Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The joys of teaching

Starting next week, I will be doing 5 classes a week. There will be Genesis on Sunday morning. There will be a reading class on the Church Fathers on Tuesday night. There will be an adult refresher on Wednesday mornings and an Adult instruction on Wednesday nights. There will be my Church History Study where we are at the later stages of Luther's life on Thursday night. Then there are the monthly classes - our women's book of the bible in one hour class and then the monthly youth group.

And I am tickled pink.

There is a wonderful joy of teaching - the prep required puts on back into Scripture, back into wonderful books, presents the wonders of God and the Christian faith to one again. The work of collating information and forming it in a presentable way. The act of teaching with it's adrenaline rush and movement. Getting feedback and answers to questions in class, so seeing things from an angle you wouldn't have taken, bringing more into your own understanding.

There is a joy that comes with teaching. There is a joy that comes with preaching, with proclaiming the Gospel, but there is another joy that comes from the interaction one gets in teaching. I'm excited at any rate.

2 comments:

William Weedon said...

Wonderful! I confess: I would much rather teach than preach. Preaching is always a struggle; but teaching is pure joy. I love it when you can read a face and stop and ask: "Yes???" In the sermon you have to plough on no matter how many wrinkled brows you behold.

Rev. Eric J Brown said...

It surprises people when I stop in a bible study and ask them what's on their mind. Many times they won't have anything - but even just me stopping and asking encourages others to ask questions that they have. I love fielding questions.