Education.

Adults learn by interacting with ideas. (Pssst… don’t just lecture)

As we begin thinking about equipping the church and training the body of Christ to carry God’s redemptive message forward into our communities we have to be more thoughtful about the best way to do that. So a simple question. How do adults learn best?

As we are educating adults, taking into consideration how adults learn is important. The fancy term is pedagogy. Which is about the method and practice of teaching.

Adults learn when they are engaged. We learn when we can bring our own experience, history, and learning to the topic at hand. We learn when we can converse and wrestle around new ideas alongside our peers. When we can immediately apply the new information and are challenged to live it out through small action steps we learn. These 4 basic principals also known as (anchor, add, apply, away) are the foundation of any good equipping event.

When you start to think about how adults learn and then shift the classroom environment to a more dialogue style of education you will see the level of engagement and the energy of a classroom radically increase. People are used to lectures, but they love dialogue education.

As we are trying to disciple others remember the goal is learning. Not teaching.

If you were interested in learning more I would check out Jane Vella’s work and Global Learning Partners here.

Adults engaged in the process of learning at 3-week workshop on immigration called Welcoming the Sojourner.

You are not the expert.

ENP connects over 50 church to elementary schools and their neighborhoods. Our staff is involved in over 20 local initiatives engaging all levels of society (government, non-profit, business, etc). What I have found over and over again is that I do not have to be the expert as I lead and facilitate equipping events. There are amazing resources and people that I can lean into to share their wisdom and experience. As a facilitator, I get to guide the adventure, but others can be the experts in the room. Plus, everyone loves to be asked to share their passions and expertise.

How do we live this out? When we do training events we always share the stage. Invite other pastors, community members, leaders, and co-workers to share. We love breakouts at our trainings. We love guest speakers. Buy into and model that we are always lifelong learners and that we need to hear from others.

The side benefit is that we get to highlight the work and ministry of our brothers and sisters that most folks don’t know or haven’t heard about. I recently shared with a group of 20s-40s young philanthropy professionals and as I was speaking to them about all the work going on in our city I heard a comment, “I have lived in Fresno all my life and never heard of any of these organizations!” YES! Exactly. There are amazing people in our city you just haven’t met and it is a blessing for me to be able to introduce you to them. Finally and most importantly…

Site visit to World Impact in the Hidalgo Neighborhood. Kim Contreras is sharing about her 15+ year journey into the city and how their ministry has evolved in response to the needs.

The city is a classroom.

(What if Jesus did this? Don’t know who to credit for this. Found on Facebook)

Get your people out! I am not knocking traditional education, in fact, I am an adjunct professor for Fresno Pacific University. I love the classroom but aim to be like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who taught people along the way. He got into the neighborhoods and streets of his community and used them for the classroom.

One of the ways we have tried to integrate all of these principals is through a drive-tour. We have created the 101 Church For The City ENP Drive Tour to let folks in our community (and those just visiting) hear from people on the front lines. As they drive in their cars they play audio tracks and learn more about some of the issues in our community, but also what different churches or ministries are doing to respond.

You can learn more about the Drive Tour here (everyneighborhood.org/drivetour).

As church leaders I invite you to stretch your equipping muscles. The process of changing what you have done and learning new methods is never easy, but it is always worth it. Helping the Kingdom of God come in our neighborhoods requires us to be out in our neighborhoods, connect with new leaders and make sure everyone is getting to most of out every opportunity.

You will be better for it and your church and community will too! If we, at ENP, can help on your journey let us know!