How to Teach the Book of Isaiah in Less Than a Week

Every time I go to Kenya, I spend most of my time teaching at the Ahero Evangelical School of Theology (AEST), which trains future pastors, elders, and teachers, both male and female. I usually have just under two weeks to teach. Sometimes I teach a two-week class, and other times a one-week class and either a smaller topic for the following week (or we're in a different location that second week). This year, I'll have 8 days in the classroom at AEST.

What topics I teach are usually up to the faculty of AEST - they have a curriculum and certain topics the students need in order to graduate, so they tell me what they want me to teach to fit into their plan. That usually means that I have to pull together a semester's worth of material from my notes and studies to teach in a week's time. A couple of years, I've had the luxury of bringing something I had already prepared that fit into their course requirements. This year, no such luxury.

AEST wants me to teach the book of Isaiah the first week and apologetics for the partial second week. Have you read Isaiah lately? It's big. It's complex. It's repetitive, and yet it moves in a particular direction. And did I mention that it's big?

How can I teach that big (it's big), complex book in a week? Well, I can do that - but how can I teach it in a way that will be of true benefit in a week's time? It's flat out too much information, too much theology, and too much prophecy to digest within a week.

I could do just a high level survey, but that's not effective for their concrete learning style. I could do representative sections, but then you miss the narrative, and they are also storytelling learners.

Rather than telling them what Isaiah has, my plan is to coach them into discovering what Isaiah has. In addition to being concrete, storytelling learners, my students at AEST are also group learners. So, I will  create three teams. Each day, the members of one team will all be in one minor section, and the other teams will cover the other minor sections. All three will then be covering a major section of the book in a day's time, and by the end of the week, the whole book will be covered. They will do individual work, and then work as teams, to discover what each passage of each minor section has to say. Then in class, the teams will teach the rest of the class what Isaiah has to say. My job will to be to make sure they stay accurate - very little lecture. By the end of the week, they will have a full overview of Isaiah, and will have taught one another what it says.

The great benefits are: 1) Discovery is far more effective than lecture, 2) they will finish the class with a method of how to study Isaiah after I'm gone, and 3) they will have worked together to help one another understand this great (big!) book.

I pray this will work! (I've never tried this kind of teaching before.)

Discovery is something you're going to hear more about at Grace Fellowship as we continue to learn how complete followers are cultivated.

The Crusades are *Great* for Witnessing

You've probably heard it more than once. You're having a conversation with someone, and the dialog moves in the direction of spiritual things. You are (somewhat) prepared to discuss spiritual matters, and you feel like it could be a decent, civil conversation. But then ... they throw out the Crusades. There it is. No matter that it was 800 years ago, and you had nothing to do with it. Now you have to deal with it before the conversation can go anywhere ... if it's going to go anywhere. "How can you believe something that is responsible for that?"

Often, the Crusades "trump card" is a smokescreen. I rarely find that the Crusades really are the sticking point with someone. But, it's a lot more convenient than the real sticking point - which is often fear, guilt, shame, or other uncomfortable thought. It's much easier to talk about dead people who did bad things thousands of miles and hundreds of years removed from my fear, my guilt, and my shame.

But you still have to respond. What are your options? First, you can put down the people of the Crusades, which they deserve, but now you've presented Christian against Christian. Second, you can claim the Protestant-Catholic distinction, but then you've inserted denominationalism, which usually only makes it more complicated. Third, you can virtually ignore it and say, "But I'm talking about you," which really is the point, but leaves the question unanswered, as if Christianity doesn't have all the answers.

Sounds sticky. But actually, this can be an excellent opportunity to really talk about the Gospel! However, rather than trying to provide simple, pat answers to a complex problem, use this legitimate question as an opportunity to ask questions back to the one who asked. Use their question to cause them to ask even better questions.

Try questions like: "Do you think that their actions were in agreement with what Jesus taught?" and "What would have happened back then if these people took the words of Jesus seriously?" In the process, you've got to talk about what Jesus really did teach. Explore the issue with them, but find out what they think, rather than telling them what they ought to think. Let them explore the claims of Christ by comparison. Your point isn't to solve the problem with the Crusades, but to have that person interact with Jesus and His claims. So invite them to explore!

Instead of the Crusade question being a barrier, it's now a springboard. It's really not a bad question for them to ask, and we should reinforce that it's a reasonable question. But rather than trying to answer it, let it be a tool to talk about Christ.

In general, I find that asking questions to explore spiritual truths and respecting the other person enough to listen without arguing is a far more engaging and safe way to talk about spiritual matters, especially with the skeptic. It honors the person, it helps them discover (rather than be spoon-fed), and it moves the agent of change from your words to their internal thoughts.

You really don't have to have all the answers - so don't expect that of yourself. It helps, though, to ask really good questions.