Our Mission
At Guard the Gift, we encourage and empower Bible teachers to strive for excellence in their teaching. Below, you’ll find a more detailed explanation of our goal at Guard the Gift: to enable teachers to excel, equip, and entrust.
Excel
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
“Do your best.” This is how the apostle Paul exhorts Timothy and, by extension, Bible teachers today. Many Christians teach within the church; not all Christians do their best. The best we can offer, however, is what God’s people deserve.
The approach a teacher takes to teaching begins with the approach a teacher takes to learning. Diligence in studying the biblical text requires a significant commitment of time, energy, and resources. A Christian who refuses to make the time to delve deeply into Bible study shouldn’t teach.
Equip
And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ.
“Equip the saints.” This is what the apostle Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that teachers are supposed to do within the church. The goal of teaching is not merely to impart information or speak engagingly about the Bible. The goal of teaching is to equip the saints to work effectively as members of the body of Christ. Fulfilling the goal of teaching, then, necessitates that teachers prepare not only to teach the text accurately but to teach it applicably.
Entrust
What you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.
“Teach others as well.” Paul takes care to highlight this aspect of Timothy’s work, yet the emphasis represents perhaps the most neglected aspect of teaching in the church today: the training of new teachers. Evangelists and pastors are not only responsible for teaching to equip the saints; they’re responsible for teaching to create new teachers. Effective teachers have it as their aim to pass along the passion they possess for studying the word, teaching the word, and equipping the saints. Those who have the skillset and experience to teach effectively must make the time not only to teach but also to train the next generation of effective teachers.