Ways Jesus Involved His Learners
From Leaderpedia
by Lisa Nagle
Jesus was the Master Teacher and His earthly ministry provides evidence of his skills in building leaders.
Hearing. Learning through hearing is a lower level form of learning, yet Jesus used the method of lecture on many occasions to teach truth to His disciples and the multitudes. However, even Jesus' "lectures" were stiflingly boring, separated from the reality of life. When the Lord Jesus talked to people, He used terms and concepts that were familiar to them. For example, "A farmer went out to sow his seed," Jesus stated as He began to tell a crowd about the importance of hearts that are prepared to receive the message. Jesus knew His audience. He was speaking to an agricultural community. This message was easily understood.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish," Jesus said (Matt 13:47). During much of Jesus' ministry He spent time teaching in and around the Sea of Galilee. Fishing was an important trade for the people. A parable using fish and nets makes the "lecture" or teaching alive to the listeners. Jesus was the Master Teacher taking people from the known to the unknown through the use of parables and familiar stories.
Seeing. Jesus understood the importance of involving "seeing" as well as "hearing" in His teaching. Yes, Jesus did go into the Temple to teach, but most of His memorable teachings were done outside where He could point to visual illustrations. From His Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7), Jesus said, "Look at the birds of the air." "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit" (Matt 7:18).
By using visual aides Jesus was able to increase the retention of His listeners. He was the Master Teacher to get His listeners to see the Word of God as well as hear it.
Doing. The best way to retain something new is to "say" and "do" it. When we SAY something we retain it 70 percent of the time. When we SAY and DO something we retain it 90 percent of the time. Wow! That's the kind of percentage I want for the leaders I am building! Jesus used these principles often when He built His leaders by involving them in the ministry with Him. He knew that if He could get His leaders to learn by doing they would have better skill capacity. He involved them in ministry at a practical level.
Jesus "called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to cure every kind of disease and the sickness.... These twelve Jesus sent out" (Matt. 10:1,5). During the feeding of the five thousand He said to His disciples, "You give them something to eat" (Luke 9:13). Jesus gave His leaders many opportunities to do ministry with Jesus which maximized their learning experiences.
