All of us who dare to stand up and explain the Bible are teachers in progress. We all have ways we can get better.
Recently I got to sit down with Mark Meynell, who, in his role as director of Europe and the Caribbean for Langham Preaching, spends most of his time traveling to different parts of the world to help teachers and preachers get better at handling the Bible. According to Meynell, Bible teachers all over the world lament the same thing—a lack of time to do the kind of study they want. But he tells teachers, “You make time for what you think is important.” Meynell says that the marks of really good Bible teaching include faithfulness to the text, relevance to the audience, and clarity in delivery. Our discussion included tips on how to discover the tics that make it hard for our audience to listen, how (and how not) to incorporate passages outside our main text into our talks, and how John Stott modeled what it looks like to be a lifelong learner.
Meynell is the author of numerous books, including What Angels Long to Read (Langham Preaching Resources, 2017), When Darkness Seems My Closest Friend (InterVarsity Press, 2018) and his most recent, Colossians and Philemon for You (Good Book, 2018). He blogs at markmeynell.net.
Mark Meynell on Becoming a Better Bible Teacher
June 11, 2020 • Nancy Guthrie, Mark Meynell
Live at TGCW22: Putting Personality and Passion Into Your Teaching
September 1, 2022 • Nancy Guthrie
In this workshop, recorded live at The Gospel Coalition's 2022 Women’s Conference, Nancy Guthrie works through twelve ways to put personality and passion into your teaching without making it all about you.
Putting Together a Christ-Centered Bible Talk
August 5, 2021 • Nancy Guthrie
You’ve been asked to give a Bible talk. Where do you begin? And how do you make sure you’re understanding and applying the passage rightly? How will you get to the gospel? In this workshop session, recorded live at TGC’s 2021 National Conference, Nancy Guthrie takes listeners through the process of preparing to teach the Bible—including prayer, looking at the context, determining the structure of the passage, composing an aim, creating an outline, getting to the gospel, developing applications, and coming up with an introduction and conclusion. She then applies each of these tasks to putting together a talk on Numbers 6:22–27. Putting Together a Bible Talk worksheet (referred to in this podcast)
It’s Not About You: How Biblical Theology Transforms Bible Study
June 24, 2021 • Nancy Guthrie
Even in churches in which men and women are getting a regular diet of biblical theology and redemptive history from the pulpit, what is being offered in small-group Bible study is often driven by felt needs, has little biblical or theological rigor, or is oriented around self-improvement. But when biblical theology infiltrates Bible study, it puts the emphasis on what Christ has done rather than on what we must do. It helps participants put the various parts of the Bible together so they begin to make sense. And it makes being united to Christ by faith urgent and necessary. In this workshop, recorded live at The Gospel Coalition 2021 National Conference, Nancy Guthrie works through seven ways biblical theology transforms Bible study, as well as ways teachers can develop a deeper grasp of biblical theology.