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IN RETROSPECT One Size Does Not Fit All
By Carol Sue Hutchinson, Director,
Conference Council on Ministries Discipleship
and Church and Society Ministries
When I was growing up and received my
education the prevailing view was that everyone learned, received information and was
inspired in the same way. In fact, everything was taught and programmed under the idea One
Size Fits All.
The reality today is that things have changed! With the exception of, maybe, socks, this doesn’t apply in our world today. All you have to do is look at television and billboard advertisements to know different groups are targeted in different ways. Even in the church we are learning the often painful lesson that one size does not fit all.
In her book “7 Ways of Teaching the Bible to Children,” Barbara Bruce shows how the Multiple Intelligence Theory put forth by Howard Gardner needs to be transferred to the ways we teach the children in our churches.
The book states there are seven ways to learn or receive information. This is a foreign idea for many teachers in our churches. My experience has shown that a great deal of our discipline problems stem from children who are bored because the method of teaching used doesn’t fit their learning patterns.
I believe this thought has great implications for “how we do church” today. By recognizing that we learn, receive information and are inspired by different styles, we can see how it affects worship, prayer, training, nurturing and growing in our churches. I may worship most effectively in an informal style, while my friend needs a very traditional style of worship. This does not mean one style is right and another wrong. They are all right for someone, but no one style is right for everyone.
We need to look carefully at the styles of learning, worship, nurturing and training that are used in our churches. We need to see who is being served and whom we are excluding from the experience of the church. When you look carefully at Christ’s teachings he used many different styles to reach many different people. Can we do any less?
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