeremy Wells at artworship.org. I’ve seen video used to tell amazing stories by the folks at I Am Second. I’ve done tons of camps with Student Life and watched them use drama in powerful ways. But I still see us most of the time play 4 songs in whatever style is popular at our church, then preach a 30-45 minute sermon in the teaching style favored at our church, closing with one song, and including an offering and announcements somewhere in the process. And I wonder… is this just the least common denominator?
Is there a way to begin to understand how our people learn? To communicate with them in a way that reaches the depths of their hearts? Can we try things that we know are only going to reach a small percentage of our people, but will touch them in a way they have never experienced before? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I am willing to start to ask them.
I am going to ask them of myself too. What should a night in concert look like? Obviously I’ve already changed the formula to some extent by including a lot of teaching and storytelling. But I wonder if that was for you? Or for me? What can I do to help you connect with God in a new and powerful way? What kind of people are coming to Todd Agnew shows? How do they learn? Can I meet them there with the gospel?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts, your stories, and maybe even your plans. Share your stories of churches and teachers that are communicating the gospel in a creative effective way. Teachers, please jump in and share your skills and insights as to how some of the teaching techniques you have learned could be effective in introducing people to Jesus and teaching theology. Maybe share how you learn and how you wish you could be taught. Or just comment with whatever came to your heart and mind as you read. I’d love to hear from you.
Thoughts?
Todd
Todd, Great blog post today. I attend a church that is very rooted in tradition. It works for the most part, but there is a fear of trying new things. I have learned to introduce change in a small ways. My wife and I are both youth leaders and the best decision we made was to start Youth Fellowship Friday’s, which is basically just a time for the youth to hangout and talk. We only do a 20 minute devotional, but with this devotional we get the youth to do a weekly challenge. This week the youth were encouraged to write a TBH (To Be Honest) to a member of our church. This Sunday at our service, we printed a template for a TBH and are asking the congregation to write one for someone they know to help uplift, encourage, and inspire people. You do make a great point though, we oftend don’t introduce other means of learning. I think this coming week I might encourage the youth to draw or paint a picture to go along with our devotional. The other great thing about Friday nights is there are no restrictions on the conversations we have with the youth. We learn more about the youth on a Friday night then we ever did at church on Sunday. This of course helps us learn what we need to teach on Sunday.
On a more personal note, your songs really inspired me when I became a Christian two years ago. When I became a Christian, my life was certainly turned upside down, which was great. I have a lot of growing to do still, but I haven’t regretted a moment of it. My wife and I are both committed to whatever Jesus calls us to do. Your music will always hold a special place for me, since it was the first Christian music I heard that warmed my heart. That same month I became I Christian my wife and I took in a teenager who had been living on his own and had come from an abusive home. Our son younger son who was 3.5 years old adopted him as an older brother. We have since taken in another teenager and have become youth leaders at our church. It isn’t always easy doing God’s work, but it is rewarding. I’m thankful to God for inspriring you to write music, because your music does continue to inspire others. It inspired me.
Great thoughts. I had two pop into my head as I read this: 1) When seeking out ways to “help” people learn the Gospel, I’ve seen some become more focused on the method of delivery than they do the message itself. I’m not saying creativity shouldn’t be a part of sharing the Gospel, far from it, I’m just saying it’s appears a fine line to walk. 2) How important should the method of delivery/creativity be? God says His Word will not go forth void. I think that takes some of the pressure off, if that makes sense. He is the one that ultimately controls how that goes forth and how it is understood. I’m not saying you don’t need to do anything, that you just sit back and let God do the work. It’s just a question to ponder while pondering the other questions because since you’re already pondering, you need more to ponder.
Funny, this same thing has been on my my mind. I am part of a children’s team at church. We have turns teaching. I have noticed when one of us is teaching, more times than not, the kids look totally lost or just plain disinterested. It has really bothers me. I have pondered what to do. I don’t want to offend the others by saying our presentation is just not working. It is going way over their heads. What is also a challenge is that we have a wide variety of ages( 4-11 or 12).
I am prayerfully considering researching learning styles and presenting them to our team. I am also eager to hear the suggestions that will be posted here.
Thanks, Todd.
P.S. I wanted to share with you, Todd… While we were
… While we were watching one of you videos on JCTV, the Holy Spirit fell on my husband and he repented. We love the music you do . CRC
Food for thought. Thanks for sharing. Your thoughts & music touch lives. God bless!
That is food for thought, while right now our church is doing the 3 songs, 30 min. preaching/teaching, and altar call, I have been praying about other ways to reach people and present the Gospel Message. Our church is always up to trying new things, sometimes reluctantly, but still willing. I had thought about encouraging art work or poems or something to try to reach others but there was no interest. I would like to incorporate a way for people to ask questions during the sermon, but I haven’t figured out how to do that without disrupting everything. I heard about a church that used text messaging through someone that acted as a filter to weed out the insincere questions. I would like to do soemthing like that eventually to try to better communicate the Gospel Message towards those that are listening.
Todd,
I just wanted to share with you what God has done in my life, partially thanks to your music. About 2 months ago I was putting up files in a medical records department where I work. My MP3 player was shuffling through all sorts of riffraff that i’m not even sure I should be listening to, when your song ”My Jesus” came on. Something about the image of Jesus, battered, scarred, bleeding, and dying for my sins and being turned away from church hit me right between the eyes and down in the center of my heart. God had been working in my heart for a few months, patiently trying to pull me away from the world around me that was trying so desperately to steal my focus and attention away from Him. Your lyrics hit home that day. I felt a deep sadness for the state of our modern church. How Laodicean have we become? How comfortable, powerless, and in some places, empty and as lost as we ever were have his people, called by His Name, become? I prayed that day for God to change my thinking, change my focus, change my motivation, and break my heart for the sick, the poor, and those in need. And he has. I just turned 22 years old, and I have a degree in Theatre and am currently working on a degree in Creative Writing. My heart’s desire is to share the love of Jesus with people all over the world through Entertainment and ”pop” culture. I figured if Satan can deceive people with films, music, and acting, why can’t I tell them the truth? That Todd, is what I believe you do. You give people truth. that is how you teach us, and that only comes from what our Teacher, the Holy Spirit has imparted to you from your own life experiences and the Word of our God. You’re right when you sing that the sound of this world’s deafening, and many of us have a hard time listening. But to those of us who would be faithful to his call, The Lord surely provides a clarity and understanding that can only come from seeking his face. I have been so uplifted, inspired, and refreshed by your wonderful music. It is a testimony to the Glory, goodness, grace, mercy, and incomprehensible love of Jesus Christ. You have inspired me to take my little Bible study group ”Champions for Jesus” further and attempt to reach the hurting with God’s love. I no longer go to a big, fancy church. I recent started attending a wonderful little place called ”Family Christian” church that consists of about 8-10 members in one tiny little room in a storage complex. I ask that, if you read this, you would pray for us, this tiny gathering of believers, your brothers and sisters in Christ, who are encouraged and uplifted by your ministry. Pray that we might be bold proclaimers of the gospel, and that we would be extensions of his love. thank you for what you do for the Lord, may God continue to bless you. One day I would love to meet you brother.
Todd, my wife was reading your blog and told me that I needed to read it because it’s just what I have been saying for years. As a teacher in church and as a law enforcement instructor for over 25 years, you learn that some people learn by hearing (auditory), some learn by what thet see (visual) and some learn (kinistetically) or by what they feel or experience, typically thet learn by doing. To me the key is to bring every type of learner to the place of feeling or experiencing which makes it REAL to them. As a teacher, my heart is to make the love of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God, the power of God Real to them by real world experiences; not preacher stories. I’m 52 but I believe the younger generation is looking for something real in a world where they don’t know what’s real anymore. Which is why I love your music. It meddles, it questions and it makes God real because there is some of us in all of it.
I work as children’s director at a church in seattle, wa and we are using the gospel in motion to share the gospel with the kids. It is the wordless book started by Charles Spurgeon and adopted by Child Evangelism Fellowship, but it is now set to motions. Younger kids love it and the older ones are leaning as a way to share their faith with others. New method to share the same message
Todd, for me I really enjoy hearing your storytelling and “talky parts” at your concerts, or online as much as I do listening to your music! You always put it in ways that interest me!