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Christian Leadership Training Course

By J.C. Choate

Lesson 5

Teachers in the Church

Up to this time we have talked about elders, deacons, and preachers and their leadership roles in the church. Each one has a very important work to do and we don’t want to forget that. The elders and deacons, of course, make up the human side of the organization of the church, while preachers are to be faithful proclaimers of God’s word.

The next leadership role in the church is that of being a teacher. This work is very similar to the preacher’s work except that it incorporates a larger number of members of the church. Perhaps a better way of putting it would be to say that all preachers are teachers, but not all teachers are preachers. Men only can qualify to be a preacher, but men and women alike can be teachers. That will be explained as we go along.

While preaching is generally done in a public setting with the entire congregation making up the audience, teaching is normally done on a personal level or in a class situation. We have both well illustrated in the scriptures. For example, Peter and the apostles preached to a large group of people on the day of Pentecost in the city of Jerusalem. The record says of the hearers that some three thousand heard and obeyed the Lord (Acts 2:41). An example of private teaching would be in the case of Aquila and Priscilla taking Apollos aside and explaining to him the word of God more perfectly (Acts 18:24-28).

When a congregation of the Lord’s church begins, especially in parts of the world where the church is not very strong, it often worships in a home or a small hall. In this case, preaching is usually the teaching method. But as the church grows, and there are families with children, although preaching continues to be the means of proclaiming the gospel to the over-all number, it becomes necessary to take the children aside so they can be taught on their level in a class situation. There may be more than one children’s class, and where the church has the necessary facilities to provide classroom space, there may also be numerous other classes such as young people’s classes, ladies’ classes, and even divided adult classes according to age. In this kind of setting the children may be taught by a man or a woman, but often times women teach these classes. A woman may also teach the ladies’ class. Of course with the young people and the adults, where the group is made up of men and women, men would be asked to do the teaching. Such classes are altogether necessary if the various age groups are going to grow in a knowledge of God’s word. Learning situations and keeping the interest of the class is very difficult if a group of people of all ages is meeting together and if the preacher or even the teacher speaks to the entire group with one level of instruction. When the word of God is being taught, in order for it to have its greatest effect, and to have the maximum influence on those present, it must be done in a class situation where the teacher can do the instructing on the level of those present. Those in the field of education know this and that is why schools are divided into classes or standards of instruction.

Not only is there opportunity for both men and women to teach in class situations, but they may also teach in the home, and on a personal level when in the company of their friends. Many often express an interest in preaching, but not much is said about teaching, personal work, and teaching in classroom settings. It is as though one type of service is important and the other is not. Actually, in the end, teaching may be far more important than preaching. Preaching to groups of people has its limitations as to the amount of teaching that can be done. In a class, or when studying on a one-to-one basis, the teacher can deal with the problems, needs, questions, etc. of those with whom he is studying. It is a well known fact in larger congregations that the strength of the church depends on the teaching done in the classroom.

There are many advantages when it comes to being a teacher. Not only can all members of the church serve as teachers in one capacity or the other, but one can engage in this type of work whether he is financially supported or not. In other words, one can have his secular job to earn his living, and then on the Lord’s day he can serve as a teacher for one of the classes. He can also do personal work, teach his friends at work, teach through tracts, by his example, visit the sick, and serve as a teacher in many other ways.

Paul said that one of the qualifications for being an elder in the church is that he must be apt to teach (1 Timothy 3:2). That is, one must be able to teach God’s word, and even publicly, in order to be an elder, a leader in the local congregation of the church. How could one even begin to think about occupying such an office without having the ability to teach? That would just be impossible.

Again Paul said to Timothy, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:1,2). That is the point, as Christians, concerning the truth of God. We are constantly to be passing it on to others so they, in turn, can teach others.

As the Lord’s people, we grow spiritually, not only as we study and learn God’s will for ourselves, but also as we use the knowledge we have to teach others. It is a well known fact that the teacher learns more than the student, because he must study the whole of the Scriptures in preparedness for his students’ needs. But if one fails to use his knowledge in teaching, gradually he will forget what he has learned, and he may even find himself in need of someone to teach him again the first principles or the basic teachings of the Bible. The Hebrew writer speaks of this very thing when he said, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14). That would be a sad state to find oneself in. Please don’t let it happen to you.

The Lord needs teachers, many of them, and I would urge you to obey God, if you haven’t already, to learn well the Lord’s will, and teach it to others.