The Best Way to Learn and Teach God's Word

An effective method for learning God's Word is to use a systematic strategy that involves seven consecutive steps. A good way to remember the order in which these seven steps should be taken is by referring to the acrostic PRIME AT. When you PRIME AT God's Word, you are preparing to better understand and use God's Word. The seven steps outlined in the acrostic are: Pray; Read, Interpret, Meditate, Explore, Apply, and Teach. You should:

Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide your learning of God's Word,

Read-different versions of the Bible,

Interpret-scripture in your own words,

Meditate-on the meaning and purpose of the scripture,

Explore-commentaries, study guides, and other biblical references,

Apply-God's Word to your life,

Teach-others what you have learned.

An effective way to teach God's Word is to engage people in active learning. This is best done by designing a pedagogical method that addresses the following questions:

What do you want people to be able to do when they have finished the lesson?

What will they need to know in order to do what should be done?

How can you facilitate their learning?

How do you assess learning?

Establishing a set of learning outcomes is required to answer the first question. To answer the second question, one must identify the body of knowledge that must be acquired to accomplish the learning outcomes. This requires identifying a set of learning objectives that must be achieved. The best way to facilitate learning is to provide guided learning materials that address both learning outcomes and learning objectives and ask probing questions. And finally, some type of quiz or test needs to be developed in order to properly assess learning.