I was teaching all day at one of the Latvian summer camps in Ligatne. We had a good time and I got to teach the same teaching four times in a row as the camps participants was divided up in four groups. I was teaching on relationships and specificly the road from singleness to married life.
Afterwards someone told me it was the best teaching of the whole week. While that is a fantastic thing for a preacher to hear it still left me empty. Travelling around in different places you seldom get to see the fruit of your work and I don’t think that just because someone enjoyed the teaching that it was any good at all. All we have evidence of then is that we have provided good entertainment.
The real question is did it have any impact? Did the young people who listened change the way they think about marriage and dating because of it? Will they change the way they live? Will it influence any every day decisions?
If any of these questions is answered with a yes then it was a success in every way, if not then it cannot have been a very good teaching at all. I usually say that I don’t like to hear that my preaching was good but that, of course is not entirely true, I love to hear I did a good job, but I long to hear that it had a lasting effect. I’d rather have people walk away from my teachings shaken than entertained, rather disturbed than lighthearted.
Retorics does not a good teaching make, the spirit of God who speaks straight to the heart does.
(For those of you who where there, click here for the 100 topics to discuss before marriage pdf)
