Subscribe to the NetworkCommunicator Vs. Teacher
In my last post I mentioned that one of my observations about Willow Creek’s middle school ministry was that their middle school pastor, Scott Rubin, seems to be much more of a teacher than a communicator which, in my opinion, was something that helped the large ministry feel smaller and more personable. To be honest, I’m not even sure I know what that means, exactly, but it really felt evident while I was listening to Scott teach. I’m hoping Scott will read this post and weigh in with some thoughts because I think trying to quantify some of the differences between “teaching” and “communicating” will be an interesting challenge.
I hope you will add your thoughts as well. Is there a difference? If so, what are they? Which is more effective and in what setting? The list of questions could go on and on. To get things started, here are a few of my initial, but not totally thought out, ponderings:
- It seems like the smaller the youth group, the more “teaching” happens while larger crowds seem to have more “communicating”. I would possibly define teaching for this discussion as something like learner-based, interactive and instructional where communicating may be presenter-based, non-interactive and inspirational. Not sure those are the best definitions.
- Communicators try to capture the crowds attention and keep them engage through a high quality presentation. Teachers try to capture the crowds interest and keep them engage through interaction, student involvement, posing questions etc.
- Communicators usually hope their message was “good”. Teachers usually hope their lesson was “meaningful”
Based on some of these comparisons are you more of a communicator or a teacher? Note: I’m more of a communicator. I may not be a good one, but that’s my style.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each style?
What are other differences?
Are my comparisons fair?
What do you want to add to the conversation?
Related posts:
Scott – if you ever check back here, I was listening to you on the guy/girl series y’all did — it’s online (on ‘your’ ministry’s website — which is VERY cool, by the way!) I went to: http://www.elev8world.com/ -> Downloads -> Audio
thanks for the expansion, kurt. this is definitely something i struggle with, because i have a large group Sunday morning setting. i enjoy being a communicator & it’s in some ways what comes more naturally…i do speaking engagements & whatnot that definitely lean that direction. however, i really would prefer my Sunday morning setting to be more teaching based…but struggle figuring out how to teach in ways that connect with the whole group. it’s difficult in a big group when you have such a mix. i think the communicator vibe definitely has its role, but probably more in a one-off sort of setting like an outreach event, retreat, etc. i think it’s better to have a teacher for the week to week pieces.