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THE TEACHER AS SPIRITUAL GUIDE

by R. Ben Marshall

(The following article was printed in the magazine Leader in the Church School Today, for December-January-February 2001 and 2002, Cokesbury, with some slight editorial differences.)

A New Era

We are entering anew era in the arena of Christian Nurture. This new era is a result of the deep spiritual hunger that is making itself known in our country and the recent emphasis on spiritual formation...prayer, spiritual life retreats, spiritual direction, etc. We have even begun to change the term Christian "Education" to Christian "Formation". Therefore, we need to think seriously about what this means for the role of Christian education leaders in our churches.

Let's look briefly at what the title "teacher" implies. First of all it comes to us from a long history of seeing the role of the Sunday School as one of "teaching", of imparting information that will then engender faith. It may also be that behind the role of teaching is the concept that "faith" is "believing in" a theological affirmation about God and Jesus Christ, etc. Teaching then is directed toward understanding the affirmations and coming to believe in them. Certainly this is a crucial role that must take place in the nurturing of faith. But it is neither the only role nor the central one.

We must begin to see our task as more one of helping the person to enter into a personal relationship with God who loves them. The person must be helped to engender a trust in God's unconditional love for them and to learn how to go about continuing to nurture that loving relationship throughout their life. At the same time, that person must come to know, at every age, what it means to be loving in their world.

Certainly the imparting of information and engendering of understanding is crucial here; however, the focus is not on the information but on the person's trust in God's love. Faith, in this view is "trusting in God's love" as the center piece of intellectual belief and active love, for it is God's love that will change us into loving persons.

What Is a Spiritual Guide?

I am proposing, then, that we begin to see ourselves as "spiritual guides" rather than teachers. The Christian Life is a spiritual journey with God, into God's love. A Guide is someone who is also on the Journey and will invite the other to join them in that Journey, helping them along the way in whatever way they particularly need to be helped.

People of all ages do have a spiritual hunger, a hunger for the God who Loves them and wants them to find that Love. That is no less the case for the young child as it is for the adult who has lost their way in life. So the guidance we provide as guides has directly to do with a person's mutually loving relationship with God. A "spiritual" guide is one who is in a relationship with God and who goes about helping another in their own relationship with God. It does not imply some special knowledge, although the more knowledge we have the better we will be able to help especially in terms of the helping skills. But it does imply some experience with God or at least a recognition of that relationship and a desire to Journey in it. The relationship with God is THE central issue in our task in these days, both for the one who guides and the one who is being guided.

People are hungry for a relationship with God, but people need someone to help them to become open to that God of Love that Jesus gave his life to call us toward. We really cannot do it alone. If there is anything that the Incarnation means it is that we need some one who will become a vehicle through which we can become open to God when we cannot do it on our own. We need a Guide.

A Guide, for me, is one who comes to understand me, who comes to know what I need and is willing to spend some time helping me along the Journey. A Guide helps me to know that I am on a Journey, what that Journey is about and what I am really trying to find on this Journey. They introduce me to a God who Loves unconditionally and who is always with me seeking to Love me and help me to come to be able to nurture my relationship with that Loving God on my own as well as with others. A Guide is also someone who helps me learn to manage the ins and outs of life's difficulties and be able to love under all sorts of circumstances.

Becoming A Spiritual Guide

So what does all of this mean for you, the Teacher, in becoming a Spiritual Guide. (Please remember that anything mentioned below assumes that the development level of the person is taken into account. Not all of the suggestions would apply to every age in all cases.)

First, it means that you become more and more aware of your own personal relationship with God and nurture it. You do have a relationship already. God is seeing to that and its continually inviting you to allow God to love you. You may already be doing what you can do to nurture that relationship or maybe you can do more. Besides your worship with others, central is your own personal time of prayer. There is no one way to pray, but there is your way. You may want to learn some more about prayer for yourself, but if nothing else, simply begin by spending some regular time alone with God. And along with any scripture or reading you like to do, spend some of that time just listening with your heart for the Love that God has for you. As you grow in your own relationship, you will be able to help the child or youth or adult in your group with theirs. And helping them just might mean inviting them to begin that personal prayer along with you.

Second, it means that you will seek awareness of the particular ways the person in your group is needing to be Loved. What would help them to know how important God deems them to be. It might be providing a group or individual activity that is appropriate for the age range of those in your group. It might be meeting them at the door with a warm and caring welcome, checking on how they are doing?

Third, it means that your group activities include prayer and learning about prayer in ways that are helpful to the particular group with which you work. It might mean giving them a chance to talk about their present insight about their own prayer. We need to help people to know how to pray in a way that they feel free to use whatever form is best for them, assured that God lovingly receives all our prayers. And certainly helping them to learn to listen for GodŐs loving them. Maybe they need to experience some silent listening as a group or even a time to pray individually within the group time. Remember that it is God who does the nurturing within the person, we only provide the situation in which the person can become more open to that Nurturing Love from God.

Fourth, it means that God and our relationship with God becomes a central focus of the content of the group time. This must not be in a heavy or authoritarian way, because that does not communicate GodŐs Love, but in natural way, so that the persons come to realize that God is real and functions in every part of their life. When appropriate, You may want to spend some time now and then letting the individuals talk about their own personal relationship with God and what it means to them.

Fifth, it certainly means there will be times when you share some information and understanding through the Scriptures that help them to learn the stories of how God loves us, and what it means to be loving through hearing about how Jesus loved and what he taught about loving. In other words, do a little concept "teaching" using the best methods possible. Let me remind you, however, that in our use of Scriptures, we must remember that certain passages may actually communicate an idea about God that we do not intend, either because it is a very difficult passage to understand or the age level of the persons makes them unable to understand the ideas intended. So we need to choose carefully if we are to truly help our group encounter the God of Unconditional Love.

Finally, but not least by any means, as guides we will help them into experiences of loving behavior. It may simply be how we help them to relate to others in their group. It will certainly be done by the way we treat them. It will hopefully include some way to involve them in service to others beyond their group.

You will rightly note that a lot of what I have said are things that you are probably doing already--I hope that is the case. But I hope that you have caught the shift in focus from a concern about information or idea content to the relationship with God. A shift that moves us from being only teachers to being spiritual guides. What we do in the Sunday School must focus on the Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, and let that focus give direction and shape to the teaching and the training and the service that we do.

What we are about is helping persons to be able to enter into and nurture a relationship with God that will sustain them throughout their life, through the temptations and challenges they surely will encounter. Such helping must depend upon GodŐs work with us and with them or else we are missing our task. And for this they need a Guide!

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©2002 R. Ben Marshall. All Rights Reserved.