Video Transcript: Lesson 4 Section 1

Let's explore ways to teach the Bible to youth. There is a good question you can ask that will  reveal your approach to how you prepare and convey God's word. Is the purpose of a youth  Bible study to teach the Bible to people, or to teach people the Bible? If you answered that  the purpose is to teach the Bible to people, you probably focus on the historical context of the Scripture. You use a verse by verse teaching style, and it is the eternal principle in the  passage that determines the lesson, not what is happening in the world around you. You  would evaluate the Bible study by asking yourself, did I accurately explain the material? If  instead you answered that the purpose of a Bible study is to teach people the Bible, you will  have a different approach. You focus on imparting biblical truth into the minds and hearts of  students to meet their context and needs. You use multiple illustrations to support the  message of the scripture passage. You evaluate the Bible study by asking yourself, did my  audience understand? And will they remember the material? There is nothing wrong in using  either of these two approaches. But is there something important that might be missing here? The downfall of these two motivations is that they both focus on imparting information. But  the goal of teaching God's word is not just to inform, but to transform. We see this described  in the Bible in II Timothy, chapter three. All scripture is God breath and is useful for teaching,  rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be  thoroughly equipped for every good work. This passage tells us what our goal is youth pastors should be in teaching the Bible to equip students for life change. In this lesson, we will explore some teaching areas that will help them meet this goal. For example, the role of the teacher,  crafting a lesson plan, and effectively communicating biblical principles.