Good Knowledge or Good Skill?

I have recently been training or assisting trainers with classes on a new computer system our hospital will be using come November. In that time, I have had the opportunity to see 6 or 7 different styles of teaching, and 6 or 7 different levels of knowledge with respect to the trainers. During one of the sessions today (as an assistant; catch people up who are lagging), I noticed the trainer had a lot of knowledge, but had poor teaching skills. Thinking back to other trainers, I noticed one or two had relatively little knowledge (just the basics, enough to give us what we needed to know for that class session; no help if we had other questions) but were extremely good communicators and instructors: patient, spoke with a good tone, defined terms well, etc.

What's the point? I will be the facilitator for our Home Fellowship Bible Study tonight (first part of Mark ix by the way. the transfiguration). I will do some teaching and try and guide the questions and discussions, and attempt to keep things on track, on topic, and allow folks to learn and grow (myself especially). But in a Bible Study, what is a better situation: to have a teacher with a lot of knowledge but poor teaching skills, or one with great teaching skills but lacks Scriptural knowledge above the basics? We all would love to see the perfectly balanced teacher, with great knowledge and great skill. But let's get real. Most Bible studies are not going to have R.C. Sproul come along and be their leader. Maybe we can get close to a balance, but we tend to be to one side or the other. Admittedly, I am towards the knowledge side; I have teaching skills to work on.

While that is not a problem in and of itself, the direction of a Bible study most of the time depends on the teacher (or facilitator). A group with a good communicator will go one way. A group with a braniac will likely go another. In this morning's session, the instructer had a lot of knowledge but was such a bad instructor and communicator, people were falling behind left and right, simple concepts were confusing, and so forth. I would hate to think that with the knowledge I have (not saying it's a lot, but I'd be dishonest if I said I haven't done my share of study and research) I would fail to communicate that knowledge in such a way that others could actually benefit. But with those with good skills and little knowledge, they are able to engage with you and get you interested, but incapable of taking you any further, or helping you get deeper.

I don't have an answer to that question in a world where the perfectly balanced instructor is hard to come by. We should all strive to have both great knowledge and great skill, but until then, what do we do?

These are just some ramblings of thoughts today.

UPDATED: Well, the Bible study went fairly well last night. We went over the transfiguration and had some time to discuss what the "Kingdom of God after it has come with power" was and that phrase's relationship to the transfiguration event. I think I fell short of doing a good job, honestly. In hindsight, I allowed myself to be more of a teacher than a facilitator. There were some great dialogues and even a couple of disagreements on key portions of the transfiguration tale as told by Mark, but at the end, when discussing the Kingdom of God, I probably came off sounding more like someone who believes "I'm right and your wrong." That was not my intention, and I hope no one perceived it that way, but I can see why someone might. Despite this, I learned a lot and hope others learned as well. Also, I do wish we had had more time for prayer; but I trust the Lord's leading and the Holy Spirit's guidance during our meeting times. Some nights we study a lot. Some nights we don't study at all, but pray together and sing hymns and worship songs. Let the Lord do His will, then He'll take care of the rest.