Playing Catch

As I was scrolling though Facebook this morning the title of an article caught my eye, “Pastors, Teach Your People How to Walk with God.” This pastor identified one of the central roles of pastoral ministry: teaching people how to walk personally with God. But as I read on, I was disappointed by his counsel on how the pastor should do that—teach it in what you preach, how you pray and sing in worship, and in what you do together corporately as a church body.

In one sense, nothing he said was wrong. I am not against any of those things. I am for them! You can’t do what you don’t know to do. But the advice seemed to focus more on teaching about how to walk personally with God than teaching people how to walk personally with God. There is a difference. So while I agree that the pastor’s public teaching, preaching, and praying should be aimed at teaching people how to walk personally with God, if that is where you stop, you are teaching what it is and why it is important, but not how to do it. To do that takes personal one-on-one attention.

Let me give an example. I can sit with my daughter Maggie and tell her all about playing catch. I can explain what a ball is, what a baseball glove is, how you stand apart and throw the ball to each other, etc. I can show her videos of other people doing it, show her some baseball games. I can take her to the store and look at balls and gloves and talk about which ones would be best to get and how to care for them. But after doing all of that, I have not really taught her how to play catch, have I? To do that, I need to actually play with her. I need to help her figure out how to open and close the glove at the right time and in the right way, how to keep your eye on the ball, how to throw it, the different ways you can throw it, and what to do when it gets thrown into the neighbor’s yard. Teaching catch means playing catch with the person you are teaching.

In the same way, biblical understanding of teaching is not just about the passing of information, but the passing of practice. I have been learning that living one’s life for God through Christ is both taught and caught. I submit that the reason so many Christians seem to be struggling in their walk with God is not because it is not being taught, but because there is precious little opportunity to catch it. And that only happens when other Christians who are walking with God well, intentionally decide to walk with others to help them figure it out. What we need in the church are not more pastors teaching corporately about living for God, but more pastors who are available and personally invested in intentional relationships with men and women showing them how to walk with God in everyday life; and who are equipping these people to go and do the same with others. Without being in personal relationship with people who are intentionally walking with you and showing you how to walk with God in all of life’s varied experiences, learning how to walk with God is going to be much more evasive and enigmatic. We need people who are committed to helping us catch what it means to love God and love others who then become committed to doing the same for others.