The Holy Ghost

THE GOSPEL TEACHER

"The Holy Ghost is the converter.  The gospel teacher has much to do in the preparation of the lesson, the search of the scriptures, the declaration of the truth; but the Holy Ghost is the converter.  The Gospel teacher must never forget this.  He or she must never seek to usurp the role of the Spirit nor upstage Him whose influence results in renewal and righteousness.  The person who bears pure testimony never seeks for cheap substitutes for the Spirit.

He never relies upon methodologies which might confuse sentimentality with spirituality, emotional display with edification.  His witness is more than story and his testimony is more than an expression of gratitude.  He tries the virtue of the word of God (Alma 31:5), trusts in the power of the scriptures, and the words of the prophets to penetrate to the heart of his listeners and bears witness of his message with sincerity and with soberness." (Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet, The Holy Ghost, pgs. 119-120)

Then from the August 2013 Ensign, by Jack Lyon, pgs. 67-68 we read, "A Sunday School teacher asks, 'Who were the first two people on earth?'  She looks expectantly over her class of teenagers, but no hands go up. The class members look down at their feet or leaf idly through their scriptures.  'It's a simple question,' the teacher says.  'Doesn't anyone know the answer?'

Next door, in the Gospel Doctrine class, the teacher asks, 'What is the most important principle of the gospel?'  A sister timidly raises her hand. 'Faith?' she asks.  That's a great response,' the teacher replies, but not quite what I'm looking for.  Anyone else?'

Silence.

Teachers ask questions because they want to involve class members in their lessons.  They understand that students who are involved learn more than those who just sit and listen.  But questions like those above generally don't work.

'Who were the first two people on earth?' is an ineffective question because the answer is so obvious that no one wants to respond - or sees a need to. 

'What is the most important principle of the gospel?' is also an ineffective question.  No one knows the answer the teacher is looking for, except the teacher, who is essentially saying, 'Guess what I'm thinking.'

These are questions of fact; each has a specific answer.  But great classroom discussions come from a different type of question - oddly enough, from questions without a specific answer.  That is the key.

If you're a teacher of an adult class, you might ask, 'What principle of the gospel has been most important in your life and why?'  Class members will probably pause to think about their experiences and that's OK.  If you relax and wait a few seconds, hands will start going up and you'll hear about real, heartfelt experiences people have had with the gospel.  You'll also notice that one person's comments will spark comments from others.  Before long, the class will be having an interesting and inspiring discussion!

If you want the class to have a discussion about something specific like faith, consider saying something like this: 'Today we'll be talking about faith, the first principle of the gospel.'  Then ask a question about faith that doesn't have a specific answer such as:

1. 'What part has faith played in your life?'

2. 'Why do you think the Lord wants us to have faith?

3. 'What are some ways we can increase our faith?'

…There's an added benefit to asking open-ended questions:

Even class members who don't add to the discussion will be thinking about the questions.  Their understanding and testimony may grow even though they haven't said anything.