Likely you’ve experienced it. You’ve asked a question, and the answer which has come back at you is . . . well . . . really bad. How does a teacher handle that situation?
Before we begin, let’s realize one thing: The teacher of the Word doesn’t have to feel conscience-bound to confront or correct every wrong answer. God urges us to do our teaching “gently” (2 Tim 2:25). On occasion, that may mean simply ignoring a wrong answer and moving forward into the truths. Think of the third-grade science instructor who likely hears all sorts of incorrect answers but doesn’t bother to confront most of them, because he/she knows that over the course of time, those false ideas will gradually be replaced with correct understanding. So please don’t feel guilty if at times you don’t address an incorrect thought. You may be doing the “gentle” thing with the soul whom you’re shepherding.
Jesus himself did that with his disciples in Acts chapter 1. “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” they asked. And Jesus answer? He basically sidesteps it! “You don’t need to know the times or dates; you’ll receive power.” He could have said, “Guys, I’m NOT here to set up an earthly kingdom!” He didn’t. He gently sidestepped their error and pointed them to truth. Often you can do the same.
Yes, dealing with bad answers (or bad statements) is still an issue, so let’s discuss. Please recognize that we’ll be discussing this in regard to adult Bible study, not grade school confirmation class. Adults, in general, hate to be embarrassed. So learning to handle poor answers is a particularly valuable skill in teaching adults.
Secondly, we need to realize that there is no “right” answer to this question. We will give some suggestions, but much will depend on the situation. The teacher will want to recognize …
- Who gave the answer (Do they have an axe to grind? Was it a legitimately poor answer?)
- Some possible reasons they may have given the answer (Were they from a different religious background previously? Has this been a point of confusion in the congregation or the local culture?)
- The other people who are in the room (Will they recognize the wrongness immediately, or will they be confused by it, or maybe even offended by it?)
Only the person onsite can develop a feel for those things. So please consider the rest of the article to be some ideas to think about, rather than a “road-map to success.”
Let’s consider a situation in which the Bible study leader asked, “How does faith happen?” The answer given is “Faith happens when a person decides to believe in Jesus as their Savior.” Yep, that’s a bad answer. What can we do with it?
First Question: Can I salvage the answer?
One way in which a poor answer can be dealt with is to try to salvage it. In other words, instead of focusing on what’s wrong with the answer, try to pull out something that is correct, and focus there.
In our example, it is true that faith “believes in Jesus as the Savior.” So could the leader salvage the answer? Perhaps if he were to say, “I want to focus on the last part of your answer in which you talked about how faith trusts that Jesus is the Savior. Yes, that’s correct, that faith focuses on Jesus and his work of salvation.” Yes, that’s less than complete. That’s probably what needs to happen at this point.
Notice the teacher has focused on the part of the answer that is true without dealing with the falsehood. Will the rest of the class catch the nuance? Perhaps, perhaps not. Only the local leader can attempt to gauge that from his knowledge of his people.
When might I take this tactic? I might try this when I don’t want the class to get sidetracked by the false part of the answer. Sometimes the leader has to make a judgment call that it’s better to sort of sidestep the poor part of the answer in order to keep the lesson moving in a valuable direction.
Second Question: Can I empathize with the answer and the answerer, while also making clear that the answer is not correct?
In our example, perhaps the leader could say this, “You know, that’s really a popular way to say it, particularly in 21st-century America. And so I totally understand where that answer came from! But, you and I would want to say it differently. And it’s super valuable for us to spend some time on this, so that we can become even more clear about this, so thank you for bringing this to the table! Okay, let’s think for a moment. How might we say it differently?” Then the leader can let someone else in the class–or even that same person if they wish–try to give a more accurate answer.)
Notice what has happened:
- With the empathizing (“That’s really a popular way to say it.” “I understand.”), you’re letting the person know that he’s not an idiot.
- By saying this is a really important issue, and thanking him for bringing it up, he may feel “good” about the answer (even as you are indicating that it’s wrong!).
When might I use this approach? I might use this when I know that the person who gave the weak answer is a confident person who seems to trust me. I might use this approach when I have an idea that several others in the class might have said something very similar and might even say so at this point. In fact, you could even ask, “I’d guess some of the rest of us might have answered the same way. Is that accurate?” I might also use this approach if the person who gave the answer was new to the faith, and knew he had a lot yet to learn.
I’d be less likely to use this approach if the person who gave that answer wasn’t a confident person, or I wasn’t sure if they trusted me as the teacher.
Third Question: Should I confront the incorrect answer?
Sometimes a wrong answer just has to be “called out.” When would I do that?
- If the answer will be so confusing that it will lead others astray.
- If it’s a subject matter which you have been aggressively teaching, and so by now the learners should know it. This may be more applicable to confirmation teaching than adult teaching.
In our example, if I’m teaching a group of people who have had previous background in the Baptist church or some other Arminian church, I might need to confront the idea that “a person decides to believe,” lest the entire class becomes confused. Yet even in this scenario, I want to do it gently. So perhaps I say, “That’s not quite it. Remember, while some churches teach that a person has to decide to believe in Jesus, that’s not what the Bible teaches. Let’s review; what does the Bible teach about this?” And by the way, you might even try to smile while you’re doing this. That communicates that you’re not angry with your people; you’re simply wanting them to learn.
If you have a really good relationship with the person who’s given that answer, you might have some fun with it, saying with a smile, “Come on, John! I think you said that just to mess with me! Is that what’s happening?” And then to the class, say, “Okay, let’s try it again. What’s a better way to say it?” Obviously you should only try that if you’re quite confident about the relationship you have with the person who’s given the poor answer.
Those are some ideas for dealing with poor answers (or poor statements).
But we also should ask, is there a way to avoid this situation completely? And yes, often that’s possible. Let’s explore.
How can I avoid the situation altogether, or set up a healthy way to address incorrect answers?
As we covered this to some extent in the previous Teach the Word, we’ll be brief. Here are several suggestions for avoiding the situation or setting it up to be handled well.
- Anticipate the wrong answer, and deal with it in the question. With our example, don’t ask, “How does faith happen?” Instead ask, “Some teach that a person needs to decide to believe in Jesus as their Savior. That’s not correct. What is a proper way to describe how faith happens?” That will help your people.
- Instead of asking a question that has a “right” answer, ask an open question. Using our example, instead of asking, “How does faith happen,” ask something like, “Some people think that faith happens when a person makes the decision to believe. That’s not true, and it’s dangerous. Decide on two to three reasons why that idea is so dangerous.” Or, “The way faith happens is that God uses the Word and/or the Sacraments to miraculously bring us to faith. For what reasons are you so thankful that this is God’s work?” That approach allows your people to give multiple “right” answers with far less danger of being inaccurate, while at the same time cementing the truths.
- Tell people that the question you’re asking is hard, so we may not get the correct answer right away. By giving that caveat, if you then have to say, “No, that’s not it,” you’ve given your people an “out.” And you can even repeat, “Like I said, this is hard, so I’m not surprised that we’re wrestling with it a bit.”
Finally, dealing with wrong answers is more of an art than a science. As mentioned at the beginning, please view all of the above as suggestions that might be helpful, not as a “road map for success.” But dealing with wrong answers or statements is a reality of teaching. It’s well worth it for us to work at becoming better at doing so.
Blessings on your teaching!
Professor Thomas Kock
Next time: What is group work, and how can I use it wisely?