Mentor's Manual

Sec t i on IV: Under s tand i ng the Mechan i cs of Cl as s I ns t ruc t i on 123

development. Feel no sense of defeat if students ebb and flow in and out of your classroom, and do not be alarmed even if, during certain seasons, you wind up offering no classes at all. Know the volatility of the urban environment and your students’ lives, and always be ready to offer a class when and where you have students who are also ready to learn. Student Discouragement Any endeavor worth striving for in the spiritual realm is bound to be laden with challenges, tribulations, and defeats. Every Christian leader must learn to navigate through the bogs of discouragement and exhaustion, of boredom and temptation, of weakness and doubt. You must equip your students to persevere in the midst of trial, and oftentimes our training can be the very tool the enemy uses to create discouragement and despondency in our students, for several reasons. Many students in taking your class will clearly expose themselves to their lack of academic training, making them vulnerable to the enemy’s attack once they experience less-than-satisfactory academic performance. Students who considered themselves adequate if not excellent in their understanding of a subject may, after engaging the material in a course, come to see they were not trained at all. Comparing their performance with their peers can be used by the devil to suggest their own inadequacy as to fitness for leadership, and the enemy may further propose that they drop out altogether – that they were wrong in even starting up studies in the first place. These and countless other flaming arrows will be flung by the enemy upon your students as they matriculate through your class. You must see, therefore, that your teaching is a spiritual enterprise, and your classroom a battlefield with the confidence and conviction of your students being assailed every class session. The devil is a liar, and your students are not immune to his attacks (John 8.44). If your students are spent, tired, and exhausted, remind them that they ought to be tired: they are facing, as all Christians and especially Christian leaders, the devastating and potent mix of engaging life and ministry in perpetual battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Fighting doubt and fear is the Christian’s duty, and the battle will certainly rage in the life of a developing leader.

in the Classroom

Dealing with Difficulties

Do not overreact to their fatigue, fear, or discouragement: the Bible’s who’s who of discouraged leaders is pretty impressive