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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.

Stay tuned for Part 3 coming soon...

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 HERE: http://www.cadreinternational.com/sc

Attention Junior High Volunteers:
The New Batteries Included Is Here!

 CLICK HERE: http://www.cadreinternational.com/batteries/

 

 

 

Brand New Cadre Training Resource:
Big God, small problems by Dave Garda, Cadre Ministries

IA 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
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• 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

 

 

 

For more information hosting or participating in a Cadre training workshop, contact info@cadreministries.com

For Cadre training resources, visit: http://www.cadreministries.com/store

 

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 in your email-box monthly.

For more information about bringing a certified Cadre trainer to coach and train the volunteer teachers, leaders, and youth workers in your church, contact info@cadreministries.com

For Cadre training sources visit http://www.cadreministries.com/store