To teach Natural Family Planning, do you need an expensive PowerPoint projector along with an expensive spare light bulb? We don’t think so.
We have access to a PowerPoint program and projector, but we don’t use them. Instead, we teach directly from our manual, Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach. We sit at a table facing the attending couples at their tables. All of us have the manual from which we teach. When we asked our attending couples during the first few courses we taught if they would like us to use PowerPoint, we thought they would prefer the “modern” way, but the couples said “no.” They said it was much more personal this way. We also use a minimum of electricity.
In the past, we have taught with slides and we have taught with PowerPoint, but we have come to enjoy this simple teaching method. At the time we began teaching for our current pastor about two years ago, we read a review of a book which stated that PowerPoint is now boring and no longer holds one’s interest, that you can grab their attention more by writing on a blackboard or on a napkin!
This style of teaching can be done even in poor areas that do not have electricity on a regular basis. If somebody has a computer and Internet access, manuals can be copied from our website when the electricity, computer, and printer are working. The manuals can also be purchased from the publisher in many countries. Teaching can also be done outside during the day if natural light is needed. This way of NFP teaching requires little in the way of materials and money. It requires no equipment. It is “green.”
Sheila Kippley
Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach