teaching... or teaching to obey?

As missionaries (or pastors/leaders), how many times have we experienced the following scenario? We plan/organize a conference to “train” people in evangelism and church planting. We may invite guest teachers from a partner church or mission agency. The participants are fired up about starting new churches, and represent a good cross-section of volunteer and paid workers. The program is inspirational, everyone is happy, they go home after the conference is over… and then nothing changes. There is little or no result from all of this “training”.

One thing that I have learned from this type of experience and confirmed for myself from Scripture: “teaching” and “training” is not the same thing. Teaching will produce more knowledge, while training will result in more application. Let’s look closer at what Jesus commanded in the Great Commission to help us understand this distinction.

“And Jesus came and spoke to them (his disciples), saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations (people groups), baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe (obey) all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ (Mt. 28:18-20).”

“Teaching them to obey” is training that will reproduce disciples, churches and leaders. Jesus did not say, “Teach them everything I commanded you.” He said, “Teach them to OBEY everything I commanded you.” Training = Teaching to Obey. It is not our duty to teach the newly planted church all they will need to know and do. But we must establish a pattern they will follow and that will lead them to obey the Lord every time He speaks from His word. We call this “obedience-based discipleship”. It is very different from teaching only to gain more knowledge.

Paul gave Timothy a pattern for obedience-based discipleship. In 2 Timothy 3:16,17 Paul says to Timothy: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine (teaching process that is training), for reproof (rebuke), correction (repentance), for instruction in righteousness (right-living), that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

All of God’s word is good for teaching (training) us, by showing us what is wrong (rebuke), showing us what is right (correction/repentance), and how to continue to live right (instruction in righteousness). If we follow this pattern of training from Scripture, we will be complete (mature) men of God and equipped for every good work, which includes training others. This pattern for training from Paul can serve as a guide to help us know how to teach others to obey the word of God/commands of Christ. We use this pattern from Paul in our training in South Asia:

1. Teaching – We ask, “What is the main teaching of this story/passage?”
2. Rebuke – We ask, “What example should we not follow in this story/passage?” (Ask this only if there is something in the passage that we should not imitate).
3. Correction – We ask, “What example should we follow in this story/passage?” (Ask this only if there is something in the passage that we should imitate).
4. Instruction in Right Living – We ask, “How will you follow the good example in this story/passage?” And/or – (if there is a command) -
“How will you obey the command given in this story/passage?” (Ask these last two questions to help us think how to personally apply the teaching to our particular situation for right living).

We can follow this pattern for training for all of God’s word. We must ask questions that lead to dialogue. Jesus used stories, questions and dialogue in his training. If we do all of the talking, it is unlikely our trainees are “getting it”. If they give verbal feedback, this will indicate how much of the teaching they really grasp. We may have to ask sub-questions to draw trainees into articulating the teaching for themselves. The sub-questions are open-ended, no questions with “yes” or “no” answers. Explanation should be kept to a minimum until trainees have attempted to express the teaching in their own words.

This process will turn our teaching into training, or “teaching them to obey”. This pattern for training can be outlined in the following manner:

MODEL
1. Prayer/Praise
2. Model Telling of New Bible Story/Passage - Model
3. Repetition
4. Questions/Dialogue (2 Tim. 3:16 Outline)
5. Observe Practice of Trainees - Observe
6. Assignments - Delegate
7. Prayer/Praise - Encourage/Leave

RE-MODEL
1. Prayer/Praise
2. Review Previous Lesson and Assignments - Report
3. Reports on Assignments - Encourage
4. Encouragement and Prayer
5. Model New Bible Story/Passage - Model
6. Repetition
7. Questions/Dialogue (2 Tim. 3:16 Outline)
8. Observe Practice of Trainees - Observe
9. Assignments - Delegate
10. Prayer/Praise - Encourage/Leave

The above outline is only one way to train, or “teach them to obey”. There can be many variations of this that will work in different cultures or settings. It is a process that we have used to train indigenous church planters to reproduce disciples, churches and leaders in our context. It requires meeting with disciples regularly over a period of time, and not just a one-time conference. We praise God for reports of more than 800 new baptized believers in over 100 new churches in the past year.

Of course, I have not fully explained the process here, but only gave an outline. Maybe this is something that can be adapted for your work? Do you have a pattern for training, or a way for “teaching them to obey” that works in your context? Are we teaching... or teaching to obey?