House churches are a multifaceted and dynamic aspect of Apex’s ministry.  These groups are designed to be loving, Christ-centered communities that strive to reach the lost and make disciples.  One purpose of this blog is to encourage and challenge the corporate body of Apex by sharing examples of healthy body life and community outreach that is happening within Apex house churches.

Before we convey stories of how God is working in and through Apex house churches, it is important to first lay some groundwork.  This blog, therefore, will discuss the relationship between Christian community and evangelism and why house churches are integral to the overall mission of Apex.

Body life refers to the kinds of relationships that Christians are to have with each other.  Romans 12:4-5 says, ‘For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.’  The statement, individually members of one another, implies a level of depth and intimacy that is very counter-cultural and flies in the face of western individualism.  It implies a commitment to other believers that doesn’t stop at weekly house church attendance but strives for interdependent relationships and genuine friendships.  Having these kinds of relationships with other Christians is not optional if we want to have healthy, growing house churches.

Let’s dig deeper and explore what the Bible says about body life.  Passages such as Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 liken the Body of Christ to our physical bodies.  The overall health of our physical bodies is dependent on the contribution of each individual organ.  If you remove your lungs, you are well on your way to sickness and death.  Similarly, each member of the Body of Christ plays a vital role in the overall health of the corporate Body.  Therefore, it is necessary for each member to understand his or her role and to act accordingly.  Oftentimes, Christians either devalue their contribution or overestimate their position in the Body of Christ.  However, scripture warns against both of these tendencies (1 Corinthians 12:15-17, Romans 12:3), and we must learn to lean against them.

One way that God enables us to serve one another is by equipping us with spiritual gifts (i.e. 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12).  Spiritual gifts are special spiritual abilities that enable us to lovingly serve others.  Though there is much to say about spiritual gifts, it is beyond the scope of this blog.  Suffice it to say that we are each gifted differently, and the best way to discover your gifts is to start serving in the Body.  Prayerfully and actively seek ways where you can minister to the individual or corporate needs of your house church and you will start to see God work through you in powerful ways.

Body life is further described in the passages found throughout the New Testament.  In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  The One Another passages provide tangible ways that we express the love of Jesus to others in the Body of Christ: admonish one another, encourage one another, confess your sins to one another, and so forth.

When combined, these elements of healthy body life create a unique dynamic that cannot be replicated outside of Christian community.  Building and maintaining healthy friendships can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit.

All people are created for and innately desire genuine love relationships.  However, the majority of Americans relate merely on a superficial level, and their deepest needs for intimacy and connection go unmet.  Consequently, nonbelievers are intrigued when they see Christians relating in a mature, healthy, and loving way.  They know that something is different, and they yearn for the kind of closeness that they observe in Christian relationships.  The following quote describes this very well:

God’s plan is that local bodies of believing Christians, functioning as loving and caring units, provide a dynamic community in which both personal witness and evangelistic communication become intensely productive.  The church that convinces people that there is a God is a church that manifests what only God can do, that is, to unite human beings in love… There is nothing that convinces people that God exists or that awakens their craving for him like the discovery of Christian brothers and sisters who love one another… The sight of loving unity among Christians arrests the non-Christian. It crashes through his intellect, stirs up his conscience and creates a tumult of longing in his heart because he was created to enjoy the very thing that you are demonstrating.¹

Apex, let us be Christians that demonstrate this kind of authentic Biblical love.  Let us not be content with once-a-week church attendance but strive for the kind of body life that is described in the Bible.  In doing so, may we demonstrate the love of Christ to a lost and hurting world that so desperately needs him.

1. John White, The Fight (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1979), pp 149-150.

So how are you, how is your  house church, loving your neighbors and and sharing the eternal hope that we have in the Lord?

Kristen and Hope are currently in New Zealand and had the opportunity to participate in a unique ministry. They were dropped off at the mouth of a popular trail in the New Zealand bush and from there set out on a “tramping” excursion, a 14 day hike through the wilderness. Their goal for ministry: Listen to the voice of the Lord. Pray for divine meetings along the trail. Build relationships with the backpacking community and talk to them about The Kingdom. Tell them about all the things Jesus has for them and speak life to them, then trust the Holy Spirit to make the gospel come alive in their hearts. God used the time Hope and Kristen spent traipsing about in the New Zealand wilderness to teach them much about Himself and that there is nothing so great that God cannot overcome it. Even ourselves. So I leave you with some thoughts Kristen shared recently on her blog:

“. . . ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’ And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent!”

In March 2009 the Kingdom of God began to stir within me. This feeling of, there is something more; I am not experiencing the abundant life Christ himself spoke of. It was then God began calling me out of my “Egypt”- the United States, and through the World Race this month He quite literally took me into the wilderness of New Zealand.
There were a handful of times these last two weeks when I longed for the comforts and convenience of the United States; when food rations were slim; when my feet were sore; when the wind and rain were blowing my tent over on top of me; when I was beginning to ascend my fourth steep mountain trail for the day; when I was emotional and missing my friends and family- these are the times I longed to be back in Egypt.

But it wasn’t until I was alone with him that I realized how enslaved I had been in Egypt. And each time I longed to be back there, God fought for me. He fought for my heart and he wooed me (and my attitude) back to Him. God captured my heart in a deeper way. I fell more in love with my Savior in the bush of New Zealand this month. I know that is crazy to say because I wouldn’t give up a year of my life to live in poverty and tell people about Jesus if I didn’t already love him. But Jesus wasn’t the satisfaction of my heart. He was competing for space with many smaller idols that I didn’t know I needed freedom from until he removed me from the comforts of Egypt and got me alone with him in the wilderness.

After reading Kristen’s words, I can’t help but wonder what our lives would look like if our complete satisfaction was found in Christ alone. Would we find ourselves driven to share His goodness with those around us? Would His praises ever be on our lips? Would we long to see the nations declare His greatness? What if…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rennes is an elder in Region 1 (Dayton-area) and a house church shepherd. You may have also heard him speak in the Apex weekend gatherings. In this video, he shares his story.

1. Amazing Grace Medley written by John Newton, Matt Redman, Albert Brumley, and Phil Wing – this is a medley of Amazing Grace, Better is One Day, and I’ll Fly Away.  The Apex Band’s arrangement of this medley, along with the “Oh how He loves me” chorus, can be found on our “Connections” CD.
2. It is Well written by Horatio Spafford & Philip P. Bliss
3. All Creatures written by St. Francis of Assisi
4. White as Snow written by Jon Foreman
5. I Still Am written by Phil Wing
6. How Great is Our God written by Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, and Jesse Reeves
7. How Great Thou Art written by Stuart Hine – we just did the chorus of this song tagged onto the end of How Great is Our God.

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How Do Teachers Evaluate Their Students?

On the surface it would see that the least area of complexity in effective teaching would be evaluating students. This surface understanding may come from an attitude among teachers whereby they provide information for students and then those students regurgitate that information on a test or a paper. Consequently, the student’s progress gets measured by some type of numerical or percentage grid. According to Bain, evaluation systems like this “concentrate on whether teachers use acceptable methods of instruction. At worst, they produce much hand-ringing and the surrendered pronouncement that evaluation of teaching can’t be done” (Bain 2004, 151).

In contrast, effective teachers reflected strategically on the kinds of learning students must achieve in order to earn certain letter grades. This involved asking themselves a wide range of certain questions. What must they come to understand? How must they apply that understanding? What they must be able to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate? Bain believes this type of teacher self-evaluation has as its goal a desire “to help students learn to think about their own thinking so they can use the standards of the discipline or profession to recognize shortcomings and correct their reasoning as they go” (Bain 2004, 160).

Jesus was definitely interested in what His students knew but He was more interested in them obeying what they knew (John 14:23). At the risk of being redundant, the ultimate point of what Jesus taught was not more knowledge in and of itself but a relationship of obedience to Him that flowed out of love (John 14:21). That basic premise aside, it is apparent to this researcher that spiritual growth was and is a goal for His students. The question must be asked then: are there evaluative questions that can be gleaned from the scriptures to provide gauges for spiritual growth?

Zuck is helpful in this endeavor by providing questions that cover ten subject areas addressed by Jesus (Zuck 1995, 98-101). Are we growing in our love for God and others? Are we growing in obedience of God’s Word, in doing good deeds, putting spiritual matters first? Are we growing in prayer, in faith, and resisting temptation? Are we growing in serving Christ and putting on Godly virtues? These serve as helpful tools in taking consistent spiritual inventories as His students pursue conformity to the image of Christ.

Concluding Words

Ken Bain, in the humble opinion of this researcher, not only highlights important facets of an effective teacher but also unwittingly affirms Jesus as teacher extraordinaire. In His earthly teaching ministry Jesus had the unique perspective of knowing people and how they learn in ways that will never be matched because He was simply God in flesh. The preparation of Jesus for His teaching happened long before His birth but was initiated by the crucible of temptation and was sustained by interaction with the Father. Jesus also had high expectations of His students as long as they were continually connected to Him. The strategies used in His teaching involved diverse methods of communication, especially the use of provocative questions. He is employed by on-the-job training where His students learning by doing. The main way Jesus treated His students was by investing in them. This investment was a starting point in developing trust between Him and His students which in turn fostered students who would risk earthly things for the value of His kingdom. Lastly, Jesus evaluated His students by their obedience to Him and growth in His attributes.

Reference List

Bain, Ken. 2004. What the best college teachers do. Cambridge: Harvard Press.
Delnay, Robert G. 1987. Teach as he taught. Chicago: Moody Press.
Donahue, Bill. 2005. In the company of Jesus. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press.
Medefind, Jedd, and Erik Lokkesome. 2004. The revolutionary communicator. Lake Mary: Relevant Books.
Stein, Robert. 1978. The method and message of Jesus’ teachings. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.
Zuck, Roy B. 1995. Teaching as Jesus taught. Grand Rapids: Baker Books.

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The full article is now available in the Apex resource library HERE.

You can help in the two following ways:

1) We will be establishing Apex as a collection point for Lifeline here in the Dayton area. Items can be dropped off during office hours or at the gatherings through February. The following are a list of items Lifeline has expressed as needs:

-Food

1. Peanut Butter
2. Meats (canned or foil package)
3. Baby Cereal
4. Infant Formula (must be powdered due to no refrigeration in homes)

-Clothing for Children

1. Clothing (new or used in good condition)
2. Shoes (new or used in good condition)

-Medical Supplies

1. Dressings
2. Gauze
3. Surgical Supplies
4. Gloves
5. Tape
6. Suture Materials
7. Alcohol
8. Peroxide

-Over the Counter Medicines

1. Tylenol
2. Ibuprofen
3. Antacids
4. Tums
5. Cough Meds
6. Prenatal Vitamins

-Linens

1. Sheets (twin size needed most)
2. Towels (new or used in good condition)

2) We will be collecting funds for another Bagging Day to prepare prepackaged meals here at Apex for Lifeline. Any excess funds will go to benefit Lifeline and their relief efforts in Haiti.

You can direct questions to our Haiti Relief Team via Ben Mack at mack.13@wright.edu

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How Do They Treat Students?

There is one key principle that Bain observed in effective teachers that guided their treatment of students. This principle is summed up in one word: investment. One teacher interviewed by Bain states clearly that “our teaching must communicate that we have an investment in the students and that we do what we do because we care about our students as people and learners” (Bain 2004, 139). This attitude toward students engenders a trust that develops into a reciprocal commitment between teacher and student. Bain interviewed another teacher who verbalized these strong words:

I will do everything possible to help you learn and develop your abilities, but you must decide if you want to engage in this experience. If you do decide to join this enterprise, there are some things you must resolve to do to make it worthwhile for you and others in the group (Bain 2004, 139).

It is clear from words like these that investment means nothing without an objective commitment to learning and to other fellow learners.

This attitude of responsibility and commitment to their students derives from a common humility within effective teachers. Bain discovered through his research that this humble attitude was not flippancy toward their own intellectual capital but an understanding of “how much they didn’t know and that in the great scheme of things their own accomplishments placed them relatively close to those of their students” (Bain 2004, 142). The residue of this humble stance toward students fostered a learning atmosphere marked with trust, reciprocal openness between teachers and students, and a safe atmosphere for risk taking in learning development (Bain 2004, 142).

Jesus viewed investment in a very similar way as this teacher when He said “remain in me and I will remain in you” (John 15). It is important to note that Jesus did not initially say to His students to follow His teaching but rather follow Him. There were many people who heard Jesus, spoke to Jesus, walked with Jesus, and were touched by Jesus. But only twelve received investment from Jesus. The personal association and involvement of Jesus changed His students “because they believed him and were committed to him, were transformed by him” (Zuck 1995, 121). Jesus was very clear that success can only happen within this dual investment.

Investment is the handmaiden of commitment and Jesus would actually detach Himself from people when His omniscience uncovered a limited commitment within His hearers’ hearts (John 2:24). At one point in His ministry Jesus had many who were following Him as fans would follow a movie star. To separate the followers from the fans, Jesus taught a striking lesson from His hearers’ religious heritage and tied it to the commitment and suffering necessary to achieve kingdom success. Many left because of a startling but simple conclusion, “this teaching is too hard” (John 6:60) The response from Peter to Jesus’ question of him leaving as well highlights the principle of investment: “To whom shall we go, You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

This absolute investment that flows out of an absolute commitment is enriched by the humility of Jesus. The very humanity of Jesus existed because of His humility (Philippians 2:5-8) Jesus pointed to His humility as an open door to come to Him, especially in the midst of personal hardship (Matthew 11:28-29). The humility of Jesus is seen in how children felt safe in His presence, in relating to social outcasts (Luke 7:34), in His desire to gather a rebellious nation into His arms (Luke 13:34), and especially in His forgiveness while suffering the humiliation of the cross (Luke 23:34).

When humility is combined with personal investment in order to reach a clear objective commitment, authenticity is the result. Stark authenticity can either endear people to someone or make them revolt because of a potential exposure of their own lack of authenticity. The authenticity exhibited by Jesus is shown in His purposeful vulnerability, especially toward His students as He divulged to them the exorbitant sorrow He felt in the garden of Gethsemane. The boldness in the way Jesus spoke also highlights His authenticity. There is no evidence of anyone who accused Him of hiding anything He was not. Lastly, the accessibility of Jesus given toward His students provided a means for His students to continually shed preconceived notions that were wrong about their teacher (Medefind and Lokkesome 2004, 75-78).

Authenticity fosters trust within a learning environment. When there is a high amount of trust between teacher and student, a student’s willingness to take some learning risks will also rise. The lives of Jesus’ students exhibit a willingness to take risks: they were willing to abandon their vocations, their familial relationships, and even their very lives to follow Jesus.

A particular instance of this willingness to risk was displayed during an early morning storm on a fragile boat. The students are in a deathly panic when they vaguely observe the figure of Jesus walking on the water. Peter takes what would be defined by any standard as a risk. In order to prove the identity of Jesus, Peter asks Jesus to enable him to come to Him on the water. Jesus, without specific directives, simply says, “Come.” Peter obeys and takes steps that have never been taken since.

This amazing feat was a mixture of both success and failure. Yes, Peter walked on water but soon took his eyes off of the teacher. Failure immediately comes in the sinking of this human rock but not without Jesus lifting Peter out of the water. Through this teaching experience the students of Jesus moved into a deeper knowledge of His deity (Matthew 14:22-32). This researcher believes this moment between Jesus and His students is a great example of dissonance with the storm, a risk of getting out of the boat, success in walking on the water and safety in being pulled from the water.

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Part 7 (the conclusion) will be posted on the Apex blog tomorrow. The full article will be available in the Apex resource library tomorrow as well.

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What Do They Do When They Teach?

This particular section of the research paper will be the most expansive since it delves into the specific strategies utilized within particular learning environments. Up to this point, the discussion has addressed the knowledge base of effective teachers, how those effective teachers prepare, and expectations those teachers have of their students. This section describes what those beliefs look like in action.

Bain saw seven unifying principles that emerged from his research that guided the practices of effective teachers. First, the creation of an environment that valued critical learning in a natural way was very important to these teachers. This was achieved primarily through the asking of questions and tasks that students found fascinating. Getting the students attention and holding it was a second guiding principle. A provocative question, statement, or certain acts by the teachers were common traits to gain their student’s attention. A third principle from these effective teachers was a commitment to start with the students and not the discipline. A class that begins in the book and not in the heart of the students deadens any intrinsic desire on the student’s part to devote themselves to the discipline.

A fourth principle used by effective teachers was the challenging of their students to a commitment. This commitment calls for the teacher to communicate clearly the promises of the material for their life above and beyond the classroom. Fifth, effective teachers plan their course strategically so that students will have the “know how” when it comes to implementing the course to their life outside of the classroom. Sixth, effective teachers teach their students to think about thinking. They make their learning development public for the students to see and hopefully grasp in their own development. Lastly, effective teachers involve their students in diverse learning experiences. Every student does not learn in the same way and varied learning experiences keep student’s minds moving and adapting to new knowledge (Bain 2004, 99-116).

Jesus, in the opinion of this researcher, cultivated a highly effective learning environment for His students. He used multiple ways to achieve that environment; some of them mirror Bain’s findings about effective teachers and some of those ways are completely His own. This will not be an exhaustive treatment of every specific way Jesus taught but rather a general overview of His teaching methodology.

First is observing how Jesus communicated to His students. Unfortunately, more attention is paid to the miraculous physical acts enacted by Jesus and diminishes His miraculous use of words. His words are as subversive today as they were over two thousand years ago. As subversive as His words were, Jesus was not trying to communicate an esoteric message to the intellectual elite. Bill Donahue sees that the message of Jesus “portrayed a ruddy realism, the kind that fisherman and tax collectors and centurions could understand, a message that is inspiring, convicting, and provocative” (Donahue 2005, 23). The following paragraphs elaborate on powerful ways Jesus conveyed His message.

The most potent communication method, in the opinion of this researcher, is the way Jesus used questions to uncover the presuppositions of His listeners. Though Jesus was not the first teacher who was noted for employing questions as a teaching device, the way He used them was unique. Robert Stein notes that Jesus had a way of “drawing from his audience the correct answer he sought. When the correct answer was drawn from the listeners rather than by simply being declared by Jesus, it was more convincingly and permanently impressed upon their minds” (Stein 1978, 23). Jedd Medefind and Erick Lokkesmoe, who have written specifically on the communication ability of Jesus, observed that Jesus asked questions with sincerity, attuning them to each unique situation, fitting them toward His audience, with a goal toward clarification, and then allowing space for His audience to respond (Medefind and Lokkesmoe 2004, 60-62).

Jesus was a renaissance communicator in that He was able to employ in an effective fashion divergent rhetorical devices such as irony, hyperbole, simile, metaphor, and paradox (Stein 1975, 11-20). A rarely discussed aspect of the communication ability of Jesus is His use of humor. A camel who is attempting to go through an eye of a needle, a log stuck in someone’s eye, and throwing pearls at pigs smack of humor, though very serious in their underlying principles. The humorous responses toward his antagonists “convicted and sometimes even silenced them” (Zuck 1995, 204-205).

Communication was not the only effective part of Jesus’ teaching ability. He also knew how to make His students object lessons of their own learning development. A clear example of this type of teaching occurred in the context of very needy people sitting on a hill. The students of Jesus, on the heels of communicating to others the Kingdom of God, report to Jesus the success of their mission and prepare to rest in Bethsaida. As they are traveling toward Bethsaida, thousands of hungry people begin to follow them. By their shallow response this researcher can see that these students of Jesus had more learning to do despite the success of that previous learning experience. Jesus proceeds to model before His students what true servanthood looks like and then puts them to work to achieve it themselves (Luke 9:10-17). Over two thousand years later people are still learning those same lessons of those students who learned the humility of handing out thousands of fish and loaves of bread to hurting people on a hillside.

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Part 6 will be posted on the Apex blog tomorrow. The full article will be available in the Apex resource library at the end of this week.

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What Do Effective Teachers Expect Of Their Students?

Conventional wisdom would seem to point to low expectations of students as a common denominator of effective teachers.  These low expectations can translate into a smug- like attitude from teachers regarding their unyielding commitment to bombard their students with information.  Bain deduced that “some professors are convinced that the path to teaching awards is paved with lower standards and expectations, and that their own refusal to compromise accounts for the miserable showings they muster on student ratings” (Bain 2004, 71).

In contradiction to the conventional wisdom, Bain saw in his research that effective teachers actually expect more of their students.  Now, expecting more does not necessarily mean a heavier work load or complex testing.  A high expectation of students goes deeper than homework and testing recall.  It goes to fundamental beliefs that students may not even believe about themselves.  These beliefs are intertwined and involve the valuing of each individual student and having a great faith in each student’s potential to achieve while having an acute sensitivity to external forces that come to bear upon their students.  These beliefs drive teachers to the conclusion that every student, no matter their degree of development, has something to contribute to the class’s academic enterprise (Bain 2004, 72-83).

A case can be made that Jesus also had high expectations of His students.  The provocative nature of His words has led one author to observe that, “when Jesus was speaking, the room split into two groups- those who longed to hear him again and those who wanted to run him out of town” (Donahue 2005, 23).  It is hard to disagree when even a novice reader of the New Testament reads about Jesus telling a man to follow Him instead of burying his father, or demanding another man to sell everything he had in order to be His student.  The greatest challenge Jesus gave to His students was for them to make more students “of all the nations” (Matthew 29:19-20).  These are just a few of the demands of Jesus that underscore the unconditional commitment Jesus expects of His students.

There is a crucial caveat to the expectations of Jesus on His students:  His expectations of His students were devastatingly low when His students were disengaged from Him.  Jesus believed that His students were incapable of anything without His presence.  On the other side of the coin, Jesus believed that His students could achieve anything within the parameters of His guidance.  This principle of development within His relationship was not only communicated while Jesus was with His students (John 15:1-8) but is still relevant in light of His present physical absence (Matthew 28:20).

One area of commonality of Jesus as teacher and Bain’s research is the recognition of uniqueness among His students.  Most of His students were from different backgrounds.  Some were radically so, like Levi, who worked for Rome and Simon, who probably desired to make war with Rome.  Furthermore, within His main twelve, Jesus invested specific, teachable moments into three of them, namely Peter, James, and John (Mark 9:2).  Zuck points out that Jesus even adjusted His teaching when He surmised His audiences were disciples, inquirers, or enemies (Zuck 1995, 51).

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Part 5 will be posted on the Apex blog tomorrow. The full article will be available in the Apex resource library at the end of this week.

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How Did They Prepare To Teach?

The best teachers, according to Bain, view teaching “as anything they might do to help and encourage students to learn.” Furthermore, “teaching is engaging students, engineering an environment in which they learn” (Bain 2004, 49). In contrast to the “transmission model” of teaching where students are passive containers of potential knowledge, effective teachers develop a culture of learning that engages students and places them into active roles of their own learning (Bain 2004, 48). The teacher in this model is not the traditional communicative puppet of knowledge but rather a coach of learning.

There were thirteen questions discovered by Bain that were offered by effective teachers as important to answer in order to produce cultures of learning. These questions ran the gamut from student assessment, reading strategies, to class communication (Bain 2004, 50-59). These angles of inquiry find their summation in this capstone question:

How will I create a natural critical learning environment in which I embed the skills and information I wish to teach in assignments (questions and tasks) that students will find fascinating- authentic tasks that will arouse curiosity, challenge students to rethink their assumptions and examine their mental models of reality? How will I create a safe environment in which students can try, fail, receive feedback, and try again? (Bain 2004, 60)

Though not quantified by Bain’s exact terms Jesus portrayed them in how He developed learning environments. Anyone who reads through the gospels can see that the classroom of Jesus was always in session for His students. Jesus engineered a learning environment by using multiple means to engage His students. It is true that He sometimes used a straight forward lecture methodology but the scriptures show Jesus using other competencies like strategic questions (Matthew 16:15), clarifying ambiguity (Mark 4:13-20), the use of real life examples (Matthew 18:2-3), challenging presuppositions (Mark 2:8-9), allowing the tension of mystery and dissonance (Matthew 26:62-63), and blunt warnings about the cost of being a student (Luke 9:57-62).

The basic way Jesus prepared to teach was to simultaneously be taught Himself. This was seen practically in His consistent communication with the Father (Mark 1:35, Luke 22:39). Robert Delnay points out that “some sixteen or seventeen times the gospels mention that He prayed, sometimes briefly, sometimes for whole nights” (Delnay 1987, 14). This intense preparation was foundational to what Jesus taught for He made known to His students what He had heard from the Father (John 17:8).

Prayer was not the only preparation for the teaching ministry of Jesus. The testing of Jesus cannot be overlooked as another important part of His teaching effectiveness (Luke 4:1-13). Times of testing and temptation not only initiated Jesus into His teaching ministry but were a constant presence throughout His life (Delnay 1987, 16-17). An effective teacher would never ask students to go where they themselves have never gone. The purposeful humility of Jesus being God in flesh and the testing that came with that humility produced an environment of safety that enabled His students to become dangerous like Him.

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Part 4 will be posted on the Apex blog tomorrow. The full article will be available in the Apex resource library at the end of this week.