If you want to teach well, teach like Jesus. Today’s leadership nugget is an incredible resource for your teaching. A friend of mine from the Doctor of Education program at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary just finished his dissertation which evaluated the various ways Jesus adjusted his teaching to his audience. In educational circles, this is called differentiated instruction.

Dr. Daniel Ray has compiled an exhaustive chart of Jesus’ teaching methodologies cross-referenced with the audience and situation Jesus was in. This is a fabulous tool to have by your side as you plan children’s messages or large group teaching.

Here it is:

Jesus Teaching Method Chart

Interact: How have you used differentiated instruction in your ministry?

If you are looking for some good ideas and motivational reading, go check out Children’s Church Ministry. Content on the site occasionally leads you to a product you can purchase, but it’s not an overwhelming sales pitch.

I recommend a good deal of open source software on this site. Open source programs offer a viable alternative to expensive programs. What you miss are some user-friendly features and support, however most problems are easily solved by glancing through extensive forums.

One I came across recently is Open LP. If you can’t afford Media Shout, Song Show Plus, or Pro Presenter, then you may want to consider this. You can download it here.

If you are ever looking for teaching pictures, Visual Bible Alive is a great place to start. They have thousands of pictures that deal with Bible places, events, and people.

One way that I use things like this is by having kids listen to a dramatized story while looking at one or several pictures depicting that story.

Rose Publishing is a company that produces some excellent Bible reference materials. Although their resources are available for a price, they do offer a free “sampling” of some of their materials through a weekly email. By signing up for their email, you can receive free Bible eCharts about every other week. The free charts they make available are pulled from various resources they offer. Some examples include:

• 10 Names of God
• Then and Now Bible Maps
• Christianity and World Religion Comparisons
• Armor of God Diagram

If you know anything about education, you know that graphic organizers (charts, timelines, descriptive illustrations) are exellent ways for people to grasp certain concepts. These emails provide you with a few tools to store in the “Bible Teaching” folder on your computer to pull out for future reference.

Rose sends out about one email per week, so they do not flood your inbox. Each email is obvioulsy a promtion for their material, and every other week, it includes a link to a free eChart. I do not recommend a lot of newsletters to you, only ones that provide a good benefit, so I definitely commend this one to you.