Action Learning Ministry Teams: A New/Old Way to Learn

By Dr. Greg Waddell The following quote from Michael Polyanis book, Personal Knowledge, gives the correct answer to the question: How do you keep upright while riding a bicycle? The rule observed by the cyclist is this. When he starts falling to the right he turns the handlebars to the right, so that the course of the bicycle is deflected along a curve towards the right. This results in centrifugal force pushing the cyclist to the right. This maneuver presently throws the cyclist to the left and offsets the gravitational force dragging him down to the right. Of course, we all know that you don't learn to ride a bicycle by memorizing formulas. Skills can only be learned through experience. There seems to be a growing concern in our brotherhood that we are not producing enough preachers both for our existing churches and also for planting new churches. One study of ministers in highly effective churches found that the decisive factors were not theological knowledge but skills in management, problem solving, planning, delegating, inspiring, leading change, shepherding, and communicating, all of which are people-intensive skills. Our traditional educational systems--which are based on the industrial revolution model of mass production--may be setting our students up for failure. Students are given a lot of information with only a smattering of real-time ministerial experience. Many of the theories they have developed about ministry in the sterile context of the classroom--theories often based on solutions that were designed to answer yesterday's questions--have to be unlearned before effective ministry can occur. The inevitable clash between these "experts" in ministry and the realities of a local congregation often prove too much for both. Conflicts erupt. Young ministers get discouraged and drop out of the struggle. Churches get discouraged and limp along without leadership. We have honed the educational task down to a well-oiled mechanical system. The question remains, however, whether this machine is actually producing the results that are needed in the field of real ministry.

A fresh approach is needed that seeks to recover the ancient practice of learning by doing. Such an approach would tackle real problems, rather than hypothetical, problems. Students would experiment with possible solutions to these problems, test their solutions, ponder the results, adjust their theories to the realities of their results, and then come back and tackle the problem again. We at Mid-South Christian College feel that the time has come to break out of the mold of mass-produced education, education that is only supposed to take place in specially-designated rooms called "classrooms," education that measures learning in precisely-defined chunks of time called credit hours, education that answers questions before they are asked, education that consists primarily of filling empty heads with words. An approach is needed that fuses good information with good practice and thereby prepares students for todays challenges. There is a crying need for an educational system that provides students with the ability to adapt to the real-life situations they will face in ministry. As long as the seed remains in the sower's seed sack, it cannot produce anything. Nor can students of seed-sowing learn how to sow without sowing. Studying the characteristics of the seed is certainly useful, but only as it is combined with the practice of sowing. The quantity of words and concepts that a student commits to memory are not a reliable predictor of effectiveness in ministry. Ministerial quality is produced in the crucible of life experience. When experience is a core element of the curriculum, then questions will arise from that experience. The role of professors will then be to adjust their curriculum so that they answer these student-initiated questions. Such answers will be far more meaningful and more effectively targeted to the real issues of ministry in today's world than answers that were formulated to address the questions of the past. Once action spawns questions, these questions can direct the educational institution so that the institution itself learns better how to prepare ministers. By expansively understanding today's culture and the people with whom they will have to relate, these students will be better prepared for an effective ministry. Action Learning is an educational model that sees learning as the product of tackling real problems in real situations. The biblical story of the feeding of the multitude is an example of Action Learning. Jesus launched His disciples into action from which they learn valuable theological lessons about faith and about His divine nature. How would the quality of their learning have compared if Jesus had instead set them down in a classroom and lectured them on the nature of faith?

By taking the approach of Action Learning students will not have to wait until they have graduated to begin doing real ministry that changes lives. Instead of learning PRIOR TO action, they will learn through action. Lawyers and medical doctors have educational institutions especially dedicated to their fields. In a sense, preachers are doctors of the soul and, therefore, also need institutions dedicated primarily to preparing them for that vocation. The result, however, will be a twisted caricature of ministry if it does not include the development of the people skills that can only be learned by engaging in real ministry. At Mid-South Christian College we have designed our educational program to revolve around the central core of ministerial action. Each year, new recruits will be joining an Action Ministry Cohort Team that will be taking on a real ministry project. This year's project is to help a predominately white Anglo congregation to reach out to its now predominately black, Hispanic, and Asian community. MSCC's ministry cohort team has been charged with developing and implementing a strategy that will help to bring this about. These students will remain a part of the cohort team for the entire time that they are studying at MSCC. They will design plans, survey the neighborhood, work with the members of the existing congregation, work out differences on their team, make contact with people in the neighborhood, and whatever else it takes to complete their mission. As questions and problems arise, students will bring them to the faculty of MSCC who will provide guidance and who will also adjust their course materials to fit the needs that come to the surface as these students engage the challenge before them. The college needs the prayers of God's people. Pray for the students who make up this year's Action Learning Ministry Team. Please also consider supporting this ministry with your financial gifts. Restoration Herald Check out Dr. Waddell's blog site at www.LeadStrategic.com