LEAVING FOR GHANA ON FRIDAY

Teaching is indeed a privilege but it carries with it great responsibility. The familiar warning from James comes to mind: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” (3:1)

Thoughts on Teaching

Teaching Brings Both Joy and Responsibility

“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.” I Tim. 4:16
I’m headed back to Ghana at the end of this week for three weeks of ministry. Joining me for the last two weeks of this trip will be Stan Armes, Dan Gilchrist, and JoAnn Johnston.  Stan and Dan will be teaching MINTS courses.  JoAnn will be teaching two conferences for women on Biblical Womanhood.  In addition, Don Mountan will join us for a week to teach the MINTS Masters students a class on how to write a MINTS course (something they must do before they receive their MA degree).  He will also be assisting with MINTS administration.

As you might expect, my thoughts are mainly focused on this trip. I’m thinking not only of the preparations that need to be finished, but also of the great privilege I have to teach God’s Word.  One of my great joys in this work comes from being able to teach Scripture to eager hearers.

Teaching is indeed a privilege but it carries with it great responsibility. The familiar warning from James comes to mind: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” (3:1) Paul refers to this truth when he exhorts Timothy in his first letter to this young pastor.

Paul wisely counsels Timothy (cited above) to look in two directions when considering his teaching. The first is to keep a watch on himself. This is a good word for all of us, whether we teach or not. Paul is not encouraging us to be self-absorbed, since Scripture elsewhere tells us to “count others more significant than yourselves.” (Phil 2:3) Rather, each of us should be watchful of our own spiritual condition.

Paul also speaks of watching “the teaching.” If you aren’t a Sunday School teacher, elder, or pastor you may be tempted to think you are exempt from this part of Paul’s exhortation. But not so fast! Earlier in this chapter, Paul exhorted Timothy to set an example for the believers around him and clearly implied that this is an integral part of teaching. In other words, Timothy needed to be aware of the spiritual impact of his example on fellow believers. This is true for all of us. We all influence those around us, for good or ill. This is both a form of teaching and a means of mutual ministry. Our attitudes, our faith, our love of the brethren, our worship, all have an often unstated but always profound influence on others.

With this in mind, I ask for your prayers as I spend the next three weeks teaching in Ghana. This trip, I will be teaching on three separate topics to three different types of hearers. I will start by teaching two conferences on Biblical Marriage in the Volta region of the country. These conferences will include both leaders and congregants from a number of Baptist churches. The following week I will be in Kumasi teaching both a conference on Biblical Leadership from 1 Timothy and a seminary class comparing African Traditional Religion with Biblical Christianity. This audience will be over 100 bishops, pastors and evangelists from Pentecostal churches. In the final week, I will teach that same seminary class to a mixed-denomination group of students in Sunyani.

As we begin this new year of ministry, we are so thankful for your faithful prayers and support for this work.  We truly cannot do this without you!

For Christ’s Kingdom,
Dan.
ELI - West Africa