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Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Lifelong Learning Page 11 of 12

What Does Romans Say About Preaching and Online Learning?

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On February 12, 2012

In Training, Adult Education, E-learning

From my journal this morning:

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. – Romans 1:8–13

Observation: Paul has heard about the faith of the Romans, and it encourages him (Rom 1:8). He prays for the church regularly (Rom 1:9-10). But he really wants to visit them, so that he can make them strong through his ministry of the Spirit in their midst, so that he and the church can be mutually encouraged by one another’s faith (Rom 1:12), and so that he can have a harvest among these Gentiles (Rom 1:13). Why does he need to come to Rome in order to minister to them? His epistle to them is obviously already an encouragement and a help to the Romans to make them strong. It is Paul’s most complete explanation of the Gospel. Why could possibly be still lacking in his ministry to them?  Why does he need to go to Rome when he can send this excellent, inspiring and doctrinally sound “sermon” or article to them?   Paul apparently does not know much about the specific problems and needs in the church and wants to interact with the Roman Christians to get to know them, and then address their situation more specifically. He wants to enjoy their company (Rom 15:24); he wants to be refreshed in their company (Rom 15:32).  In order to do so, he needs to see them.

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Facilitating Relational Learning Among Women

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On December 28, 2011

In Training, Adult Education

In a previous post, I talked about the Entrust training for women that we have been hosting on the SEND campus in Farmington, Michigan.   One of our female workers in Central Asai recently attended the Entrust training in Switzerland and wrote the following article in our latest SEND Harvest Heartbeat publication.

“Who do you think these older women are who are to be teaching the younger women?”

We were reading Titus 2:3-5. Anyone who knows me, or who has been through the first course of the Entrust Women to Women Ministry Training, would recognize this as a leading question. But it was a question that needed to be asked. I wanted the women I was teaching to understand that they are the mentors and teachers that their churches need.

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Learning and Servanthood

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On August 21, 2011

In Book Reviews, Learning Attitude

This past month, I read Duane Elmer’s book, Cross-Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility.  Elmer, a former faculty member at Missionary Internship (now MTI) has written a number of helpful books about the process of transitioning into another culture and working effectively as a cross-cultural missionary.   Cross-cultural Servanthood addresses the question of what we need to do so that we are actually perceived as servants by the cultures to which we have come.   As he points out, servanthood is culturally defined, so our efforts to serve others may actually be perceived as superiority and condescension by the host culture and national church. Elmer has heard many host culture people say, “Missionaries could more effectively minister the gospel of Christ if they did not think they were so superior to us.” How do we unconsciously communicate superiority, and how can we avoid this and demonstrate Christlike servanthood?

One of the chapters talks about the importance of adopting a learning attitude. As missionaries, we often are infected with the “right answer” virus. One of the symptoms of this infection is that we find it difficult to learn from those whom we perceive to be less educated or less spiritual than us.  Unfortunately, in my personal experience, the more experienced we are as missionaries, the more virulent this virus becomes. Elmer says to combat this virus we need to take a big dose of humility and learn about others, learn from others and learn with others. Although learning about others is important, we need to move on to learn from and learn with the people of the host culture to which we have been called.

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Team Leader Training Module Concludes

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On October 12, 2010

In Coaching, E-learning, Team Leadership

We have now completed all four weeks of the online SEND Team Leader Orientation. Some of the participants are still completing their assignments but a number of them have already submitted their final evaluations. Since this was the beta run for this module, we did not charge anything for the training, but in exchange we asked all the participants to track the number of hours they spent on the course and post their evaluations of the material at the end of each week, and again at the end of the course. I see a few areas where I need to revise the material, but by in large, the evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive.

As has been documented by others, follow-up coaching after providing some training greatly enhances the impact of the training (see Keith Webb’s blog about this).   So in a couple of months, I will be contacting each of the participants to ask them how it is going with the plans they made during the course.  Each participant was asked to:

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Online Training for Team Leaders in Week Three

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On October 1, 2010

In E-learning, Pre-field Training

We are now in our third week of the online course for SEND team leaders.   This week we are working on our job descriptions, after having discussed the essential tasks of a leader and the SEND Team Leader Profile in the previous two weeks.  I have been delighted to see 16 team leaders from many different SEND areas interact with one another in the class forums, encouraging one another, asking questions, and sharing principles they have learned about leadership.   We have participants from 8 different areas of SEND, and a wide range of leadership experiences in many different countries and contexts, so we have a lot of stories to tell.   There is never a time when everyone is online (or awake) at the same time, but as long as participants regularly login several times during the week, the discussions can flow as each participant posts his comments in an open forum that all the class members can read and reply to.

For me as facilitator, it has been a very positive experience thus far, and convinces me that online training across multiple time zones is not only possible and inexpensive, but can provide a quality learning experience as well. Of course, this is not my first experience with online training.  Over the past year or so, I have had the opportunity to take two training modules from EFCA EQUIP on this very topic of first developing and then facilitating online modules. Since these courses trained us by word and example how to make online courses highly interactive and focused on self-discovery, the learning experience was very enjoyable, and so much better than other distance education courses I have taken in the past.   Since my first course with EQUIP, I have wanted to try training within our mission using the same format, and now I am in the middle of realizing that dream.

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