Keep Your Traction

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From time to time we talk with a disappointed leader who started strong with a cohort of students only to see several of them drop out. Clearly the motivations that drive people to begin training do not always push them to continue. Is this normal? How do you create and sustain momentum? In our experience, leaders who maintain energy in their students over time do at least 3 things:

  1. Choose the right people.  As you establish your training process, you may be tempted to accept any and all comers. This will ultimately backfire. While all people within your ministry sphere need to be helped to maturity, only some are ready for development as leaders. We encourage you to vet potential students and carefully choose who you will invest into.
    • Are they well-spoken of by others to whom they minister? Give energy to those whose growth will be accelerated by your investment while at the same time being a help to you.
    • Are they teachable and truly looking for development? Watch out for those who simple want to use you pursue a personal agenda (like getting an easy degree).
    • Have they counted the cost? “Church-based” does not mean “Sunday-school-simple”. The training is well integrated with other life responsibilities, but it still requires discipline.
    • Do they accept that training in-ministry is transformative but also messy? Institutional expectations can cause people to become critical of a process which is actually bearing fruit.
  2. Call for progress.  Students who plateau become bored while students experiencing real change remain motivated.  Keep a vision and expectation for progress in front of the students. Don’t let the courses become academic. Instead, push for transformation of thinking and evidence that the students are using the principles in ministry. Insist on practicums that confront areas of identified needed growth rather than allowing practicums which provide experience but lack teeth.  In your mentoring do not be content to only reach quantitative milestones (“we finished the course”). Rather seek to achieve qualitative change.
  3. Train for mission.  Training for the sake of training holds interest only for a while.  On the other hand when training is needed in order to pull off a critical responsibility, it is compelling and even desperately sought after.  Cast vision around what you are training people for – effective use of their gifts, specific ministry roles within the church, passing the faith to others, or a future church plant.  From day one adopt the posture that “this is not a drill”. You need them to faithfully carry out current ministry responsibilities. You are counting on them.  And you need them to prove themselves in the midst of ministry so you can respond to doors God will yet open. In every way the stakes are real.

Of course it is normal for some who begin training to have legitimate reasons to step back from the process. There can be unforeseen circumstances. A student may even reevaluate his leadership capacity as a result of your input. What we want to highlight here are key principles which will help you maintain traction within an Antioch School training program.  We all know that more is required than administratively enrolling students, assigning mentors, and scheduling classes. We believe the above principles are not only tested but ancient, having been practiced by Paul himself as he took a promising Timothy and intentionally developed him to be a co-worker for the progress of the gospel. “Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.” (1 Timothy 4:15, NRSV)

Another “Earthquake” in Haiti

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Rebuilding Haiti is a spiritual and social matter. It is not just about physical structures, agriculture, and economic systems. The Antioch School is playing a key role in helping a network of church networks in Haiti train 1,600 pastors.

On January 12, 2010 a catastrophic earthquake hit the island nation of Haiti. An estimated 316,000 people died, another 300,000 were injured, and 1,000,000 were made homeless as 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings collapsed or were severely damaged.

Since then, a second “earthquake” with numerous “aftershocks” continues to rock Haiti. The earthquake has taken the form of more than 10,000 NGO’s (non-government organizations) currently operating in Haiti. Some Haitians say that the overabundance of NGO’s is now a bigger problem that the earthquake. Even though many NGO’s are run by Christians with good intentions, they are creating an environment of dependency that is eroding the self-initiative and self-sufficiency of the Haitian people.

In September 2012, the Antioch School took part in the “Rebuilding Haiti” track of the New York Leadership Center’s Movement Day. Dozens of Christian ministry organizations gathered to describe their contributions and try to find ways to partner. It is amazing how many innovative and creative ideas are being brought to Haiti by Christian organizations (e.g. innovative agriculture such as aquaponics and moringa farming). However, the Antioch School stands in a unique place because it focuses on the centrality of the church and the development of church leaders are being crucial for the rebuilding of Haiti.

Mullery Jean-Pierre, Pastor of Beraca Baptist Church and President of Beraca Community Development Corporation, presented the story of what has happened since the 2010 earthquake. Churches in Haiti have networked together like never before and are taking seriously their central role in rebuilding the country. BILD International and the Antioch School are serving 1,600 pastors in Haiti through a network of church networks.

Unfortunately, many of the Christian NGO’s don’t want to work with Haitian churches and pastors because some pastors have taken advantage of the goodwill of NGO’s and some churches don’t really care about community development. However, strong churches with godly leaders are still at the core of God’s plan for Haiti, as well as everywhere else in the world. The Antioch School is helping these pastors be well-equipped for ministry, but also for community development in their cities, towns, and villages.

A $5,000 sponsorship of a Haitian pastor not only enables him to earn a degree from the Antioch School and be well-trained for his ministry role, but also to be trained in a tent-making skill that can be used by him and others in a church-based business venture that will become a source of support for community development. For more information about how you can help the Antioch School help pastors to rebuild Haiti, click here or email info@antiochschool.edu.

Join us for the 2012 BILD Conference!

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November 5–10, 2012  |  Ames, Iowa

Where else on earth can you find all this in one place:

  • Obtain further training in the use of BILD resources for doing C-BTE.
  • Hang out with a cross-section of other church leaders using BILD resources and leading Antioch School programs.
  • Rub shoulders with leaders of some of the world’s largest church planting movements.
  • Link up in partnership with indigenous apostolic leaders in a whole new paradigm of missions.
  • Get personal time with BILD staff and Antioch School senior faculty.
  • Experience the hospitality of the Ames-Des Moines CityChurch family.
  • Be challenged by God-sized ideas, such as the strategic role of “shadow/slum cities” in the spontaneous expansion of the Gospel.

During the preceding week, key leaders of BILD’s global partners gather for strategic planning and coordination of their C-BTE programs.  On November 5-8, you may join these global leaders in further training on the use of BILD resources.  The conference climaxes on November 8-10 with the BILD Executive Leadership Summit.

Ongoing Certification Training
Certified Leaders are required to take part in at least one Leadership Series course workshop and one mini-Paradigm Transformation Project each year in order to renew their certification to lead Antioch School programs.  The BILD Conference is wonderful opportunity to obtain this training.  The following options are available for you during the Conference:

The following two-day workshops are offered on November 5-6
(Monday-Tuesday, 8:30 am-4:30 pm):

  • Teaching First Principles
  • Pauline Epistles*
  • Leaders in the Early Church*
  • Preaching & Teaching*
  • Theology in Culture*

The following two-day workshops are offered on November 7-8
(Wednesday-Thursday, 8:30 am-4:30 pm):

  • Acts*
  • Essentials of Sound Doctrine*
  • Interpreting I*
  • Covenants*
  • OT Theology:  Law*

*  Meets the Antioch School requirement for a Leadership Series course workshop
** Meets the Antioch School requirement for a mini-PTP

2012 Executive Leadership Summit
The BILD Conference climaxes on November 8-10 with the Executive Leadership Summit (ELS)**.  This is an incredible opportunity to see what God is doing in the world.  You can glimpse inside some of the largest, most innovative church planting movements.  The ELS is a unique blend of ministry reports, foundational biblical teaching, and world-changing ideas.  It begins with Jeff Reed introducing us to the concept of “Shadow Cities” and how the spontaneous expansion of the Gospel is taking off in some of the world’s worst slums.  The ELS will focus on particular ministries as lenses through which to see some of the new and significant things God is doing in North America and the rest of the world.  It concludes with a Friday night banquet of celebration and a Saturday morning prayer breakfast.

The BILD Conference gives you a wonderful opportunity to link up in partnership with indigenous apostolic leaders in a whole new paradigm in missions.  You understand the effectiveness of in-service, church-based theological education.  Well, it is exponentially more significant in parts of the world where there is no established church, weak economies, and yet the gospel is moving rapidly.  The BILD Conference represents an entirely different approach to missions as well as theological education.  For many of BILD’s North American partners, it is a new and refreshing idea to be able to partner with tested sodal leaders of church planting movements.  During the BILD Conference, you can get a much better sense of what is happening and consider how you can become even more involved in the global expansion of the Gospel.

For those who wish to become Antioch School Certified Leaders, a week-long Initial Certification Training is offered November 5-9. 

Making travel arrangements?
Read our Travel and Housing Information for the 2012 BILD Conference.  Note that lunch and snacks are provided.

 

I Don’t Have Enough Leaders . . . to Lead an Antioch School Program

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“I really want to start an Antioch School program for our church, but we just don’t have enough leaders to support it.” 

Do you see the irony in this statement?

Most churches find themselves in this dilemma.  They recognize that they have a desperate need to develop leaders, but their current leaders don’t think they have the capacity to do so.  Current leaders just don’t have the time or skills necessary to launch an Antioch School program.

What are your options?

1) Hire more leaders.  This is also loaded with issues.  For instance, most churches also don’t have enough money.  And even if they did have plenty of money, they often don’t like the candidates and process associated with hiring outside ministry professionals.

2) Use a “plug & play” training program.   There are plenty of quick and easy solutions, such as a book that claims to provide a “portable seminary,” but most of these approaches have serious inadequacies.  Many are not much more than content “dumps” of what someone thinks leaders need to know.  Others use a rather fluffy fill-in-the-blank approach that doesn’t have much depth.  These training programs usually lack meaningful assessment and are rarely connected to academic credentials from legitimately accredited higher education institutions.  However, if you find a training program that meets your criteria and serves your needs, then certainly use it.

3) Use untrained leaders.  The price is right, but you can’t afford to make this mistake.  The costs of the damage done by untrained leaders may be the greatest expense of all.

4) Start an Antioch School program.  The Antioch School allows you to do things that most churches can’t do on their own.  Whether you think you have enough time or skills to focus on developing leaders, it is a biblical mandate and therefore must be a priority (2 Timothy 2:2).  We don’t pretend that it is easy to start and sustain an Antioch School program for your church, but it is do-able.  Unlike any option, it fits into and relies on ministry structures and mentoring relationships that God has already put in place in your church.   We find that many churches that use other training programs come to us later because they want something that is deeper, more extensive, bears academic credit and degrees, and/or has the unique features of BILD C-BTE resources (Biblical Theology orientation, Socratic discussion emphasis, in-service learning approach, etc.).

We don’t think you have a better option. 

So, how do you do it?  The BILD Leadership Series courses, as well as the Personal Development Assessment forms, are tremendously efficient tools.  Rather than start from scratch, you are able to use our tools to implement a comprehensive training program.  We make it possible for you to do what God has called you to do and what only you can do.

It probably will take some realignment of priorities for you as a church leader.  However, you don’t need to take the entire burden on yourself.   Even students may be able to help in a variety of ways.  For instance, you may have someone with administrative gifts who can help with the operation of the program.  You can implement a “buddy-system” so that students can hold each other accountable for doing their work.  Some students with teaching gifts can even share the load of leading the class sessions.

The Antioch School program put in place to train future leaders may actually mobilize leaders along the way, not just as the end product of the degree programs.  Now that is a wonderful irony! Reserve your spot in an upcoming eLuncheon to learn more about the Antioch School!

When is the eLunchon? 

When: eLuncheons are held weekly, typically on Monday and Tuesday.
Time: 12pm CDT

How do I signup? 

To reserve your spot in an upcoming eLuncheon, click on the button below:

Or click this link: http://antiochschool.webex.com

 

“Mentoring” at Starbucks?

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What is commonly called “ministry mentoring” often doesn’t amount to much more than an old man and a young man meeting at Starbucks to talk about whatever the old man really likes or really dislikes.  Don’t get me wrong, I think these sorts of conversations are an important dimension of the older mentoring the younger.  However, it falls far short of the biblically comprehensive mentoring to which we should aspire.

Over the years, I have heard many in theological education say that they recognize that more mentoring should be taking place in the church, but that church leaders just aren’t willing or ready to do it.  Bible colleges, seminaries, and other specialty ministries have risen up to try to fill the perceived lack of mentoring in the churches.  Yet, the fact remains that churches, church networks, and church planting are contexts which God designed for the mentoring of leaders.  Church leaders can indeed mentor existing and emerging leaders.  It is just a matter of them accepting their responsibility and leveraging the tools that God has given for this purpose.

When we say that BILD and the Antioch School support “biblically comprehensive mentoring,” we are not saying that our tools cover everything or do all things perfectly well.  We are saying that a fundamental orientation to the New Testament (particularly the Pauline Epistles) as tools for establishing churches and leaders is the key starting point.  Our Personal Development Assessment tools (particularly the Becoming Established and Life & Ministry Assessment tools) simply attempt to capture the things that are emphasized in the Epistles in a form that can be readily used by leaders to mentor others.   In this manner, it brings the mentoring very close to the biblical documents themselves.

We think that any student in a ministry training degree program of a theological education institution should have this sort of mentoring.  Thus, each Antioch School student is required to be mentored at least quarterly by those that God has already put into their lives for this purpose.  Our Leadership Series courses are great, but they are made even better when they are placed in the context of personal, vibrant, and “biblically comprehensive” mentoring . . . even if it takes place at Starbucks.

Here are some links to Antioch School resources to support you in mentoring:

What’s in a Name? “Church Planting”

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Why did we include the words “church planting” in our name?  The terms evoke a rich biblical metaphor that pictures the early stages of the Pauline local church establishing process that also includes watering and God generated growth.  In the fullest sense “church planting” points to the whole developmental process of starting, strengthening, and multiplying local churches as well as large-scale church planting movements.  This blog is the third in our occasional series that explains our name.

Our Lord is in the church planting business.  It’s His idea.  It’s His wise plan.  It’s His work for which He sends laborers into His field.  Evangelism and mission cannot be reduced to merely making converts or providing social relief and development.  Biblical evangelism and mission are primarily matters of planting strong churches and cultivating strong church planting networks.  We created the Antioch School as a practical tool to help local churches and church planting movements reproduce themselves in response to our Lord’s commission.  By including “church planting” in our name, we specified both what we believe to be the essence of the mission as well as what we hope to be the primary outcome of the Antioch School.

The Antioch School is not just an innovative way to do serious biblical studies or to get a credible theological degree.  Nor is it merely a home-grown way to train specialists for the initial stages of starting a church.  The Antioch School is a church-based way to equip both existing and emerging leaders for the work of strengthening a base church and also planting churches from that base.  It’s a tool to cultivate an expanding network of strong churches regionally and globally.  It’s a way to accelerate the large-scale church planning movements that God is using to renew the church in North America and to reach the Global South in our day.

To date, the Antioch School has been adopted by approximately 75% of the large-scale church planting movements in India as their primary tool for upper level leadership training to sustain and expand their movements.  It has similarly been adopted by hundreds of pioneer minded churches in North America in spite of the seeming hegemony of traditional theological schools.  The Antioch School is expanding exponentially and seriously driving the church-based paradigm of training the next generation of church planters in North America and beyond.  That’s why “church planting” is in our name!

Is it really distance education when the church is present?

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“Fifteen years ago, many academic leaders thought it was impossible for students to have truly meaningful community interaction in an online distance education environment.  Ironically, one of the biggest struggles today for many traditional campus professors is to keep their students off Facebook during class!”

This is the opening paragraph of “Social Presence in Online Learning,” my chapter in a new book called Best Practices of Online Education:  A Guide for Christian Education.  Edited by Mark A. Maddix, James R. Estep, and Mary E. Lowe. Published by Information Age (2012).

I was asked to write the chapter to describe the tremendous potential of online learning communities, but I went even farther to describe “situated learning” because I believe that truly church-based theological education programs of Antioch School partners are the best learning communities.

Here is my closing paragraph:  “In conclusion, it is clear that social presence is a crucial dimension of effective online learning.  This article has focused on how distance can be broken down in online learning and how presence can be supported and optimized in online and real life social contexts.  Hopefully the consideration of historical perspective, learning theory, and best practices (especially next best practices) can be used to stimulate improvement for weak programs and to strengthen programs that are already strong.”

Here are two excerpts from the chapter that were posted on the Distance-Educator.com website.

The first, called “Social Presence in Online Learning” describes the distance education context and learning theory.  The chapter goes into more detail on theological education in particular.

The second, called “Best Practices in Online Learning” describes best practices and what I call “next best practices” (things that aren’t being done widely, but should).  The chapter in the book also includes sections on common practices and worst practices.

One Practice That Makes a Huge Difference

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We are sometimes asked by our partners to identify the mission-critical elements of an Antioch School training process. What are those things, in our experience, which make the difference in whether a training program effectively develops leaders?

One critical practice we have identified is having students work on their Personal Development Plan early in the training.  This tool takes students through a series of exercises – a life planning arch – beginning broadly with a clear life-vision statement, then moving to details of a student’s gifting and responsibilities, and ending with a comprehensive plan for growth. Annual review and revision keeps the plan current and keeps students in a disciplined rhythm of self-evaluation.

Why is the Personal Development Plan so strategic?

  1. It integrates the training experience. The process prevents students from just focusing on a favored area of the training (such as the Leadership Series courses), helps them to identify measurable growth objectives in each sphere of life, and clarifies how various elements of the Antioch School training will help them accomplish those objectives.
  2. It encourages life-long learning. We tend to learn for a season and then plateau.  Rightly implemented this tool will help students develop habits of learning, assessment, adjustment, and continued learning – habits critical for a leader who needs to keep acquiring  wisdom over a life-time of ministry.
  3. It teaches students to assess priorities and to juggle all the necessary balls amidst the demands of ministry. Rather than being controlled by the tyranny of the urgent, students learn to invest time and energy in a balanced fashion that addresses needs within their personal walk, family, community, church, and broader ministry spheres.
  4. It gives our partners a tremendous resource as they implement training.  Partners are able to tailor-make practicums, adjust course projects, or assign mentors based on the unique needs of a student. They are better able to address shepherding issues that are specific to the student and recognized by the student.

When the Personal Development Plan is postponed or done hastily, we have found that students are more prone to approach the training in a merely academic fashion.  The elements of the training become fragmented rather than seen in relation to each other.  Many benefits of carrying out training in the context of ministry are muted. Done rightly, the Personal Development Plan will help your training process be truly holistic rather than one dimensional.

Ideally, we suggest that you take students through the Personal Development Plan within the first few weeks of launching an Antioch School program.  During initial training you receive a First Term Scenario which depicts how this can be done.  If you are well past the start of your program, you can activate this tool in an intense, focused period such as a weekend retreat. Please note also that we provide an online manual and a reoccurring e-Workshop that you can tap for insight on creating an effective Personal Development Plan.

We are confident that as you implement this piece of your Antioch School training process, you will see how the Personal Development Plan powerfully links every element of the training experience to the needs of the student.  It will ultimately help the whole training have an impact that is greater than the sum of the parts.

Serving an Urban Center: Interview with Emory Brown

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Emory Brown is Pastor of Refreshing Springs Church in Buffalo, NY, but he also leads the BILD effort to provide church-based theological education for the entire city of Buffalo. In many ways, Emory is ahead of the curve. He has explored many things in life and ministry preparation, but found satisfaction when his own development became truly rooted in his own church. This video allows Emory to tell his own story, explain his perspective, and offer thoughts related to what it means to do church-based theological education for the entire church of Buffalo.

Emory is not trying to build a campus for a traditional Bible college or seminary and he is not even trying to start a Buffalo extension site of the Antioch School. Rather, along with Larry Wolf and the Sundoulos ministry team, he is trying to establish a resource center as part of his church that will help church leaders be equipped to build church-based theological education in their own churches and church networks. His vision never loses sight of the centrality of churches and church leaders in the training of their existing and emerging leaders.

If you are in the Buffalo area (extended from Erie, PA to Syracuse, NY) or just want to explore more about something you see in the video, you may email Emory.

If you have a similar vision for your urban center, please send us an email.

Interview with Caleb Keller, SIMA Professional

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Caleb Keller is a SIMA® professional who specializes in service to Antioch School students. In this video, he addresses issues like “What is SIMA and a SIMA MAP?” “Why is it so important?” “How do I start?” “What are other Antioch School students saying about it?” “How have you personally benefitted from it?” and “What other advice do you have for Antioch School students?”

“Experience development that is focused sharply on you” is one of the lines that used in advertising the Antioch School.  This may be manifested best in the central role of the SIMA Motivated Abilities Pattern (MAP) in Antioch School degree programs.  However, because this is not the sort of thing that is common in theological education, some church partners and students struggle to use it.

The SIMA MAP is an analytical tool that helps you (and those in your God-given learning community) to understand how God has made you. We list it first on the portfolio transcripts of all Antioch School degree programs because it is such a fantastic starting point and foundational dimension of church-based theological education. Antioch School degrees are not just academic programs using BILD’s Leadership Series courses, but life and ministry development programs using a variety of resources. Even the experience with BILD’s Leadership Series courses is made richer by students having a deep understanding of how God has made them and how they fit into the life and ministry contexts God has given to them.

Some partners don’t offer Leadership Series courses during the summer. However, summer is a great time to address some of the Life and Ministry Development parts of an Antioch School program. If your students haven’t yet completed the Autobiographical Form (or a SIMA MAP Response), strongly encourage them to use the summer to do so. You may even want to call a special meeting or have a few special classes that help them move forward as a cohort. Please note that we take this so seriously that students may be placed on academic probation if they have been enrolled for more than a year without making initial progress on their SIMA MAP Responses.