HBLT (hook; book; look; took) and MWGYW (me-we-God-you-we)
HBLT (hook; book; look; took) and MWGYW (me-we-God-you-we) are two different methods for communicating God’s message to an audience, whether in church setup or group setup. Below is a brief summary of the methods used. For more information and for further study, please refer to the bibliography.
HBLT: A Bridge Through Time
Hook Book Look Took
(present) (past) (present) (future)
Why HBLT?
It is God’s nature to plan; spontaneity is not
God’s way of working in the majority of situations. “God is not a God of
disorder but of peace…everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”
(1Cor14:33,40) God is not haphazard; He has a sovereign plan for our lives for
He designed His world by very exacting plans. We were created to His own image
and we have the tendency to make plans as well. Should we not develop plans for
teaching the Word of God as well?
HBLT is a trip through time, from the student’s
world, back to the Bible’s world, again to the actual student’s world, then to
the future (action and life transformation). HBLT is a guide to method choice
and a way to simplify lesson planning.
A Plan for Teaching
(Acts 17:16, 22-31,34)
Paul in Athens addressed the philosophers at
Aeropagus on Athens’ Mars Hill. While waiting for Silas and Timothy, he became
distressed by observing a city filled with idols, utterly lost and in need of
Christ. So many idols exist, even on one the inscription “to an unknown
god.” How did Paul approach a people so
much in need for the truth of Christ?
1.
Gains their attention by entering their world
and hooks them:
a.
Makes observational needs assessment: he starts
where they live.
b.
Tells his observations, “you are very
religious…I even found an altar ‘to an unknown god’…”
c.
Stimulates their interest and curiosity while
giving direction to his teaching, “that unknown god I am going to proclaim to
you…”
2.
Presents and explores the truth with them and
points out to Christ and the means of relationship to God.
a.
Helped them identify with a general implication
for all persons, “God overlooked such ignorance, but now commands all people
everywhere to repent.”
b.
Teaching ministry moved from general
implications to personal application. Response can be either rejection or
acceptance. The important is that all are brought to the place of response, the
point of action.
Four Lesson Elements
The four elements are meant to give you a clear
idea and a clear direction; they are not mechanical steps, but there is
opportunity for flexibility and interaction.
1. Hook; from student’s
world to Bible’s world
There are several qualities of a good hook:
a. Gains learner’s attention:
i.
Build common ground with your learner/audience.
ii.
Know where they live, where they are.
b.
Surfaces a need
(tension with co-worker, chronic illness, need for friendship and sense of
belonging, encouragement, attention, recognition, acceptance, understanding, decision-making,
guidance, sense of identity, healthy relationships).
i.
Group Needs Assessment is a guide to devising
the hook which should surface the need in a non-threatening, thought provoking
manner.
ii.
Students’ perceived needs are different from
true needs. The teacher must open students’ minds and hearts to the spiritual
needs Scripture addresses.
c. Sets a goal; the Direction Step
i.
The hook provides a reason for listening;
either tune-in or tune-out.
ii.
Set a goal they want to reach and they will be
with you.
iii.
Let them see Scripture with the mind of Christ
and set worthy learning goals is part of the teacher’s task.
d.
Leads to Bible study (Book)
i.
When you capture interest.
ii.
Set a goal.
iii.
Lead your students to the Bible.
2. Book: clarification of
meaning and exploration of truth
a. Clarify
meaning: the aim is to give students biblical information and help them
understand it. Many methods are available, i.e. methodology:
i.
Participatory: buzz groups, small group reports
ii.
Teacher-centered method: cover quickly and give
points
iii.
Audio-Visual: charts, visuals, power-points,
video-clips, outline, etc…
iv.
Divide class into small groups; give questions
for them to explore meaning, and then let them write on overhead transparency
with marker to display findings.
b. Lead the
class to meaningful and purposeful exploration of the biblical truth foundation
which can serve for several classes.
3. Look: identify
implications of truth to daily life
A. From book
to look: you move to
implications of the Bible study
B. Guide the class to
discover and grasp relationship of implications to daily living.
C. Knowledge must be tempered with “spiritual
wisdom and understanding” (Col 1:9).
D. You can use a combination of case study +
probing questions to encourage discovery of implications from the group’s
study.
E. In the look section, the teacher
encourages response took section and helps them plan specific ways.
For example, Pete’s students discovered that
the sources of joy (Philippians) were to get out the gospel and sacrifice self
for others and the Lord. That guided discovery learning was done through
group inquiry method but they had to identify implications for that info
to Christian living. Pete guided the class by asking a question that
revealed the life implications, “but what does this mean for the pattern of our
daily lives?” This is the issue explored in the look section of HBLT
approach.
In Pete’s case-study given to the class, they
concluded that by those old couples moving to a retired nursing home to be
looked after, as they dreaded the move, they are on a commission to a new
mission field, will be able to share their faith, minister to others, and
deepen their dependence on Christ the Lord.
4. Took: response phase →
change
a. A
response is required: it will take place outside of class in weekday life
because faith demands response for growth and reality, otherwise, it is dead.
b. For
change to take place, move from general to implementation to actually plan how
to implement the truth learnt.
c. Bible
teacher help students respond by leading them to see God’s will and by helping
them to decide and plan to actually do.
LESSON
PLANNING WORKSHEET
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Date: 11 July 2010
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Location: Church (6th flr)
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File Under: JDG/071110/do you love me
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Target Group: Jesus’ Disciples (JDG)
Gender: female; Age Range: 25-35
Status: married women and singles; Social Class: middle
to low class
Challenges: work, raising children, and witnessing
to Christ.
Those women are overwhelmed by the amount of work
and home related responsibilities. They often betray their love for Christ,
in so many ways, feel depressed and ashamed, and lose hope of ever being true
disciples. The do not know how to live a life that witnesses to Christ.
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Passage:
John 21:15-17
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Cross-reference: John 14:19-24,31; 2:24-25; 16:30;
Matt 12:48-49; 7:15-23; 21:28-32; 1John 3:18
For further reading: John 10; Ezekiel 34; Isaiah
40; Zech. 11; Psalm 23
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Exegetical Idea: To love Christ is to be committed to watch
over His own people, mature and newly born, His commandment.
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Pedagogical Idea: In spite of past denials or betrayals, Jesus will
call his disciple out of his weakness, renew his calling, and give him the
responsibility to watch over His people, either by teaching the word or
attending to their needs to ensure their spiritual growth and maturity.
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Lesson Aim(s)
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Cognitive
(Head): Jesus’ disciples are to reflect
on Jesus’ stance with Peter, to discriminate between past events and present
commitment, and to realize that Jesus does not focus on our denials and
betrayals but rather on renewing our commitment of love to Him through
looking after His people.
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Affective
(Heart): Jesus’ disciples are to be
convinced that they can express their love to Christ in simple ways. They are
to plan to meet once a week to pray and discuss how they can express their
love in a practical way, whether at home, or at work, or market place, or
else.
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Behavioral
(Hands): Jesus’ disciples are to spend
quality time with their families around the Bible study, or to plan home
activities such as preparing sandwiches for the orphanage next to their home
then make Bible study, or take their children to visit children’s cancer
hospital and distribute hymn tapes or coloring book and pencils as a token of
love, or to offer the gospel to the old sick lady or pension homes while
attending to physical needs (such as bathing them, feeding them, combing
their hair).
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HOOK
The Hook: a short story
What
do you think? A woman had two daughters, and she asked the first, “Mary, please
go to the market place and buy me four pounds of green beans.” She answered,
“I will not,” but afterward she regretted it and went. Then she came to the
second and said, “Cathy, please clean the household and wash the dishes.” And
Cathy said, “okay, Mom, I will,” but she did not.
1.
Which of the two loves her
mother? Why?
2.
What
is the measure of love, in this story?
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BOOK
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Content
Outline: teacher-centered
1- Background to
Text
After resurrection, the disciples were afraid,
depressed, hopeless, lonely, felt betrayed and deceived by their master,
Jesus, Who appeared to them three times. This passage talks about Jesus’
third appearance with his disciples while Simeon-Peter had gone back to his
first profession that of fishing fish instead of men. Jesus asked Peter
three times whether he loved him or not? Was it a an agape commitment that
of a covenant love or just a brotherly friendship? Jesus reinstated Peter to
watch over His people as a proof of love. Jesus equates love to care-giving.
2- Biblical Truth:
love is deed in action
“Do you love Me?...feed My lambs…tend My
sheep…feed My sheep”
3- Application:
love to Christ is expressed by carrying out His commandment of tending and
feeding:
a-
Bible study with family or other
b- Visitations to children’s cancer
hospital and orphanages.
c- Looking after old retired people’s
home, while letting them know that they were sent by Jesus as an expression
of love.
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Methodology
Mini
Lecture by the teacher who provides
background information about the author, the gospel, the historic event, and
original recipients of the message; the overall message, repeated words, analogy,
questions posed and answers provided.
Small
Group Discussion, after mini lecture
Jesus’
disciples are to explore:
Q1:
what were Peter’s emotions, given his denial to Christ, when Jesus
confronted him with the question: “do you love Me?”
Q2:
did Peter understand the meaning and kind of “love” involved in the
question?
Q3: why was Peter grieved when Jesus asked him
a third time?
Q4:
where do you stand in your love to Christ? What kind of love is it? How can
you develop it?
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LOOK
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Back
to our story of Mary & Cathy:
1- How could Cathy’s attitude towards her
mother be changed or improved?
2- If this was a lack of love to her mother,
how could she deal with it?
3- Was Peter’s betrayal to Christ a lack of
love?
4- If yes, how could Peter love Christ or
develop his love for Christ, i.e. take it one step higher?
Goal
Setting
The
group is to encourage one another to love Christ; express love in deeds; pray
towards that goal and for the Holy Spirit to provide ideas for expressing
love.
Group
Commitment
Every
two members are to make visitations once a week and to pray together before
going to outreaches.
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TOOK
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Group
commitment to spend quality time with their families in Bible study (family
altar) and in activities.
Group
prayer for outreaches; group outreach-report.
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Evaluation:
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MWGYW Approach
Create a Map
Andy Stanley and Lane Jones
ME (common ground w/ audience)
*
Find common ground with audience
*
Share genuinely a dilemma you, as communicator,
are facing; otherwise, it will be difficult for the audience to trust you, you
will be resisted and argued against.
*
Don’t assume a relationship with the audience
unless it is a weekly audience, then the ME is not as critical.
*
Don’t skip the introductory remarks; big
mistake!
*
Build connection with audience as noted by a
head-shaking in agreement.
WE1 (tension in many areas)
*
Broaden the tension to include everybody.
*
Spend some time applying the tension to as many
areas as you can so as to spark an emotion in as broad an audience as possible.
*
The goal is to surface the issue of unmet
expectations.
*
Don’t transition from “WE” to the next section
until you feel like you have created a tension that your audience is dying for
you to resolve.
*
Focus on the question you are intending to
answer: “what should I do about that?”
*
Application is not a section of the message, it
is the context of the message.
GOD (divine right)
*
The goal here is to resolve the tension
*
Point people to God’s thoughts on the subject
*
The “good news is” ….
*
Background text: explain and engage the text:
o
Do not skip along the surface of the text
o
Do not go down so deep and stay there till the
audience gasps for air
*
Engage the audience with the text: take
them with you on your journey:
o Do not
just read
o Do not
just explain
*
Take the audience with you on your journey
YOU (application)
*
Tell people what to do with what they have
heard
*
Answer to the question you have been asking
1.
So what?
2.
Now what?
*
Find an application that everybody can get on
line
1.
Sets you up for the WE aspect of the message.
2.
Allows you to stay focused and concise in your
communication
*
Broaden the application by thinking of :
1.
concentric circles of relationships such as:
§
Family
§
Community
§
Work
§
Marketplace
2.
Various age stages or groups:
§
Teenagers
§
Singles
§
Newlyweds
§
Parents
§
Empty nesters
§
Single-mothers
3.
Believers and unbelievers
4.
The person who is not there
WE2 (casting vision)
*
WE is about vision casting; a moment of
inspiration.
*
As you did in ME, you gathered your audience
around your shared frailty, misgivings, or temptations.
*
It is a moment of inspiration; call upon your
audience to imagine
*
Paint verbal pictures of what could be done and
should be done.
MWGYW Approach
John 21:15-17
ME
Every night, after finishing work and home-related
responsibilities, I relax and watch TV until I fall asleep. I wake up the
following morning my head filled up with the things I watched and my senses
become vulnerable and tempted. This weighs me down; I get depressed and ashamed
with such a feeling of inadequacy and unworthiness to be a disciple of Christ.
I feel that I have betrayed Jesus because I know witness flow inside-out; my
inner life should bear witness to God in the secret place where nobody watches
me.
WE1
Don’t we all feel this one way or another, at one point or
another? We confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord over our lives but our
deeds deny Him! The truck-driver who gets angry from standing in a long traffic
cue and starts reviling; the household wife who cheats on her husband in the
home expenses; the woman that pretends to love her neighbor, yet gossips and
damages her reputation; the friend who abuses her friend by gossiping on other
people’s lives to damage their image; the single-mother who neglects her children and gives priority to her
own private life; the doctor who commits illegal actions with his patients; the
engineer who designs a building with improper foundational measurement in order
to cut on cost; the CEO who oppresses his employees to cover up for his
mistakes; the family that prefers to go to a movie during the weekly time
reserved to erect the family altar; the pastor who counts on past sermons and
do not seek the Holy Spirit to know the needs of the audience; the minister who
discloses his flock’s secrets and betray their trust.
Aren’t we all denying and betraying Jesus in a way or
another? Do we love Him? What to do? How to react to our betrayal?
GOD
The good news is that God does not look to our betrayals and
denials but is more interested in renewing our commitment of love, not just any
love, but covenant-love to Him. He not only will accept you but reinstate you
to your former position, if not higher.
Jesus knows you are struggling with this feeling of betrayal
for He knows the hearts of men (John2:24-25) and their frailty. Jesus
encountered an even graver betrayal and denial from His inner circle disciple,
Peter. Yet, after resurrection we see him ….
Background text at this
juncture….. with biblical references as appropriate (John 14:19-24,31; 2:24-25; 16:30; Matt 12:48-49;
7:15-23; 21:28-32; 1John 3:18)
Biblical Truth… Love is deed in action
“Do you love me? Feed
My lambs…tend My sheep…tend My Lambs…”
YOU
“Do you love Me?” How will you interact with Jesus’
question? What will you do? So what if you have betrayed Jesus? Will you let
your betrayal drive you further apart from Him?
Or
Will the single-mother start to look after her little ones
and present her body as a living sacrifice to Christ? Will the housewife start
to bless her neighbor and seek to pray for her/with her? Will the truck-driver spend
time in prayer during the traffic light cue? Will the doctor seize
opportunities to present free sample medicines to his needy patients and gospel
literature? Will the engineer calculate the cost of material and search in the
market place for the best cheapest price of constructing material and the
difference given back to his client? Will the CEO call his employees to spend
the first ten minutes of the working day in corporate prayers to develop the
sense of Christian family? Will the pastor lay himself for his sheep just as
Jesus did? Will the pastor spend more time seeking the Holy Spirit for the
needs of his flock? Will the minister preserve people’s reputation and cover up
in love for their weaknesses?
Jesus still asks you: “Do you love Me?” If you do, then…
WE2
Look-up; Get-up; Make-up; Team-up
(Vision-Casting)
LGMT
Look-up: to
Jesus and reflect on how he dealt with the issue of Peter’s betrayal and be
encouraged by his unconditional everlasting covenant of love. He will never
deny Himself even at times when you do.
Get-up: to embrace His love which will wipe off all
your inadequacies and regenerate strength and love.
Make-up: for the lost time which has hurt you and those
around you and for the broken relations.
Team-up: with Jesus’ disciples: teach the word, go on
outreaches, present works of mercy, or else as guided by the Holy Spirit. Fit in His plan:
“Feed My lambs…Tend My Sheep…Tend My Lambs”
Can you imagine if every one of us looks-up, gets-up,
makes-up, and teams-up, how would the Church be? An ideal picture of revival where
God’s people, Jesus’ disciples, are looking up to Jesus, getting up daily from
their inadequacies and weaknesses, making-up for wrongs and hurting, and teaming-up
with other disciples as one, in commitment to the covenant of unconditional
love.
Only then will you be
able to answer:
“Do you love Me?”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Richards, Lawrence, and Gary J. Bredfeldt. Creative
Bible Teaching. Chicago, Illinois: Moody Publishers, 1998.
Stanley, Andy, and Ronald Lane Jones. Communicating
for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication. Colorado Springs,
Colorado: Multnomah Publishers,
2006.
