What does it means to “train” people in the faith.
Last summer I had the chance to sit with Dr. Jerry Sittser, Professor of Theology at Whitworth University in Spokane, WA.
As a church historian, Jerry shared story after story from the early church Christians, as well as the desert fathers and mothers, regarding how they engaged in spiritual formation — training to be spiritual athletes.
It was such a rich time… and as I continue to process his wisdom, and translate it into the context of campus ministry, I intend to post further thoughts here.
But if there was one major thought — or question — that seemed to stick out for me from our time together it was this:
There’s a BIG difference between teaching and training — so how effective is our ministry at training up students in the faith?
The differences between teaching and training may, at first, appear minimal. But consider the difference between:
- exposure to something vs. being able to use it
- information vs. formation or transformation
- mental vs. holistic
- shaping cognition vs. shaping behavior
Yes, teaching is ultimately a part of training, but it’s only a part of it.
So, the implications of this simple question are rather profound — it may require us making simple OR even significant changes to the way/s we do ministry. But if changed lives are the end result, wouldn’t it be worth all of the extra work that might be involved?
What do you think?
- Are the difference/s between teaching and training worth being concerned about?
- Are your ministries more informative or transformative?
- Are you seeing students leave your ministries with changed lives, or simply changed ways of thinking?
Thanks for joining the conversation!
2 thoughts on “An Important Question”
Our ministry focuses on discipleship which lends itself to be more about transformation than information. The students have learned that they are responsible for the next generation of growth, leadership, and direction for the ministry. Giving them the vision to be able to walk onto the campus three or four years after they graduate and meet a student who has been impacted by someone they impacted has gone a long way to give them a vision for being more than just a student of the ministry. There are always students who will just be students but if we find those FAT (faithful, available, teachable) students and invest our efforts in them then the return will be several fold.
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