Have Questions about our theology or background?
We’re glad you want to know! Below are some answers to frequently asked questions. If this doesn’t answer every question you have, then just shoot us an email. We’d be more than happy to talk with you.
Do you have a statement of beliefs?
Kelly Needham and Lindsay Schott are both members of Stonegate Church and hold to the same beliefs as their church and pastors. Lindsay Schott is on staff at Stonegate Church as the Women’s Ministry Teacher.
What theology will be passed on through the program?
Our program exists to give developing Bible teachers the skills they need to study the text and share it effectively with others. So we are teaching skills more than we are teaching particular theological ideas and leanings. Our preference is that women go to their pastors and elders for clarity on particular theological issues and that’s what we encourage them to do first.
Here are a few things we major on in the program:
Humble, God-centered motivations
Bible teaching should always come from a desire to magnify God and His Word, not ourselves. And it should be done in a way that others are served, not ourselves. There are many temptations to be self-centered in Bible teaching and we want to help students make no provision for their flesh in this way.
Exegesis
while we aren’t majoring on particular theological ideas, we are very concerned that students handle the text properly. It’s a teacher’s job to show what’s in the text (exegesis), not read their own ideas into it (eisegesis). We often see women teach true things that are not found in the text. Though they didn’t teach any heresy, they still didn’t handle the text correctly. We will major on this in the program.
Excellent Communication Skills
this is one of the most overlooked areas of Bible teaching. But becoming a better communicator serves listeners. It helps us consider others as more important than ourselves.
Faithfulness > Followers
We believe teaching on a platform or behind a mic is the rarest form of Bible teaching. Women will use their skills of teaching the Bible most frequently in living rooms, across coffee tables, in kid’s ministry classrooms, or in small groups. We tell our students to revere the Word of God, not the size of the audience, which means giving it your best every time, even if only one other person is listening. As they graduate, we encourage them to keep growing and to stay humble, being faithful to what’s right in front of them.
Can I listen to the co-founders’ teaching?
Below are two playlists that include Bible teaching from Lindsay Schott and Kelly Needham. Most of these teaching happened at their local church—Stonegate Church— for the women in that church.
Are you complementarian?
Yes! Teach Equip was founded by two women who happily hold to a complementarian view of women in ministry.
We believe men and women are equal in worth and gifting but that there are differences in their roles within the home and the church. We believe that God has called men to hold primary leadership in the church as pastors and elders, but that underneath their leadership women should use their teaching gifts in partnership with and submission to their own church leaders.
This program was developed because of the encouragement of our pastors (who are also complementarian). We’d love to see more partnership between men and women in complementarian churches and more women’s teaching to happen underneath the care of pastors. That’s why we created Teach Equip.
Is training women to teach truly complementarian?
We think so!
Teach Equip began at Stonegate Church in Midlothian, TX.
Listen to Stonegate’s Lead Pastor and Teaching & Worship Pastor along side Lindsay and Kelly (Teach Equip’s founders) as they share how this program came to be and why complementarian churches need to train their women to teach.
This was a workshop held at the National Acts 29 Conference in Dallas, TX in April 2024.
HEAR FROM OUR LEAD PASTOR
“Pastor, the women of your church are learning theology. But from where? What voices are teaching them? Rather than outsourcing the theological development of women to those outside your church, why not develop those voices in your church? That’s what Teach Equip is designed to do. It'll help develop women within your church to bless the women of your church. I could not recommend Teach Equip highly enough.”
Rodney Hobbs, Lead Pastor, Stonegate Church
MORE QUESTIONS
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With access to our program and materials, you’ll lead your students through our 7-month Bible teacher training program with support from us every step of the way. This program includes class time, teaching labs, and homework. Throughout the program, each student will teach and receive feedback three times. Check out the syllabus for more info.
We provide you with a 2-hour online training to make sure you feel equipped to lead your students through the program. But don’t worry, we are a hands on kinda organization! Our team is available to you through out the entirety of your 1-year license. Whatever you need, we’re there to help.
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We believe that local Bible teachers are the most transformative. They are able to apply the scriptures most effectively because they know they people they are teaching. They know the questions they have and the problems they face. They also have the trust of their listeners because they do life with them. We believe each church has lay men and women eager to do this work, they just need some training and some practice. That’s where Teach Equip can help.
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Teach Equip is for any person who loves God's Word, and wants to share that with others in a faithful and engaging way. While TE gives tools for teaching, the skills participants gain can be used in multiple places like small group leadership, Bible studies, curriculum writing, kids and youth ministry and family discipleship.
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Teach Equip is specifically targeted to train lay Bible teachers (aka normal church members with non-ministry jobs). Most of our students are not on staff at a church and don't have any formal education or training in the Bible. They're just faithful church members who love their Bibles and desire to see others love it too. We designed Teach Equip to serve this group of people. So it's shorter and less intensive than seminary. We want to make sure it can fit into the lives of people with kids or other jobs. At the same time, we designed the program to require a significant time commitment because teaching God's Word is a weighty thing that should be taken seriously. We feel like it's the perfect sweetspot of maximum learning in the shortest time possible.
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Labs are what makes our program unique. Labs are practice teachings opportunities where students are able teach and receive feedback. We believe these labs help them build real teaching skills in a safe, but supportive environment.
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Teach Equip covers the basics of Bible study and exegesis, addresses motivations and heart issues, gives students practical communication tools, and builds in as much practice as possible. And all this in 7 months!
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Teach Equip is a 7 month program that runs from January to early August. We begin doing trainings with churches on how to use the materials later in September and October. We recommend chuches begin building their class of students by November so that they are ready to go by January. Training Bible teachers is serious business (James 3:1) and require your time and effort. But we've tried to do all the heavy lifting for you so that you don't have to worry about what to teach or how to best train students. We want you to spend all your energy pouring into the people God has given your church!
What's the student commitment like? Each month, students are required to attend 1 two-hour class, turn in 1 homework assignment, and read parts of our required reading books. They also prepare and teach 3 twenty-minute messages during the program in labs. There are additional opportunities to grow throughout that time that are optional. We estimate the time commitment for a student to be between 15-20 hours a month.
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First of all, we have plans to create lecture videos taught by men, for men! So a formal Teach Equip MENS is in the works.
But until then, you are free to use this program to train men. Or to train men and women together. It simply depends on your church’s convictions on this issue. Most of this content is gender neutral, since it is focused on the skills of studying the Bible and writing and delivering messages.
But, in our opinion, men should be coached by other men, so we’d recommend that you have a group of male leaders to provide the in person coaches you need.
We’ve created a guide to help you adapt our current materials to a mixed gender audience that comes with your license.
Message us if you have more questions.
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We are a hands on kinda organization! Lindsay and Kelly love to trouble shoot and problem solve. They offer monthly "office hours" that any Teach Equip church can hop in on. You'll also be connected to the Teach Equip community through slack where you can connect with other churches, students, and graduates from the program.
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This program is for up to 12 students. We’ve found the ideal class size is between 6-12. But in our opinion, if you have at least 3-4 students, it’s worth it!
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We think every church should prioritize the training of Bible teachers. We have churches of every size use Teach Equip. So long as you have 3-4 interested students, we think it’s worth the investment.
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Yes, we currently still are offering Teach Equip as an online class. Applications open in August, spots are limited.
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No, we have developed a peer to peer model of teaching that allows churches without any prior experience with Teach Equip to still implement the program.