| April
2004 |
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According to the Barna Research Group, “only 9 percent
of born again Christians have a biblical world view.”
Think about the irony of that finding! Never before have so
many Christians known they should be reading their Bibles with
so few actually holding to a biblical world view! What is going
on here?
As much as some of us sincerely believe that more speaking,
teaching, and preaching would solve this problem, I believe
that without intentional TRAINING, the people of God will never
begin to integrate the Bible into every nook and cranny of their
view of the world!
If you want to check a couple of important ways training is
different than speaking, teaching, and preaching, I invite you
to check out "Training: The Missing Jewel in Your
Church--Part 2" in this edition of Cadre Connection.
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Read Part I ]
Many of the people in our churches are often well
taught—but woefully under trained. They know, but they don’t
do. Some can quote the Bible—and the church constitution—but
they are not actively making disciples who can make disciples! Think
about your church. I’m sure it is rightfully filled with speaking,
teaching, and preaching. However, the training emphasis is most
likely depressingly inadequate if it is existent at all!
Why? In part because we don’t understand how training is truly
different than speaking, teaching, and preaching.
What follows is not by any means the definitive description of
training—but merely my attempt to stimulate your thinking
about the differences between speaking, teaching, preaching (STP)—and
training. These differences are not always conspicuous, but I believe
the implications embedded in the following contrasts are profound
in terms of spiritual impact and ministry multiplication. Please
note that out of speaking, teaching, and preaching, I believe that
teaching has the most potential to come closest to training’s
equipping impact. However, because “teaching” tends
to be synonymous with “lecturing” in most churches,
I have included teaching in the following contrasts.
My ultimate goal in contrasting speaking, teaching, preaching (STP)
to training is to make you rethink your own approach to ministry.
I challenge you NOT to hang all your disciplemaking hopes on speaking,
teaching, and preaching (STP) alone, but to also begin to train
others like Jesus!
Some Differences Between Speaking, Teaching, Preaching
(STP)—and Training (continued...)
For part 1 of this article, please click here: 
The Missing Jewen in Your Church: PART 1
4. STP often tends to be more about telling,
whereas TRAINING focuses its energy on showing and experiencing.
We’ve probably all been in a church service, Sunday school,
or small group meeting where the speaker, teacher, or preacher told
us about the importance of reading the Bible. How has this telling
us of the importance of reading the Bible equipped
us to live life with a biblical world view? Evidently, not much.
While the overwhelming majority of Christians know about the importance
of the Bible to our faith, the Barna Research Group states that
“only 9 percent of born again Christians have a biblical world
view.” Think about the irony of that finding! Never before
have so many Christians known they should be reading their Bibles
with so few actually holding to a biblical world view! What is going
on here? Barna responds, “Although most people own a Bible
and know some of its content, our research found that most Americans
have little idea how to integrate core biblical principles to form
a unified and meaningful response to the challenges and opportunities
of life.”
Integration Is a Training Issue!
When Barna speaks of Christians having “little idea how to
integrate core biblical principles,” he is, in my opinion,
articulating a training issue! As much as some
of us sincerely believe that more speaking, teaching, and preaching
would solve this problem, I believe that without intentional TRAINING
in the various spiritual disciplines, the people of God will never
begin to integrate the Bible into every nook and cranny of their
view of the world! Integration can best happen—not in a speaking,
teaching, or preaching situation—but rather in an authentic
training situation where people are shown how. To be sure, training,
like speaking, teaching, and preaching, would accentuate the importance
of Bible reading—but training conducted by a skilled trainer
would take the time to model ways learners can take God’s
Word into their hearts, minds, and lives.
Are You REALLY Training People?
Ah, but you say, “We train people in the
spiritual disciplines at our church!” Maybe… and maybe
not. I’m sure your church speaks, teaches, and preaches about
the spiritual disciplines (it better). But are you really training
people by actually SHOWING them how to encounter and experience
God via the spiritual disciplines?
You might respond, “Our church has a whole series of training
courses designed to help people on their spiritual maturity journey—so
we ARE training people!” Again, I say maybe… and maybe
not. The current 101, 201, 301, 401 “training” courses
in many churches are often done in a lecture format. This is a classic
illustration of more speaking, teaching, and preaching—just
to smaller groups. We are mistaken when we call this small group
lecturing “training.”
Too often in these so-called “training” situations,
people are given a manual with blanks to fill in as a “trainer”
lectures—merely passing out information—while the interaction
of the learners is limited to filling in blanks—and any conversation
they can get with each other on a short bathroom break. Where is
the showing? Where is the interaction? Where is the mastering of
skills through practice? Where is the learning from other people
in the group—rather than just the instructor? Where are the
ever-rich questions of dissent? Where is the Jesus-like training
that is filled with spontaneous interaction where the trainer seizes
the teachable moment and trains (see Luke 12:13-21)—not from
the training manual—but from a life overflowing with keen
insights and deft application of biblical truth?
Sage-on-the-Stage OR Guide-on-the-Side?
One of the main determinants as to whether something leans toward
STP or training is the way the instructor conducts the learning.
In speaking, teaching, and preaching—the person doing the
communication is often viewed as “the-sage-on-the-stage.”
However, in training, the trainer takes on the role of a facilitator
of learning—the trainer becomes “the-guide-on-the-side.”
Because most of us have not personally experienced interactive,
experiential guide-on-the-side training, we continue to replicate
what we have experienced: the sage-on-the-stage lecture. Much of
our elementary, junior high, high school, college, post graduate,
and Christian educational experiences have conditioned us for minimal
learning precisely because so much of the learning is lecture based.
Yet, educational psychologists have known for years that lecture
is the least effective way to teach anyone anything.
The Training Genius of Jesus
We, as Christians, should be the best trainers in the world! Why
do I say this? Because part of our heritage as Christians is a daily
relationship with THE greatest speaker, teacher, preacher AND TRAINER
who ever graced planet Earth. Think about what we can learn from
the Jesus we love and serve. The life and ministry methods of Jesus
Christ (think about how he trained his disciples here) shows us
that authentic training that goes beyond telling people what to
do—to actually taking the time to show and help them do it
themselves—can literally change the world as we know it (see
Acts 17:6). So I challenge you NOT to replicate the current culture
of lecture simply because that is what has always been done—but
instead to look at the training genius of Jesus and then compare
and contrast your current mode of operation—and the current
mode of Christian education in your church—to Jesus’
approach. I challenge you to build on the telling of your speaking,
teaching, and preaching ministries and add the showing and experiencing
that comes with a good training ministry!
5. STP often operates on the basis that
more information is better, whereas TRAINING tends to operate on
the idea that material in bite size pieces with time for practice
and mastery is the best way to equip someone.
Perhaps the phenomenon of hand-held bottled water has taught us
that the intake of water is best on an as needed, little-by-little
basis. Yet, because speaking, teaching, and preaching are so prevalent
in our church culture today—and authentic ministry training
as described in this article is essentially non-existent in the
majority of churches today—most volunteers are having to drink
from the fire hose of lecture where the goal is often to teach as
much of the material as we can. If the goal of disciplemaking is
solely the acquisition of biblical knowledge and good information,
then by all means we must speak, teach, and preach the material.
However, if our goal in disciplemaking is life change, application,
mastery, and the multiplication of disciples who can make more disciples,
then we would be wise to follow up our speaking, teaching, and preaching
ministries by giving learners training in bite size pieces with
time for practice, processing, and mastery. This “practice
for mastery” equipping approach to ministry training is precisely
what Jesus did with his disciples! Check out Luke 8:1, 9:1-2, and
10:1 to watch the master trainer at work helping his disciples practice
and master one of their most fundamental tasks.
Click
Here for Part 3 >>
To respond to this article, please send e-mail to:
bill@cadreministries.com
 Cadre
Training Is Coming to Florida!
The Cadre team will be in the Orlando, Florida area April 13th and
14th to train YOU and your friends with two fun, highly interactive,
and biblically-based training workshops:
Ministry Is Relationships
Tuesday night, April 13th:
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/relationships2.php
The Aspiring Communicator’s Academy
Wednesday 8:30 AM to 4 PM
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/aca2.php
* Interested in participating in one of the above training workshops
and need more details? Contact us at info@cadreministries.com
Training For Students:
Take Your Students on an E-mail Journey to Discover the Character
of God—with Dave Garda of Cadre Ministries
CLICK
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Attention
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The New Batteries Included Is Here!
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Brand
New Cadre Training Resource:
Big God, small problems by Dave Garda, Cadre
Ministries
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guide for helping volunteers gain a vision for ministry, worship
and living as God intends for you! Each study set comes with an
interactive audio CD and a personal/small group study guide!
Nehemiah
Was it his leadership that calls us to study him? Maybe, but that’s
not what made him one of the most memorable volunteer leaders in
the history of the God’s people. In reality, it was Nehemiah’s
understanding of God that makes him so worth studying.
Particularly fascinating are a series of belief statements that
reveal what Nehemiah believed to be true about our God. If these
statements are true (and they are), then we can learn to live our
lives as lay leaders as evidence of the active presence of a loving
God.
The example of Nehemiah can transform:
• your day at work
• your time with family
• your role as a volunteer leader in your local church
• your role as a volunteer leader in your community
We challenge you to take ownership of Nehemiah’s accurate
view of God as you take your daily steps of faith. These daily steps
of faith are the result of a simple grasp of the Big God who desires
to be active and present in your life.
To order online, click here:
http://www.cadreministries.com/store/books.html#big
To order via mail, print this form:
http://www.cadreinternational.com/download/cadrecatalog.pdf
Strange But True
Stories...
Missed the strange but true Allison stories? If so, click
below for a new story:
http://homepage.mac.com/billc323/Personal4.html
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The Cadre team. From left
to right: Bill, Rennie, Dave, Laura, and Doug... here to serve
and bless volunteers like YOU!
In the spirit of Ephesians 4:11-12, it is Cadre's passion to
bring glory to God by assisting local churches in becoming the best
volunteer training "cadres" in the world.
Cadre is a not-for-profit ministry [501(c)(3)] that exists
to make you wildly successful at becoming what God has called you
to become as you serve others in your local church and community.
We serve as support-based, God-dependent missionaries to come alongside
volunteers and those who care for volunteers in the church (globally)
to help accomplish their God-given mission. Eph. 4:10-17
We provide free monthly online training for volunteers in the
church (Cadre Connection), for volunteer Jr. High Youthworkers (Batteries
Included), and for Student Leaders (Spiritual Caffeine). Visit www.cadreministries.com
to preview our recent free training or to sign up to receive training
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For more information about bringing a certified Cadre trainer
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