The Association of American Publishers (AAP) recently released a poll conducted by Zogby International in which 55 percent of college instructors said this year's entering freshmen aren't ready for college-level studies. Three-fourths of faculty members at two-year schools consider incoming students unprepared.

"These findings are a wake-up call for anyone who is concerned about the future of higher education and America's competitiveness," says AAP President—and former Congresswoman—Patricia Schroeder. "Too many college students are not ready for college work, and they need new types of learning tools to succeed."

Ironic that in our highly-connected, Internet-saturated world, many young people aren't prepared for the rigors of college. One could paint the same scenario in church, where more and more Christians admit to less and less biblical knowledge.

Average or below

According to a 2005 study from The Barna Group, when it comes to their spiritual life, people are most likely to acknowledge struggling with sharing their faith with others and Bible knowledge. While 21 percent ranked themselves as above average in Bible knowledge, 25 percent said they were below average and 53 percent rated themselves average.

The problem is that the average may be dropping as well, as attested to in the deficiencies of incoming freshmen. As Schroeder suggests, if new tools are indeed the solution, then perhaps new tools in discipleship may also be a solution for ignorant Christ followers.

Bible drills, memorizing the order of all the books of the Bible and other time-honored traditions seem to have gone the way of black-and-white televisions. But before we try to reinstate Sunday school regimens of the 1950s, we should remember that learning styles no longer revolve around flannel graphs and fill-in-the-blank activity books.

Several years ago homeschoolers were advocating the use of using some 19th century material because of its Christian basis. While I have no quarrel with moral lessons, unless you can produce them on a DVD or offer them via iPod downloads, chances are many younger folks will tune them out.

Nor do I have a problem with preaching. I still remember the time I saw Billy Graham in person; when he concluded his message after less than 45 minutes, I thought, "You're just warming up."

Forsaking the lecture format

Yet, we must remember that not everyone loves to soak up hour-long lectures. In his book, Morph, pastor and church consultant Ron Martoia calls a sole focus on the church pulpit the "talking head delivery system."

As an example of creative techniques that still get a message across, Martoia talked about his former church hauling in sand to fill a section of the sanctuary. Then it held an interactive, lifelike exercise to simulate Jesus and John's wandering in the desert, with eight different Communion stations positioned around the edges.

The only sermon was a trio of three-minute messages, yet many people called it the most meaningful worship experience they had ever had.

Martoia also points out that there are numerous input channels beyond reading, such as audio books, seminars and personal mentoring: "With the Internet, long-distance mentoring is no longer long distance."

Moving beyond one model

Lectures, reading and memorization may have worked 50 years ago, but times have changed. While the Word needs to be preached, it also needs to be conveyed through drama, expressive movements, music that rises above the organ-and-piano mode, and real-life action, whether that means taking a mission trip across the ocean or down the block.

Then there is the bedrock lesson of modeling. If adults aren't excited about our relationship with Christ, why in the world would we expect young people to have any enthusiasm for Him?