How to Teach
by Michael J. Preece England London South Mission
President Michael J. Preece argues that effective teaching doesn't come from mastering verbal techniques or methods, but from a 'desperate longing' to share something you deeply cherish with someone who would benefit from knowing it. He illustrates this with a simple framework: you know something (a 'star'), you love it and can't imagine being without it, the other person doesn't yet know it, and if they did, they would feel the same way about it that you do. This gap between what you know and cherish and what the other person doesn't yet know creates a yearning to help them understand. That yearning, he insists, is the real engine of teaching — it should drive you to 'do anything' to make the message land, rather than relying on borrowed techniques or copying how others teach. He tells missionaries not to look to him or other missionaries for a formula, but to find their own way of teaching, rooted in genuine conviction about what they're sharing. His broader point extends beyond missionary work to any teaching situation: the essential preparation isn't learning facts to recite, but internalizing why the material matters so deeply that the determination to help others grasp it naturally produces effective teaching.
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Read along with the transcript 4 min read
Introduction: Stripping the Topic Down
As some of you already know, I’ve tried to strip this topic down to the bare bones so that we don’t have a lot of nonsense to say about it. I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve been praying about it. Let me tell you what I’ve come up with — something about teaching that will be different than anything you’ve heard before.
This will probably be the most important thing I know about teaching. If I have any experience in teaching at all, this is the most important thing I could possibly tell you — and it applies directly to you in teaching the gospel.
The Star: Something You Know
So, how do you teach a discussion? Here’s what applies directly to you.
I’m going to represent something I know as a star. The star is something that I know — something I understand, I comprehend. I know this.
Now let me tell you a little more about it. This is the same star — something that I know, that I love, that I feel passionately about. I am genuinely enthused about it. It is precious to me. It’s helpful to me. I can’t imagine being without it.
What You Don’t Yet Know
Here’s the key: you don’t know it. I know it — this is how I feel about it — but you don’t know it.
If you knew it, you would feel the same way about it as I do. It would be helpful to you. It would be uplifting to you. You’d love it. It would be important to you. It would be precious to you.
If you knew it — that’s the phrase that connects everything back to those feelings: helpful, uplifting, precious, loved, important.
Therefore, I Yearn
Because of that gap — because you don’t yet know what I know and cherish — I yearn for you to know it. Please listen to me, because I will do anything I can to make you know it. I will do anything I can to make you know.
The Core Principle
Now, I know you might be thinking this is an unusual thing to say. Let me restate it plainly:
The ability to teach effectively arises less from acquiring a series of skills — verbal skills, teaching techniques — and more from a deeply embedded, desperate longing to impart something you cherish to another person who would surely benefit from it.
If you feel this way about the gospel — and we’re talking here about the mission field, about teaching the gospel — and you will do anything to share it, then you will find a way. As long as you’re not frightened and daunted by the mechanics of it, you will find a way.
Your responsibility as a teacher is to make them understand. You must do anything you can.
The Logical Sequence
So I want you to think through this sequence, which is the essence of teaching:
- What has the gospel done for me? Do I love it?
- I yearn for them to understand.
- I will do anything to help them understand.
If you can carry that into your teaching — if the people you teach have the impression that you will do anything to help them understand — that’s what matters most.
I don’t discount the value of watching their eyes, listening to them, and all the usual techniques. But beyond that: you just find a way. This is a “message to Garcia” situation. If you hold this conviction, you will find a way to make them understand — in your own way, using your own technique.
Don’t look to me to tell you how to teach. Don’t look to other missionaries to tell you how. Find your own way. And you had better make them understand, because it’s so important.
Beyond the Mission Field
This principle doesn’t just apply to teaching in the mission field — it applies any time you stand up before a group. You should always teach something you feel strongly about.
The most important part of your preparation isn’t learning the what. It’s learning the why — how important this is. If you can stand up every time you teach and say, “I have an insight into this that I feel strongly about, and I believe it will help them — I’m going to make them understand,” you will become a great teacher.
Closing Thoughts
I know that sounds a little nebulous, a little theoretical — but I really believe it. My whole philosophy is this: I don’t know how to teach. All I know is that if I have something I feel strongly about and I want to teach it, I will browbeat myself to learn it. I’ll find a way to cram it in, find a way into that lid of yours, and teach it to you. That’s all I know.
Born of that conviction, you will learn to be a great teacher, even here in the mission.
I say that in the name of Jesus Christ.
Introduction: Stripping the Topic Down
As some of you already know, I’ve tried to strip this topic down to the bare bones so that we don’t have a lot of nonsense to say about it. I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve been praying about it. Let me tell you what I’ve come up with — something about teaching that will be different than anything you’ve heard before.
This will probably be the most important thing I know about teaching. If I have any experience in teaching at all, this is the most important thing I could possibly tell you — and it applies directly to you in teaching the gospel.
The Star: Something You Know
So, how do you teach a discussion? Here’s what applies directly to you.
I’m going to represent something I know as a star. The star is something that I know — something I understand, I comprehend. I know this.
Now let me tell you a little more about it. This is the same star — something that I know, that I love, that I feel passionately about. I am genuinely enthused about it. It is precious to me. It’s helpful to me. I can’t imagine being without it.
What You Don’t Yet Know
Here’s the key: you don’t know it. I know it — this is how I feel about it — but you don’t know it.
If you knew it, you would feel the same way about it as I do. It would be helpful to you. It would be uplifting to you. You’d love it. It would be important to you. It would be precious to you.
If you knew it — that’s the phrase that connects everything back to those feelings: helpful, uplifting, precious, loved, important.
Therefore, I Yearn
Because of that gap — because you don’t yet know what I know and cherish — I yearn for you to know it. Please listen to me, because I will do anything I can to make you know it. I will do anything I can to make you know.
The Core Principle
Now, I know you might be thinking this is an unusual thing to say. Let me restate it plainly:
The ability to teach effectively arises less from acquiring a series of skills — verbal skills, teaching techniques — and more from a deeply embedded, desperate longing to impart something you cherish to another person who would surely benefit from it.
If you feel this way about the gospel — and we’re talking here about the mission field, about teaching the gospel — and you will do anything to share it, then you will find a way. As long as you’re not frightened and daunted by the mechanics of it, you will find a way.
Your responsibility as a teacher is to make them understand. You must do anything you can.
The Logical Sequence
So I want you to think through this sequence, which is the essence of teaching:
- What has the gospel done for me? Do I love it?
- I yearn for them to understand.
- I will do anything to help them understand.
If you can carry that into your teaching — if the people you teach have the impression that you will do anything to help them understand — that’s what matters most.
I don’t discount the value of watching their eyes, listening to them, and all the usual techniques. But beyond that: you just find a way. This is a “message to Garcia” situation. If you hold this conviction, you will find a way to make them understand — in your own way, using your own technique.
Don’t look to me to tell you how to teach. Don’t look to other missionaries to tell you how. Find your own way. And you had better make them understand, because it’s so important.
Beyond the Mission Field
This principle doesn’t just apply to teaching in the mission field — it applies any time you stand up before a group. You should always teach something you feel strongly about.
The most important part of your preparation isn’t learning the what. It’s learning the why — how important this is. If you can stand up every time you teach and say, “I have an insight into this that I feel strongly about, and I believe it will help them — I’m going to make them understand,” you will become a great teacher.
Closing Thoughts
I know that sounds a little nebulous, a little theoretical — but I really believe it. My whole philosophy is this: I don’t know how to teach. All I know is that if I have something I feel strongly about and I want to teach it, I will browbeat myself to learn it. I’ll find a way to cram it in, find a way into that lid of yours, and teach it to you. That’s all I know.
Born of that conviction, you will learn to be a great teacher, even here in the mission.
I say that in the name of Jesus Christ.
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