Information Transfer or Heart Transformation?
I’ve taken the Clifton StrengthsFinder test 3 times in my life, across a few years and different life situations. If you’re unfamiliar, after a lengthy assessment you’re provided with your top 5 strengths from a list of 34. These strengths are sorted into a few categories, such as executing or relationship building, and the results can be a helpful tool alongside other personality assessments. Across all 3 times I’ve taken this test, 4 of my top 5 strengths have been the same each time and have resonated with my understanding of myself.
One of those strengths is “Input”. Simply stated, I like to gather as much input as I can - whether it’s collecting movies or gathering information, I like and can handle a lot of input. I’ve found this to be true in my work as a youth pastor as well. I always need to curate the amount of content I have and craft it in a presentable way. My hunch is that many of us who resonate with being “youth pastor theologians” lean more towards this than away from it. That can be a tremendous blessing, as we study more and help our students to think deeply. It can also be detrimental to our discipleship efforts if we’re not purposeful.
Information Transfer
I can still remember the only time Mary came to youth group. She was an exchange student who stayed with one of our families every summer, and one year she happened to stay through the fall as well. Her host family brought her to youth group when I was in the middle of teaching a series on creation and evolution. That particular week, I was covering 3 or 4 theories of old-earth creationism. I had read 10 books in the previous month preparing for the series and, as you might expect, my teaching that night was dense. I gave the students a ton of information, and while a small handful soaked it up, it was not palatable for our group. I understood this most fully when a student told me “Yeah, Mary said that was a lot…” and she never came again.
In my desire to teach deeply and challenge our students, I went too far in dumping information and not far enough in making it understandable and applicable. The solution is not to simply provide less information, but to teach for the sake of true understanding and wisdom.
Heart Transformation
In John 5, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, prompting a confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders. They assault his authority, and in response Jesus provides numerous witnesses to his identity as God. These include the works he’s doing, God the Father, and John the Baptist. In John 5:39-40, Jesus provides another witness to his identity and authority: the Scriptures. He says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” The religious leaders Jesus is addressing do not suffer from a lack of knowledge. Yet their hearts are frozen in their religion and they are unable to come to Jesus. Instead of replacing information and knowledge with something more experiential, Jesus teaches that the information God has revealed points to the life transformation that is found in Jesus.
In an effort to teach our students deeply, we can misunderstand the goal. If our teaching does not lead them to Jesus, it’s likely that we’re simply doing information transfer rather than heart transformation.
How can we be intentional in our efforts, then? A desire to teach students theology and doctrine is a great thing, and that involves a certain amount of information. Here are three ideas for pursuing heart transformation rather than settling for information transfer.
1. Have a clear definition of a disciple/discipleship
In my experience, discipleship is sometimes a code word for “class or program where we download a ton of biblical information into people.” Part of this comes from a false dichotomy between evangelism and discipleship. This betrays a muddied definition of what discipleship actually is. If discipleship is defined in primarily teaching terms, we’ll lean towards information transfer. Jesus’ statements about his disciples later in John’s gospel are helpful in defining discipleship clearly. Disciples are those who abide in Jesus’ word (John 8:31) and love one another (John 13:35). We can craft a more holistic definition of a disciple from there, but it involves more than simply gaining the information. Disciples of Jesus abide in him and the information they learn leads to love from a transformed heart.
2. Teach the gospel every time
As we seek heart transformation, it’s also beneficial to have a clear definition of what the gospel is. We can think of the gospel in narrow and broad terms, and therefore teach the gospel every time. The list of preparation questions in the linked article are valuable in crafting this kind of teaching strategy, and even in helping our own hearts see the beauty of the gospel. My example earlier demonstrated a lack of gospel-centered teaching. Instead of focusing on theories in such a granular way, I could have taught students the same content while emphasizing the goodness of God’s creation and the intimacy he created us to have with him.
3. Pursue heart transformation in your own heart first
We cannot truly pass on what we don’t have ourselves. Perhaps we can teach some doctrinal truths to students without having absorbed them ourselves, but students will eventually see that our lives don't line up with what we’re teaching. Those of us who naturally lean towards study and gathering information may need to be more cautious in our preparation, aware that it could become an academic exercise. A good measure for this is how much the study we do leads to love - for God and others. Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:2 point out the foolishness of simply gaining information, “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Pursuing heart transformation may involve regular spiritual disciplines that stretch us beyond our comfort zone and redirect our attention on God himself instead of the knowledge he’s revealed.
There are other aspects we could incorporate as we pursue heart transformation, including the ideas presented in the two articles linked below. As we desire to make disciples whose faith endures, it’s important to be aware of our tendencies. May we form disciples whose hearts are transformed in Christ, by the truth we put before them, and leading towards greater Christlikeness.