Adapted with permission from Creative Teaching Methods, (c)1985 Marlene D. LeFever (Cook).
Case studies are used widely in legal, medical, and, increasingly, in theological education. What makes them valuable? And how can case studies be used most effectively in a local congregation?
First, Garth M. Rosell, vice-president, dean, and professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, presents the case for cases.
The soil had started to crack under the hot summer sun. Thirsty animals huddled together in the shade. For weeks there had been no sign of rain. The rugged Ohio farmers, their crops and livestock now gravely endangered by the terrible drought, could think of little else as they gathered for worship that Sunday morning in 1853.
Into the pulpit came their pastor. Under his arm was an umbrella. Setting it down by the chair, he began to pray: “Lord, we do not presume to dictate to thee what is best for us. Yet thou dost invite us to come to thee as children to a father, and tell thee all our wants. We want rain! Unless thou givest us rain, our cattle must die . . . and the harvest will come to naught. It is an easy thing for thee to do. O Lord, send us rain. Send it now!”
Before he had finished his preaching, there came the unmistakable crack of thunder and the sound of rain against the roof. Charles G. Finney paused in his sermon. Then, as the congregation quietly wept, he began to sing:
“When all thy mercies, O my God,
My thankful soul surveys,
Uplifted by the view, I’m lost,
In wonder, love, and praise.”
This little incident, like so many other events that dot the landscape of Scripture and Christian history, has helped me over the years to understand something of the character of God and the nature of faith.
Not until recently, however, did I see the importance of such events for the church’s educational ministry. True biblical knowledge comes only within the context of active faith and obedience. We cannot content ourselves with simply talking about Christianity one hour a week. We need to see how it is lived out in concrete situations. In addition to our words and prayers, we could use a few more umbrellas.
Two assumptions
Such a balance of word and deed is strangely rare in our day. I am well aware how widespread and tenacious are the popular pair of assumptions about the teaching/learning process:
Assumption 1: If I have said it in class, the students have learned it. Any teacher who has read student exams could raise serious doubts about the validity of this assumption. Authentic teaching, as Christ himself modeled, is memorable teaching. When enlivened and brought to mind by God’s Spirit, such teaching can be life changing.
Some years ago, my father was asked to preach in several countries in South America. As he was packing, my younger brother came into his room with a pebble he had picked up in the yard. Handing it to Dad, he said, “I want you to put this in your pocket with your change and keys. Whenever you reach into your pocket and feel the pebble, I want you to remember I love you and am praying for you.”
Dad did so, and in the years since has often reminisced about how much it meant to him as a father-far from home and sometimes in difficult circumstances-to reach into his pocket, bump his finger against that little stone, and remember. Like our Lord’s Table, or Finney’s umbrella, the pebble became an aid to memorable learning.
Assumption 2: If I know my subject well, I will be able to communicate it effectively. When I started to teach at the seminary, I was struck by the fact I had never in my life had even a seminar-to say nothing about a complete course-on how to teach. At the graduate level, at least, the assumption seemed to be that if you knew the subject well enough, you would be able to teach it adequately. As any student can testify, however, that is simply not the case.
Obviously we must know our subjects well. On a recent visit to see John Constable’s famous Hay Wain painting on exhibit at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, I was struck by how many prior sketches and earlier paintings he had completed of the same subject. A masterpiece, whether in art, athletics, or the classroom, seems to emerge only out of long hours of hard work and diligent study.
To our knowledge of the Bible, however, must be added a knowledge of our students. If we hope to apply God’s eternal Word to their individual needs, it is necessary to know and love them in the same way we seek to know and love God’s Word. Then we can become a bridge between the two.
Becoming participants in learning
Of particular help to me in recent years has been the use of case studies-written descriptions of actual events Christians have faced. Case studies nudge students to participate in the learning process. They deal with both of the above assumptions by helping students remember and by helping me understand my students. Indeed, few educational tools open livelier classroom interaction or produce more “memorable learning” than do case studies. I’ve found they have an unusual capacity to encourage people to talk about what God is doing in their lives.
Cases, like Finney’s umbrella, remind us that our faith and learning apply directly to real life.
Where to find case studies
Many cases covering aspects of Christian faith and life are already written. Here are some sources:
Living the Bible Story by Eugene F. Roop (Abingdon, 1979).
Casebook for Christian Living: Value Formation for Families and Congregations by Louis and Carolyn Weeks and Robert and Alice Evans (Knox, 1977).
Introduction to Christianity: A Case Method Approach by Alice and Robert Evans (Knox, 1980).
Resolving Church Conflicts: A Case Study Approach for Local Congregations by G. Douglas Lewis (Harper & Row, 1981).
For more information, write the Association for Case Teaching, P.O. Box 243, Simsbury, CT 06070.
So how does a case study class session unfold? Marlene LeFever, executive editor of ministry resources at David C. Cook Publishing Co. and an experienced Christian educator, presents a sample case and how to teach it.
Justice for whom?
He was on his way home from a school yard pickup basketball game, dribbling his ball down Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, when a white teenager walked up and stabbed him once in the abdomen. The young black was seventeen when he was killed, a senior in high school.
The suspect in the killing was an eighteen-year-old who worked as a delivery boy for a local pastry shop. He lived with his aged parents in a two-bedroom apartment over a shoemaker’s shop, not four blocks from the scene of the killing.
The boy’s father answered the door. He was a frail, white-haired man in his sixties, and he spoke with a heavy Italian accent. Asked what he wanted, the detective said he had to speak to the boy about a crime that had been committed. As he stood there, the detective was embarrassed by the old man. He could see that the boy’s father did not have the slightest inkling of what this was all about, and the detective had little stomach for what he knew was about to happen.
“It’s a murder. A black kid was killed up on Arthur Avenue three weeks ago. I’ve got to talk to him about it.”
“Are you here to arrest my boy?”
“Yes, I am,” the detective said softly.
The old man looked hard at the detective. His eyes widened, but he seemed to regain control of himself. He called the boy’s name.
The boy emerged from his bedroom and walked up to his father and the detective. He was short and slender, almost fragile, dressed in blue jeans and a white T-shirt. The boy looked at the detective and then lowered his eyes. He knew what this was all about.
The old man spoke first.
“This man says you killed a black kid up on Arthur Avenue three weeks ago.”
The boy hung his head and began to cry. “Papa, I did it. I didn’t mean to do it, and I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. It just happened. I’m sorry.” The three of them stood silently, and then the old man too began to cry. The detective waited a minute and then put the boy in handcuffs and led him away.
[The case continues in Creative Teaching Methods.]
Utilizing case studies
In using case studies, there are some specific steps that will help students get maximum benefit.
 Get the characters. The first thing a teacher will want to do with a case is read it aloud more than once, becoming familiar with the characters. What are their personalities? What do they do? With which character will most of the students identify?
 Determine the issues. What issues are obvious in this case? With which specific issues do you think your students will best relate? You will need to select the one or two issues to discuss.
In this study, for instance, we might grapple with the issue of justice. Even if the story in this case is removed from most of our students’ daily lives, it hits concepts with which they will grapple, such as how we learn to look at complete issues, rather than just the emotional bits and pieces.
 Prepare to teach the case. There’s more to teaching a case than just reading a story and getting students to talk about it. Actually it can be difficult because the teacher can never be sure what direction the students will take. Unlike lecturers who are in control of the material presented, case study teachers surrender their sovereignty while still maintaining control of the discussion.
 Decide what your learning objectives will be. You are the director of the case. It’s your job to keep this discussion on track. Contradiction: It is also your job as leader to let the case get off the track if you perceive that the class has special needs that are not being met by your prior direction.
 Write questions to spark discussion. Here are some questions that could be used with the sample case:
What things can you know about the black teen? The white teen?
Based on what you know about the case so far, how would justice best be served?
What are just and unjust possibilities for what will happen to the white teen?
Suppose this boy were to be tried by an all-black jury or an all-white jury. What do you think would happen? What if the jury were all Christians?
 Use Scripture. In a class of highly motivated students with strong Bible backgrounds, the students may pick their own Scriptures to emphasize their points. Most of the time, however, you must choose appropriate Scriptures. Consider how Micah 3:1-2, 9-12 applies: “Hear now, heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel: Are you not supposed to know justice, you who hate good and love evil?” and so on.
 Interrupt the case for discussion or other learning activities. This sample case continues on. Further segments tell about the boy getting out on bail, a psychiatrist’s report on the killer’s troubled youth, the dangers he would face in prison, the effect of the murder on both families, and the boy’s contrition.
By doling out the case segment by segment, carefully revealing additional aspects of a tangled problem, you provide windows for learning. You might discuss the problems of harsh or lenient punishment. You could have students debate an issue such as “Should the boy be sentenced to life imprisonment?” and then reopen the debate after more facts of the case are revealed. Perhaps the class could role-play how different characters might feel about the events: the father lamenting a son’s death, the judge weighing the just punishment. Many learning activities complement the case study.
 Bring what has happened to a closure. Most cases end without giving solutions, but this one, initially a magazine article, supplies one.
“The boy is currently serving a fifteen-year term in state prison. He will be eligible for parole in three years. Two months after sentence, the white youth’s father suffered a stroke. He is now an invalid. The dead boy’s brother [formerly a model student but embittered by the handling of his brother’s death] is now under indictment, charged with armed robbery. There has been no noticeable decrease in the amount of crime or racial violence in the Bronx.”
To help bring closure, questions are an excellent tool: Have you changed your ideas about justice for the killer? If so, how and why? If you were the judge, what would you decide? With the question of justice not simple at all, how can Christians dare act in complex situations like this?
Most cases are long. Because of their length, you will want to plan the entire period around them, using Bible study and discussion of biblical principles throughout. But the time is worth it. Students really learn.
Copyright © 1987 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
