Training the Trainers: An Opinion

One of the exciting aspects of the Lay Servant Ministries training is the opportunity it provides for PEER TRAINING.  Peer Training is basically a system of being trained by those who have been trained. They utilize training materials, follow course outlines, and work toward established outcomes for the training. No training - clergy led or lay led- will be effective if it's ill planned, unfocused, and have no clear steps to achieve a specific goal.

Many conferences and districts still engage clergy as the facilitators of training but who better to communicate with laity than impassioned, dedicated and trained laity? Some subjects may benefit from the clergy serving as instructor but most can be handled most adequately, and sometimes better, when led by a lay person.

In general laity need enough grounding in the church to understand its history, beliefs, organization and mission.

Beyond that there is a need for components of training opportunities on working with church leaders ( influencing people for participation and involvement, servant leadership principles, peaceful negotiations, being a change agent for mission and discipleship making).

There is a need for skill mastery in practical areas of serving as worship leader, liturgist, ushers, song leader, and, as needed, speaker (faith story sharing, devotions and sermons) and use of the Bible.  We should stop calling faith sharing a 'sermon' because that is frightening to so many people!  What we should do is return to the term of 'Witness' as it was used in previous generations. No, not that door to door cold call sales person approach, but the way early Methodists simply shared the way God was revealed daily through a myriad of ways. 

Long ago Christians rose in service to give their 'testimony' of what God was doing in their life and for them. People need to hear that witness of lived faith and daily walking with God. Our problem is that, often, we do not have any daily witness to God in our lives to share! What draws people to Christ is the vibrant, joyful, and hope filled sense that in Christ they too will have a story to live and to share.

Going further there is a need for enhancing skills through spiritual growth, team building, community outreach and mission.

• Good training will always be structured ( a clear purpose, route to achieve that purpose, and a neatly defined end).
• Good training will always set good standards for both delivery of training and outcome in the participant.
• Good training will be repeatable. Training need not be 'word-for-word' but the essential points and principles should be consistent from training to training.
• Good training should be measurable, in other words it should be able to be assessed (demonstrations of knowledge through answers to questions in discussions, demonstrations of skills observed through activity such as delivering a devotion, leading a prayer, reading the scripture, etc.
• Good training should not demand more in cost, time or effort than the position requires. In other words a volunteer, non-salaried person should not be required to invest in costly and numerous trainings. Similar learning experiences should be acceptable to meet training needs, similar to how some organizations accept CEU's over the course of a year. This would broaden opportunities, cut costs, and if used in some areas -such as recertifications - highly improve the experience.

This article on 6 Tips For Teaching Adults is a valuable read.