I’ve been teaching off and on for nearly 20 years now, which is such an odd thought to me. It makes me sound old. Even though I can look back fondly on a great many of the lessons and series I’ve taught, I still have times where things don’t go as planned. My most recent church series was one of them. And as one of my seminary profs liked to say, it’s not experience that matters, it’s evaluated experience that really counts. So I’d like to share with you what I learned in my most recent experience.

The Setup

The subject of study was modern identity. I was excited about the new (2020) Carl Trueman book on the subject, I’d heard enough interviews with him to understand the main ideas, and I felt it was an important contribution to worldview. I enjoy taking things one might consider “out of reach” and packaging them for a lay audience, so I thought I would do that here. I was given three nights of an hour each to make it happen. And with all of my training, I was confident I could pitch the material in the right way.

The venue was Sunday evening church, and I didn’t realize it at first, but this was a fact that deserved a great more thought than I initially put into it. Regardless, I talked over the plan with the pastor and we both felt good about where we were going and why.

Complication 1: Subject Matter

The first mistake I made was suggesting a book I had not yet read. I have sometimes chosen a topic based on things I want to study, and that has always worked for me in the past. So I jumped at the chance to teach on this without giving it much thought. But in hindsight, every time I had done that was in the context of an elective course. The audience was a group who came in already sharing my interest in the subject. A broader audience meant that this approach would turn out to have serious drawbacks. More on that later.

Beyond this, the book left out some things that I thought were absolutely crucial to teaching on the subject. It did an excellent job of detailing the problems, but I wanted to present the solution. This meant I had much, much more research ahead of me than I initially thought. The subject of the book was not the kind of thing one can easily summon in Scripture.

By way of contrast, I once taught on the Bible’s view of homosexuality. While definitely a contentious subject, the question at stake is clear, there are many resources devoted to it on both sides of the issue, and it’s relatively easy to determine which portions of the Bible deal with it. This time, I was teaching on personal identity, which is less clear as a subject, not as well documented, and not as easy to target in Scripture.

It was a fascinating study! I have no regrets about that. But because the topic was tougher and the book I chose was less comprehensive, I set myself up for trouble when it came time to teach.

Complication 2: Audience

The second mistake is one I already alluded to: not putting enough thought into the audience.

I love people. I find that when I’m teaching, my passion for the subject and care for the student help pull things together in the moment, and it’s a glorious feeling. I remember one time where all my preparation had failed me, and I was terrified. After pleading with God, I found myself walking up to a podium with only a vague idea of what to say. And when I looked out at the audience, by God’s grace, something clicked, and everything went the way it should have. It’s a glorious feeling. So I thought that “click” would happen walking into this room, too.

But this was my first time teaching a Sunday evening church session, and it took time to process what that meant.

There are general rules for every format or venue. Sunday morning, I know to preach the Word. In Sunday School, I learned quickly that it’s best to study Scripture and bring in history, philosophy, etc., only when the subject required. In college courses, students are committed to the study because it helps them achieve their goals, so there are already boundaries and expectation to grease the skids. In adult electives, as I said, a common interest brings people together. In a small group, there is typically a commitment to one another that helps focus and drive the lesson.

But what is Sunday evening church? I thought it would be like an adult elective. What was I thinking?! I was totally wrong!

After the second night of class, it finally sank in: these people aren’t united by subject interest or commitment to each other. This is more like Sunday School. They are united by their interest in studying God’s Word together. I should have been preparing and teaching according to Sunday School rules.

Thankfully, the last night of class was already going to be devoted to Scripture, but that meant I had been fighting an uphill battle the first two weeks of the course. What I had to share was good, but because I misjudged the audience, (and self-confidence may have played a part, too), I missed the opportunity to make the most of the time together.

Lessons Learned

So there, I’ve confessed the error of my ways. How can we make it better next time?

1: Know the unwritten rules of your format. While it may seem like teaching is like a sport with its own set of rules, I’m more inclined now to think that teaching is really like “sports” in general. Despite their commonalities, basketball, volleyball, and soccer are different games with different rules, obviously. But less obviously, the same holds true for different venues and audiences. It’s not enough to know the people and care about them. It’s not enough to know “how to teach.” It’s not even enough to know what style best fits your content. You can’t simply get in there and hustle. You need to know which game you’re really playing. Format comes first because reaching the audience is everything.

Sunday evening may be different at your church. Maybe it’s another sermon. Maybe it’s small group time. Maybe it’s adult electives. Make sure to identify which format you’re teaching so that you know which set of norms to adopt. Don’t preach in a small group, don’t unpack Carl Trueman in a sermon, and don’t teach a college course to a Sunday School class.

(Note: actually, I do know what I was thinking. We used to do adult electives in this hour, but because of COVID, we combined the elective courses into one group that takes different courses in sequence. I just didn’t stop to realize this change in format also changed the rules of the game.)

2: Don’t trust the book to tell you what your students need. When designing a course, a program, an organization, a piece of communication—anything—you always want to clarify the win before you formulate strategy. Know where you’re going before trying to plot the course. I thought that a good book from a good writer with good reviews would come with its own “win” that I could deliver to my students. That was a mistake. The objective of the book was to detail a problem. But I would never have let that be the main objective for a church lesson. So what was my objective? I wanted to help students see where they might be captive to worldly thinking, yes, but in order to replace it with biblical thinking. The former served the latter.

By not stopping to note this ahead of time and being brutally realistic about what it would take to fill that gap, I bound myself to spending a far larger percentage of my prep time on research than on constructing a good learning experience. Research is great. Sometimes it takes time, and it’s important not to cut it short. But you need to protect enough time to process and package your research for the audience. And if you have a limited amount of time to offer a teaching project, you need to choose a topic that doesn’t go “over budget” on research.

Conclusion

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to teach, for the students who showed up week after week, and for the power of God’s Word to produce fruit during our time together. Last night was a good night, and I don’t mean to take away from that. I believe God was honored. But if I had it to do over again, I would have approached things very differently from the start. While a do-over is a rare opportunity, you can always stop and reflect and find ways to make the next lesson better, whatever it may be.

Before you plan your next lesson, do me a favor and avoid my mistakes: be sure you know the real format behind the venue and clarify your main objective before you commit to a good book!