Adult Bible Study Curriculum – Avoid the Lingo

If you have been teaching Adult Bible Study Curriculum for many years or if you have just grown up in church you probably have picked up certain lingo. This lingo is insider words that people in the church use that only people who are part of the church culture would understand. They may be catchy or even humorous but if we use them in the groups that we are teaching they can be detrimental to the health of our group and the amount of learning that is taking place. We really need to work at beginning to rid ourselves of this lingo. Here are couple of reasons why.

First of all it can make people feel isolated. When people come in to your class to hear you teach your Adult Bible Study Curriculum they are already feeling many emotions. These are the natural emotions that we feel when we find ourselves in a new situation we are not familiar with around people whom we may not know. Your goal as the leader of the group should be to make them feel comfortable and do away with those emotions and not feed in to them. Using church lingo only feeds into those emotions of fear and discomfort. Imagine being in a place you are unfamiliar with and feel out of place. If someone tells a joke and you are the only one not getting it this will only further feed into your feelings of discomfort and isolation. Why would you want to do anything to turn people away form your group? I am sure that you do not. So even though this may be difficult at first you need to make a real concerted effort to adjust your vocabulary.

Second, church lingo really does not serve a purpose of any kind. It only furthers the divide that is growing between the church and the world. It just give people another reason to label us as, “…those church people who are so out of touch.” We need to work towards helping others overcome those thoughts and attitudes they have developed over the years. A big part of this is simply watching what words we are using.

As you teach your Adult Bible Study Curriculum you want it to be about reaching out to the world around you not pushing them away. So why make your job harder by using words no one else understands or cares about. Next time that you teach make a concerted effort to watch the church lingo.