Effective Christian Ministry

by Ronald W. Leigh, Ph.D.

Chapter 24 – Planning a Lesson

Whenever a person learns a Bible lesson, whether it comes through a sermon, a Sunday school lesson, a youth meeting, a counseling session, or his own personal study, he will follow the same basic steps.  The four steps that are given in the following diagram can be summarized with the four words, Need, Information, Personalization, and Action.  These are the steps the learner goes through, not the teacher.

These four steps are not original with this writer.  No doubt, the basic sequence of steps has been understood as long as teachers have thought seriously about teaching.  John Dewey described the sequence thoroughly in his discussions of the steps in problem solving.  Alan Monroe describes five steps in his "motivated sequence" (attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, action).  Lois LeBar has three steps (boy, book, boy).  Larry Richards came up with hook, book, look, took.  And many curriculum publishers have their own catchy way of labeling the same basic sequence.

The teacher and learner are in contact for only a brief time.  Then each one goes his own way until the next meeting.  During that brief meeting the teacher must guide the learner through the first three steps so that the learner will continue with the fourth step on his own.

The rationale for these steps is actually quite simple.  The second step, the Information Step, is obviously necessary because of the fact that cognition always precedes any decision or action that the learner will make.  The information is described on the diagram as Bible information, because true Christian ministry involves the Bible's teachings.  The first step, the Need Step, is necessary in order to help the learner see how the Bible information relates to his present life and to motivate him to learn and apply the lesson.  This first step is perhaps the most crucial and also the most neglected step.  The third step, the Personalization Step, is necessary in order to help the learner see what improvements the Bible information can make in his life.

All four of these steps are necessary when the aim of the lesson is an action aim.  When the aim is a knowledge aim, the lesson is completed with just the first two steps.

Notice on the diagram that the teacher functions as a guide who leads the learner through each step.  The teacher might be a pastor giving a sermon, a junior high Sunday school teacher, or a counselor.  Nevertheless, the teacher should think of himself as a guide.

The Need Step

The Need Step is absolutely essential.  If the teacher can guide the learner to see his need, the rest of the lesson will progress with surprising ease.  If the teacher doesn't, the rest of the lesson will be wasted.  Some teachers consider only the logical order of their lesson.  They want to make sure that they cover the material in precisely the correct order.  They place prerequisite ideas, definitions, and discussions of background material first.  Then they design each following portion of the material to flow logically from what has gone before.  But if the logical order is the only concern, the lesson is likely to fail.  Such logical ordering of the material can be of great advantage during the Information Step, but more is needed than that.  The other steps are also needed if the psychological order (or motivational order) is taken into account.  Perfect logical order will be an asset only if the learner is psychologically prepared for the information.  Motivation is more than half the battle.

As we will recall from chapter 6, an individual is already motivated by his organismic needs, but he is not necessarily motivated by his normative needs.  As his teacher we have identified a normative need, an area of his life where spiritual growth is needed.  Although we may be aware of his normative need, he is not.  In order for him to be motivated by that need, he must become aware of the need.  This is one of the basic ways that the organismic needs and normative needs differ.  Organismic needs are built in and are automatically motivating because of our biological and psychological makeup.  But normative needs do not motivate an individual until he becomes aware of them.  Thus, our first and perhaps most significant task as his teacher is gently to make him aware of his need.  Once he becomes aware of his need, the Holy Spirit will work directly in his emotions to help him have the proper feelings and desires in connection with that need.  When that occurs, he is motivated.  The Holy Spirit will faithfully work in his emotions to motivate him, but the teacher should work on his intellect so he will become aware of his need.

How do we make a person aware of his need?  Do we simply tell him, "You need to stop gossiping," or "You ought to witness more," or "You are not as kind as you should be"?  For one thing, who among us is so perfect that we have the right to directly point out others people's shortcomings?  To do so might display the teacher's arrogance more than the learner's immaturity.  A teacher needs to be honest and admit his own shortcomings.  He needs to identify with his learners.  He needs to make them aware that he sees himself as a fellow learner.

Then there is also the matter of result.  What would our reaction be if someone gave us such a direct analysis of our weaknesses and sins?  Most of us would become defensive, and we can expect a similar response from our learners.  They might either deny their need or point out worse needs in others.  Such a direct approach would probably do just the opposite of what we had hoped.  So we should be much more gentle and subtle in helping another person see his need.

In order for a person to see his need, he must realize that there is a gap between where he is and where he should be.  For example, suppose that one of the learners has a need to study his Bible more.  He must see that there is a gap between his present level of Bible study and the level at which he should be.

In order to see a gap, a person must see two things: his own lower level of performance and the higher, preferred level of performance.  If he has no vision of a higher level, he will not see the need.  And, if he does see the higher level, but does not realize that he fails to match up to that higher level, he will also fail to see the need.  This suggests two possible ways of helping him see his need.

The first way to help the learner see his need assumes that he accurately knows how well he is doing in a certain area, but doesn't have a vision of anything better.  Thus we need to show him what could be.  In this case we must give him a vision of a higher level of performance.  This can often be done through a study of the example of Christ, or the positive examples of the apostles or prophets.  It can also be done through our own example or the testimony and example of others.  As he compares himself with these examples, he will get a glimpse of the higher possibilities.  No one will have to say to him, "You are not doing as well as so-and-so."

The second way assumes that he realizes there is a higher level of performance, but thinks he is already there.  He is not aware that his own level does not match up to the level he envisions.  Thus we need to show him the actual lower level where he is.  Many times a mild failure experience will help him see his performance as it really is.  Or, we can pose a question that he realizes he should be able to answer but cannot.  Or we may even use the technique that Nathan used with David (2 Samuel 12:1-7), to help him see an inconsistency between what he believes or claims and what he has done.

Motivating another person is never easy.  So when we find a person who already sees his own need, and is thus motivated, we should use the motivation that is already there.

It may be that many more people than we are aware of already realize their needs, but they are simply not willing to open up and let us know about their needs.  If we falsely present ourselves as perfect Christians who are always helping out the other guy, we will discourage any honest discussion of weaknesses and sins.  But if we admit our own humanness and failings, others will feel much freer to admit the needs they already see and will be more willing to learn about needs of which they are not already aware.

The Information Step

During this step the learner, who by now is aware of his need, deals directly with the biblical information and principles that provide the answer to his need.  We should not assume that this is the time to lecture.  All sorts of means and methods are possibilities here (including an occasional brief lecture), just as there are hundreds of possibilities during the other steps as well.

If the aim is a knowledge aim, this Information Step concludes the lesson.

The Personalization Step

After the learner focuses his attention on various concepts, ideas, and principles during the Information Step, his task during the Personalization Step is to make connections between these new insights and his own life and actions.  Sometimes this "application" can be done through a series of examples, with which the learner can identify.  As each of the examples is discussed, it is wise to point out what they have in common and how they relate to the basic principle learned in the Information Step.  This will help the learner think of further applications he can make in his own situation, or recognize unexpected events that happen to him as opportunities to apply the principle.

Another way to help the learner make these connections with his daily life is to guide him through a process in which he selects some temptation or event (that he knows is likely to happen to him) which relates to the idea or principle that has been learned during the Information Step.  He is then guided to plan out the details of his own application.  The learner, rather than the teacher, is actually deciding upon his own application under the teacher's guidance.

The Action Step

The real application is in daily life.  Even though this step takes place after the learner and the teacher part, it is often possible to end the lesson with some prayer or commitment that expresses the intent of the learner.

With some lessons it is also possible for the teacher to do something after the lesson time is finished to encourage carry-over.  Sometimes the teacher and the learners can apply the lesson together (for example, if the lesson was about visitation of the sick or shut-in).  Sometimes the teacher can send notes or make phone calls to encourage application, or discuss the class members' applications in a subsequent lesson.

Lesson Planning Form

Below is a form that can be used to plan a lesson so that it will include the four steps explained in this chapter.  These four steps are the same whether we are planning a sermon to 4,000 people or a camp discussion with five kids.

The right side of the form should be filled out first, as illustrated.  The learner is the one who must go through the four steps in order to learn the lesson, so we should spell out the learner's sequence of thoughts first.  Then we can fill in the left side of the form with the various methods and techniques we will use and the experiences we want the learner to have.  These methods and experiences must be carefully chosen so that they will stimulate the thoughts we have written down in the right column.

There are probably dozens of ways to get the learner to think the first thought, dozens of ways for the second and all the other thoughts.  Here is where our creativity can flourish.  But we must remember that the effectiveness of our methods is judged by how well they bring about the desired thoughts, not by how different or flashy they are.

As we plan a lesson, we will be tempted to focus most of our attention on what we are going to do as the teacher.  But this is a mistake.  Most of our attention, both in the preparation of the lesson and during the lesson, should be focused on what the learner is thinking.

Lesson Planning Form

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Copyright © 1984, 2002, Ronald W. Leigh