Every week my elementary-age children are given a list of spelling words. They memorize the order of the letters for each word, and they prove their learning every Friday in their weekly spelling tests. The following week, they are given a new list of words. And so goes my kids’ learning, year after year.
That form of learning is vital for training foundational concepts, for children’s brains and development. But it’s just that: It’s formative learning, and it’s how children learn. Adult brains have developed beyond those of children (This is generally true of most people over age 13), so transformative learning is a better model for us.
“Equipping the saints” is vital for a church’s multiplication efforts. As we train future planters, pastors and missionaries to go from our churches—and frankly, as we train small group leaders, Sunday school teachers, deacons and every other role in our churches—we must transition our equipping efforts from being merely formative to being transformative.
Hands-on Training
The formative early childhood learning process can be summarized as “learn, repeat.” Transformative adult learning is more holistic and well-rounded. It involves reflection and introspection; it prioritizes critical thinking and most importantly, practice. Rather than merely “learn, repeat,” transformative learning is summarized as “learn, do, own.”
This kind of training is common in adult equipping outside the church. For example, many teachers-in-training say they grew more while student teaching in an actual school than in their years of classwork. High-profile businesses rarely hire recent graduates who have not completed an internship. A month-long immersion in Spain teaches Spanish better than years in school.
But in the church, the story is different: We still try to equip the saints through merely formative methods: “Read this book, then let’s discuss.” “Listen to this sermon or lecture.” “Memorize this text and talk about it in your small group.” A new method is needed to truly equip and train adults for any ministry.
To be clear, seminaries can offer massive benefits, and specific ministry training can be invaluable, but here’s a secret: Giving people hands-on ministry experience can be the missing piece of an emerging leader’s preparation.
Personally, I learned how to study the Bible through years of classwork, but I learned how to apply it by walking with experienced pastors who helped others see biblical principles shape their everyday lives. I learned how to plant a church by playing nearly every role on the staff team of a church plant. I did not know it at the time, but God essentially gave me a four-year experiential church-planting residency.
Transformative Equipping
If we were in a room talking together about this concept, I would stop here and ask, “What is the downside if the only equipping we do is ‘learn, repeat’?” We would have a lively discussion; you might even disagree with me. But I’d remind you that while the content of the discussion matters, even stopping to ask you to grapple with the question is an example of transformative learning. As you thought critically about my claims and voiced your opinion, you engaged and owned the concepts more than if I just lectured on them or you just stopped at reading this article.
Jesus did this with his followers. He instructed them more like a master with apprentices than a teacher with students. In the Gospels, Jesus often used word pictures, object lessons, models, hands-on practice, dialogue and more to help his followers grow. And he walked with them, day after day, for just over three years.
For example, Jesus sent 12 then 72 disciples into ministry. Here we see his transformative equipping:
* Learn. Before he sent his 72 disciples out, Jesus gave them knowledge they needed for the task at hand (because I am not suggesting that knowledge is unneeded in equipping; merely that it is inadequate by itself). In addition to what they had seen and heard in their daily lives with Jesus, they needed to know who they were going with (Luke 10:1); that they needed to pray (v. 2); and their own posture, limits and process (vv. 3–12).
* Do. After instruction to the Twelve, Jesus “gave them power and authority” and “sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:1–2). Jesus made his followers practice what he had taught them. “They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil, and healed them” (Mark 6:12–13). Jesus’ followers put knowledge into practice; they did the things Jesus told them to do.
* Own. In both the immediate debrief from this mission trip and in Acts, we see the disciples replicating the work of Jesus with power and authority, and even training others to do the same things as more people join their ranks. Luke 10:17 says that they returned with “joy.” Elsewhere, after another day of practicing ministry, they were dismayed: “Why could we not cast [the demon] out?” they asked. “And he said to them, ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer’” (Mark 9:28–29). The disciples did not begrudgingly obey Jesus; they were fully invested—they “owned” their role, responsibility and ministry.
Own Their Calling
If our churches’ equipping efforts stop at “learn, repeat,” essentially, we are training parrots. Further, this method creates dependence on the leader; others may never step into their responsibility or think or lead independently. Finally, formative childhood training may lead to a conceptual knowledge and a hypothetical understanding of a topic, but not the actual skills necessary to implement that area of ministry. That is insufficient.
We must engage in transformational learning in order to become sending churches. Here are three examples of how this can look tangibly:
* If you want to train preachers, yes, have them read a preaching book. But also help them craft sermons, let them preach, and give them feedback.
* If you want to train counselors, yes, they could take a counseling course. But also have them observe, then lead, pastoral counseling or discipline situations. Of course, you must employ wisdom, but you get the point and the principle.
* In our organization (The Equipping Group)’s residencies, we don’t want to hear about the great list of people a planter will draw from to raise funds; we make them raise a monthly amount to pay for the training itself. Because if a resident cannot cast vision, rally support and raise a small amount of monthly funding compared to what they will need when they plant, they will be without hope (and broke) once they hit the ground.
Is it risky to give people actual responsibility? Yes. Following Jesus’ parable, someone might proverbially “bury the talent” (Matt. 25:25). But others will rise to the challenge, being “faithful over a little” and thus ready for “much” (v. 23). We’ll never know if we only give people knowledge or limit their learning to discussion. The secret to truly equipping people for multiplication is to invite them to practice and equip them with hands-on experience. Only then will they own their calling. Only then will they multiply. Only then will we see transformation.
Ben Connelly is a pastor, author and equipper. He is honored to serve everyday disciples, ministry leaders, and church planters across the world through The Equipping Group, and to help lead Salt+Light Community and Plant Fort Worth in Fort Worth, Texas. He has written/contributed to several books, workbooks, articles and publications, including Sent Church, Sending Churches (Exponential).