It has been said that teaching something is the best way to check your own understanding. If you can teach a topic well, that shows that you have a good grasp of the material you are teaching. By contrast, if you struggle to explain something clearly, this may indicate gaps in understanding that may require you to do further study or research into that topic.
Last semester, the first-year students had the opportunity to take turns teaching on what they learned from each topic that was covered in the Foundations of Grace Class. Some examples of different topics included:
- Attributes of God: It is vital to understand who God is and what He does so that we get an accurate picture of the true God.
- Satan and the Origin of Self-Focus: We need to understand that we have a real enemy, Satan, but also keep in mind we can overcome him with the Lord’s help.
- Christ & the Cross (Position in Christ): The key to victory over Satan and our sinful flesh is being rooted in our position in Christ. This involves knowing who we are as His child and living out that reality in day-to-day life.
These student-led reviews offered a good opportunity for the students to review and present these truths to others, thus helping cement the truths in their minds. Again, remember that teaching is pretty much the best test to help indicate whether someone has a thorough, comprehensive understanding of the material they have been learning.
As missionaries, we will always need to take advantage of the opportunities that God gives us to be able to share and teach others what the Lord has impressed upon our own hearts. This helps us process the truths, meditate upon them, form thoughts in order, then convey those thoughts in a way that hopefully makes sense to the hearer. The goal is heart-level understanding.
Furthermore, it offers an excellent opportunity for the student to practice public speaking and presentation skills, which are both necessary skills which they will use down the road in ministry. Someone desiring to be involved in ministry will spend much time sharing what God has taught them, often in a formal teaching setting such as the students did in their Foundations of Grace review presentations.
Finally, there is an even deeper goal, to grow in grace in the Lord:
What does this mean? To “grow up in every way” into Christ will involve growing in grace, because Jesus is “full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV) Part of maturity in Christ will involve speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) so that we build one another up. This means being intentional in our relationships. Specifically in our conversation, we ought to direct our focus back to the Lord and encourage each other towards living lives that glorify Him. The more we can understand the Word of God, the better we will be able to understand His truth and apply it to our lives. In the process of doing this, we not only build up the body of Christ; we also grow ourselves. Thus our ultimate goal is to to grow in personal maturity for His glory!
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ”
-Ephesians 4:25, ESV
