Our friends in India, who are seeing hundreds of thousands of new believers each year, have various training topics with which they equip people, the majority of whom are oral learners. Everyone is equipped, and those who are in any kind of leadership are trained not only in the concepts, but also in how to train others too.
We in the West have a lot of head knowledge, but are we equipped? Last Friday, I posted on this subject, asking people to comment. One person said this:
"I once took a Saturday morning to teach people how to share their testimony and was shocked at how many long-time Christians were incapable of telling a coherent story about how they came to Jesus and why. The main problem, I found, was that they too often confused giving their life to Jesus with becoming a member of the church…"
Many who have come out of legacy churches have been used to letting those in full-time ministry "do the stuff" as John Wimber used to say, referring to ministering to others, especially to not-yet-believers. In simple/organic church there are no longer specially trained people with "doing the stuff" as their job description; it is now up to all of us. Are we ready? Do we know what to do?
In that post I also asked people to give some ideas on the various skills that we need to equip people with here in the West. Here is a compilation of the results:
- How to proclaim the Gospel
- How to share your story with others
- How to lead someone to the Lord
- Interacting with God's word
- The need for accountability
- How to wait on God
- How to share your faith in a less friendly environment
- The centrality of Jesus
- Listening to the Holy Spirit and obeying
- The fruit of the Spirit
I have several more topics for the toolbox that I will share soon.
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