Lecture doesn’t do a lot to create community.

Even if you do get it right and your lectures are interesting, stimulating, funny and life-changing, there is still a problem.

Lecture does not stimulate relationship-building.

It does not create community. It does not allow us to get to know one another.

Church is not just about getting to know God and learning to live the Christian life individually and privately. It is not just about a vertical relationship with God. It is also about a horizontal relationship with one another. Lectures don’t help us do that much. Conversations do.

The truth is, we need both lecture and conversations. But we get lecture in the worship service. We get lecture in the sermon. Group time is about relationship building. It is about community. Discussion based teaching helps us do that.

David Francis, head of Sunday School for Lifeway Christian Resources, told me that according to their research, in most churches Sunday School is not a small group time at all. It is a mid-sized group time. It is a stand-and-deliver-a-lecture time. It is sit-in-straight-rows-and-listen-to-a-talk. It is mini-sermon time.

If this is true, it follows that many believers have never really experienced group life. They have experienced sit-in-straight-rows-and-listen-to-a-lecture, but they have not experienced group life. They have not experienced one another life. The skillful use of good questions helps us create group life.

Relationships are about conversations. Good questions create conversations. Good questions make class interesting. Good questions stimulate life-change. Good questions create community.

Fun and games have limited usefulness with adults

By fun and games I mean everything from watching a video to acting out a drama to cutting pictures out of magazines to listening to songs to taking a field trip. It is everything we do that is creative and unusual.

Some of this is great. Variety is the spice of life. It makes group life fun. . . to a point. But, I think you can do too much of this with adults. Too much and adults get to feeling like, “Where is the beef?” I am not sure that kids would ever feel this way, but adults will.

Admittedly, this is rarely a problem. It is rarely a problem that groups are too creative, too lively, or too much fun. But, my point is that these creative elements make a good garnish for the lesson, but a poor entrée.

I remember attending a retreat once where the leaders had us listening to secular songs and comparing the theology of these songs to what we understood to be biblical theology. They had even printed out the words to make it easier for us. It was fun for a while. It was interesting and helpful for the first song or two, but we did this for an hour or more. After while, I got to feeling, like, “Does anyone around here have a Bible? Any chance we could open the Bible and read a bit and talk about what it means to us and how we could apply it to our lives?”

I think most adults are this way. We are O.K. with doing some creative activities. Some. Some creative activities. We will go along for a time. But, after a time, we want someone to open the Bible and get into it.