Teenagers will likely write thousands of essays before they graduate high school and most assuredly before they graduate college. They'll write essays on everything from politics and history to current events and former dignitaries. Why is it that teachers and professors assign essays as a method for learning? What is it about this style of learning that makes it so widely popular?
There is something powerful and almost mysterious about researching a topic, formulating your own thoughts and putting them down on paper that solidifies them in your own mind. That's what teachers and professors throughout academia have known for years. That's why students from high schools and universities alike are inundated with essay assignments. Students everywhere cringe when they realize that an essay is required. Why? Because they know it will require more than just jibber jabber on a page. They know that it will require research. They know it will require time.
A thought recently occurred to me that perhaps the church has missed this idea. Our churches are full of activities, events and classes all designed to help people grow spiritually but all within the bounds of being sure not to require too much. We hesitate to ask people to really "dig in", to do "homework" or to "spend extra time" really studying their faith. We've become experts at packaging Christianity into bite sized chunks that fit nicely into a prescribed Sunday or Wednesday formats.
Of course our goal shouldn't be to make people cringe when they realize that there could be and should be more to their faith than just multiple choice and fill in the blanks. But what if? What if we realized that God desires us to study Him? What if we realized that God desires us to research Him? What if our faith was more than multiple choice and fill in the blanks?
It was with this idea in mind that I recently challenged my students to participate in an essay contest on the topic of Psalm 23:4, "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."
The criteria are as follows:
Minimum 1 page (double spaced)
No particular format required
No minimum amount of resources needed, but all resources must be cited.
Topic must be on Psalm 23:4, giving particular attention to, "your rod and your staff.."
Of course I sweetened the pot a little by offering the winner 2 free lift tickets to our upcoming snow tubing trip but the lessons and benefits are greater than that. It's about digging in. It's about knowing that there's more than just fill in the blanks in regards to our faith. There's meaning, there's depth, there are layers.
Here's my challenge to you. Dig in for yourself. Start now and don't wait. Don't make plans for some future goal, do it now.
I invite you to take this same challenge. Study Psalm 23:4 and write an essay on it. You won't be so lucky as to receive 2 free lift tickets but here's my promise. You'll be better off because of it. You'll be better off when you start truly studying who God is and what He says to you through His Word. Take the "More than Multiple Choice" Challenge for yourself.