Relational Teaching

Those of you who receive my prayer letters know that I have a passion for teaching. This passion comes from a burden that God has placed upon my heart for discipleship. Since mid March I have had the wonderful blessing of teaching a student at the Bible College where I minister two days a week. That opportunity was a great encouragement to me because it showed that passion truly did come from God. It was also encouraging to know that God was giving me an opportunity to live out that passion.

In the view of most people teaching just means the transfer of information. But I feel that teaching should be more of a mentorship type of ministry. This includes developing a relationship with the student, applying the truth that is taught to the students life, getting the student to interact in the learning process, and helping the student in times of need among other things. This kind of teaching style is not carried out much because it is almost impossible to implement in large groups. But having only one student made the mentorship philosophy easy to attempt.

My student is a young man named Jonathan Wolfe. He is only eighteen but shows more maturity than most adults I know. On Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings I will pick him up from a local train station at 8:39. Then after classes have ended I drop him off at another train station around 2:00 in the afternoon. While I greatly enjoy my time teaching Jonathan, I feel those rides to the college and train station have made a greater impact.

During those rides we have discussed the doctrine of election, foreknowledge, and atonement. We talked about the difference between a Calvinist and a hyper Calvinist. But it wasn't all theological discussion. We talked a lot about cars and the stunts that he attempts with a friend on their bikes. We discussed the great sports of Aussie rules football, and rugby. We shared stories of good times with friends, and laughed at some jokes.

During those trips and over lunch at the college we have talked about more serious issues. Such as American and Australian politics (he is extremely conservative), the prices of oil and gasoline, the differences in our two cultures, and historical events. This week in class we discussed in detail the subject of confronting other Believers in Christ. Among other things we asked when should confrontation take place?, how does God want it to take place?, what are the different views of confrontation?, and is confrontation Biblical since God is the only true judge? (that was just Wednesday!).

All of this connection and discussion have developed the beginnings of a close friendship between us. In May I attended a youth rally where teens from churches in the area gathered for a day of fun and teaching. When I got there a basketball game had already started with what appeared to be about twenty to twenty-five teenagers. I had barely stepped onto the court before Jonathan walked over and shook my hand. Then three times he said loud enough for all of his friends to hear, “this is my teacher”.

My time with Jonathan has reminded me that teaching involves more than just giving information. It involves becoming a part of the persons life and ministering to their needs. I am pretty sure that he would not have been so excited to see me if I had just taught the facts. I thank God for allowing me to become part of Jonathan's life. And pray that he will allow me to do the same for many others.