956) As a grammar teacher, it’s easy to look at the curriculum of the state of Maine and conclude what my students should already know when they show up in my classroom. Yes, they should know about capitalization, spelling rules, comma usage and more, but just because this is where the state says the students should be does not mean they are. If I want to be an effective grammar teacher, I need to meet the kids where they are in their knowledge and go from there. If I refuse to do this because the curriculum says they should already know these things, I’m wasting my time and theirs.

The same principle is true with spiritual things. When the Ethiopian in Acts 8:26-40 didn’t understand the passage in Isaiah that he was reading, Philip didn’t just jump into the tenets of Christianity. Instead, he meets the man where he was, talking through the verses in Isaiah. There was time to take the man further along the path to Christianity afterward.

Meeting people where they are communicates respect. It will also make them more receptive to what you will say if you listen to what they say.