All of us have different styles of learning. In general, the seven most popular learning styles are:
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Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
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Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.
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Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.
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Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.
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Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.
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Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.
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Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.
Preaching is usually done verbally through one person speaking to a group of people. This suits some people, but others respond better to visual stimuli (which is why we may use PowerPoints to illustrate sermon points, to help those who learn that way) and others respond better to physical means (moving around and doing things like crafts and puzzles to reinforce truth.) We need to pay careful attention to what we have heard and been taught (see Heb 2:1), because if we do not, it’s all too easy to let God’s word slip through our fingers without retaining it.
John urges us to see that what we have heard from the beginning remains in us. (1 John 2:24) We have to make a conscious effort to remember what we have received and heard and hold it fast. (Rev 3:3) As Casting Crowns sing, it’s so easy to lose our ‘follow through’ between the altar and the door (‘The Altar & The Door’, Casting Crowns): we may be moved intensely during a church service, but how much do these truths affect us once we leave the building? God’s word has the power to shape us and mould us, but only as we respond in faith and obedience to what God says to us through His word.
