In the pioneer days, the small town school had every child from first grade to high school taught by the same teacher. Can you imagine what it must have been like trying to teach simple arithmetic to one child then turn to read English Literature with another? You would think the teachers would go crazy, but they didn’t.
Teachers back then used the older children to teach the younger ones. The 8th graders might teach the fifth graders. The same 8th graders would then learn from the high-schoolers and hear the high school material taught. Kids learned faster that way. If you watched Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary, you heard beautiful poetry written by soldiers with an 8th grade education. The Federalist Papers were written to and understood by farmers many of whom lacked even a high school education. Law students in Ivy League colleges today have difficulty understanding them. The small schoolhouse education method worked.
Churches are much like that little red schoolhouse. There are people in the congregation who are new to the faith, at first grade level. There are those 8th graders able to help the new Christians and still strive to advance to high school or further.
The pastor/teacher usually gives sermons/lessons at levels across the spectrum. He tries, usually, to reach the majority of the congregation, not just a specialized group. Still, many will not catch much of what is taught because it’s new to them, or to some it’s what they’ve heard for years.
A lot of churches offer adult Bible studies at homes or at church. These give us an opportunity to ask questions and to share what we know with those who aren’t yet as far along the path as we might be or to learn from others who are.
Years ago, I was having trouble finding much that challenged me in our pastor’s sermons. I told him so, and his response struck me and seared into my mind. He said “I would expect you to be able to feed yourself by now.” I had been a Christian for about ten years by then, I was graduating into a new grade.
My whole view of church changed then. While I am still challenged by sermons I hear, it doesn’t happen as often. Where church used to be a place to be fed and ministered to, as a “high-school,” I should be helping others. Church has become a place for me to minister more than be ministered to.
Like the pioneer schoolhouse, we should be reaching out to one another with love and education:
Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The Great Commission wasn’t given just to the apostles; it was given to us all. We make one another into disciples by teaching one another.
Why is this important?
Many long term Christians grow weary with church. They’ve “heard it all before.” They don’t see the need to attend services. I think they’re missing the point. I think God is telling them they need to take what they’ve learned and share it. Attend a home Bible study or an adult Bible class at church. They aren’t just for learning but for sharing as well. If you’ve heard it all before, there are those who haven’t and would profit from you telling them.
That same pastor I mentioned earlier came into a class I was attending as a fairly young Christian and pointed out three of us as teachers in the class. The guy at the head of the class was one, but there were two others he mentioned. And we never thought of ourselves as teachers, just attendees who shared what we knew.
He told me teachers are not always in front of a class. He said many in the class are teaching and just as effective as the guy who prepared the lesson. Teaching others doesn’t require the gift of teaching, or God wouldn’t have command us all to do it. Teaching doesn’t need to be academic either, or He would have given us all the drive for constant study. Teaching can be sharing life experiences, the wisdom God or godly people have shared with you.
We all need to become like those kids in that schoolhouse. We need to reach out to those who haven’t traveled down the Christian path as we have and listen to those who are father along. Christianity is not made up of hermit monks. It’s made up of God’s children who should be striving to prepare one another.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 
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