Lecture is an extremely difficult method

If you take up piano, you will learn that some songs are more difficult to play than others. If you ever play cards you know that some hands are more difficult to play than others. If you take up golf you soon realize that some courses and some holes are much more difficult than others. The lecture is an extremely difficult method to perfect. If you disagree with the thesis of this book, that Good Questions are the best way to teach adults, allow me to gently warn you. If you choose to lecture, you are dealing yourself a very difficult hand to play. It is extremely difficult to present a forty-five minute, interesting and life-changing lecture each week. Extremely difficult. Let me invite you to humbly consider the fact that you might be boring people. Do you have anyone in your life who would tell you? Most people will be polite. There is a chance–a good chance–that if you adopt the lecture method each week that your group is bored and won’t tell you.

I know what you are thinking. “Not me. Other people might be boring, but not me.” We all fall victim to a tendency to evaluate ourselves more highly than is warranted. Even pastors who preach on humility fall victim to this tendency. Ninety-percent of preachers describe themselves as above average. One hundred percent of teenagers think they are above average. There is a good chance you see yourself as above average. Be careful. Romans 12 warns us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. It is very difficult to teach an interesting, life-changing lesson every week if you use primarily lecture. You might be boring.