When we forget the heart in teaching the Bible

Recently, there was a lightbulb moment during a team training.

               “We are forgetting the heart”.

We were discussing the ‘Faith Triangle’ that summarises the recognition that faith is not just knowing certain truths (head knowledge) but also includes our heart (affect) and hands (behaviour and speech).

The group commented that they were pretty good at teaching the ‘head’ stuff to children in Kids Church and Kids Club but not so good in the other areas. Another observed that they were making an effort to include more ‘hands’ application in their talks, which had meant doing a series that was particularly practical. And then the moment came,

               “We are forgetting the heart.” 

The realisation that something important was missing.

The talks were interesting and accurate. They were age-appropriate and included ‘application’ (by which we usually mean the ‘what you should do with this’ section). But they skipped the heart. The result was friendly legalism.

This happens quite a lot in our bible teaching. Another example is a recent talk I heard on the Psalms. Many of the Psalms are songs, designed for corporate prayer and praise. If there is one part of the Bible that seamlessly blends ‘head’ knowledge with ‘heart’ and ‘hands’, it’s the Psalms. The Psalmist speaks to God or about him to the people. Therefore, it is always relational and there are a full range of emotions on display. The directives in the Psalms are frequently to praise and obedience and perseverance.

Yet in this talk, all emotion was sidelined. It was irrelevant to the task of finding theological truths and then translating them into resolutions for obedience, such as ‘more consistent church attendance and bible reading.’ The relationship of the Psalmist to his God and his audience was also ignored. Who was the Psalmist talking to and why?

Now don’t get me wrong, it was a faithful talk in as much as it informed the head and applied this to our hands, but the heart was missing.

Interestingly, there is new research emerging in the field of neuroscience around the importance of emotion in learning and memory. Teachers and leaders will nod when they hear that there is now scientific evidence that the feelings we have while learning something directly impact how effectively we engage and remember new content. Our own emotional state, how we feel about the teacher or leader, how we feel about the topic, all impact our motivation and ability to process the information.

This is unsurprising in one sense, as God created us in and for relationships. He created emotions and passions. Science is just finding new words to wrap around this part of his creation. The Bible is full of stories that evoke our feelings, songs, letters between people who care about each other. Even the Mosaic Law is relational, couched in the context of covenant relationship where there is hope and hurt and rescues. In both the Old and New Testament, there is the command to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, strength… in short, with all of ourselves.

So how do we react to this?  I was both excited to see this ‘heart’ blind spot for the first time, seeing the issue is the first step in doing better. It also makes me sad.

Reflect on your own Bible reading and teaching. When you’re teaching God’s Word, even to the youngest members of our church family, are you forgetting the heart?

Here’s a few ways I’m trying to ensure I’m not missing the ‘heart’.

In my preparation…

-  notice the relational elements in each Bible passage. What relationships are involved and between whom?

-  the Faith Triangle is a helpful way of reminding us to consider all three aspects of faith. Even when a passage seems to be ‘mainly hands’ or ‘mainly head’, it is worth considering where the ‘heart’ is. It might be in the context, or only implied but it is there somewhere if we remember to look.

- what emotions are implied or described in the passage? What is the function of these? Often, emotion provides motivation to do or not do something. In the Psalms for example, considering the greatness of God, how big and awesome and mighty he is, inspires praise and wonder and joy.

In my teaching…

• sometimes negative feelings (sadness, shame, guilt, anger) can come up as we teach, either as natural reactions or invited reactions. Negative feelings help us recognise our need for God’s saving grace. Sometimes the Word of God convicts us and one option is to be bogged down in a mire of guilt and shame. But seeing our need and inadequacy makes the light of the Gospel even brighter. As we teach children, we can guide them to respond to guilt by crying out to a heavenly Father who loves them in repentance and faith, knowing He has forgiven us in Christ. It’s good to ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling’ (Phil 2:12) but we work at salvation because of the joy of already being in relationship with Jesus, not out of fear of punishment or rejection.

• what is my ‘heart’ response to the passage I’m teaching? What emotions can I share that will help my audience? As teachers and leaders, we are always modelling to our listeners. How much more memorable is it when we see our leaders share their love and passion for Jesus? I bet you can remember those moments in sermons or talks more than many others.

• as you get to the ‘So what?’ or Application part of your talk, consider all three parts of the Faith Triangle: head, heart and hands.

What do we now know that we didn’t know before? How does that change how I think?

How does knowing this change my relationship with God and/or others? What are the feelings around this and how are they used? (To motivate, lead to repentance, inspire praise?).                                                                                                                               

How does this flow out through my speech and actions?

I don’t want to foster friendly legalists in my children’s ministry. Kids who know what God requires and do the good works that Christ has prepared for them (Eph. 2:10), but are not expressing a love for Jesus and his people, have not yet grasped the fullness of faith. Being mindful of the relational ‘heart’ in our Bible teaching helps us draw together ‘head’ knowledge and ‘hands’ behaviours, becoming more naturally integrated as, in fact, God has created us to be.