Oct 2, 2020
- Why?: How do you construct a Bible lesson based on The Effective Four?
- What?: The Effective Four are the four
questions you should help your learners answer so that they might
gain wisdom rather than mere knowledge from your Bible lesson. The
questions are: Why? What? So What? So What Now?.
The first question is Why? Why should they want to know the truth you are going to show them from Scripture?
The second question is What? What is that truth?
The third question is So What? How might the truth be applied to their lives so that they can grow in wisdom?
Finally, So What Now? What transformation would they commit to as a result of the lesson?
That's the order of the lesson—Why? What? So What? So What Now?.
But, the lesson is constructed starting with the What? This is where you will spend most of your time in preparing the lesson. What is the big idea from the passage you are going to teach? Once you understand what the human author, inspired by the divine author, meant to say to the original audience, you can bring the truth to your learners. Then, think through how that truth could be applied to your learners. That's the So What?. The So What Now? is the way in which you will have your learners commit to being transformed. Finally, knowing where you're aiming, develop the Why? that will draw them into the lesson. Raise a tension that needs to be settled or ask a question that needs to answered by the passage you're teaching. - So What?: In summary, you prepare the lesson beginning with the What?, but you present the lesson beginning with the Why?. This is the method of constructing a lesson so that you are, as the title of the book says, Bible Teaching for Wisdom.
- So What Now?: Rather than reading from a lesson prepared by another or presenting a lot of interesting Bible facts, know the truth that leads to wisdom and then teach that truth using The Effective Four.