Saturday 29 December 2018

Equpping the Whole Person in Mission Training


IMTN   A conversation of trainers that leads to action
Bulletin 1                                                                                       January 2015
Equipping the whole person
Ruth M Wall PhD

Welcome to our first IMTN bulletin  

The aim of the bulletin is to stimulate conversation between mission trainers around the world.  It is an urgent - and massive - task today to equip the church for mission. Today the global church is sending out unprecedented numbers of its members across the cultures to bear witness to Jesus Christ.  Yet what kind of preparation is given and what kind of impact is this mass movement having on receiving churches, on sending churches and on those who are going?

The scale of the challenge can result in expedient training solutions.  We have to do something so let’s do what we can (pragmatic) with the resources we have (feasibility).  But expedient solutions may not be the most fruitful.   Mission trainers need to think critically – and we need to think together- about best practices in preparing men and women for crossing the cultures.   

To start our engagement in critical reflection this bulletin will focus on the issue of equipping the whole person.   Effective ministry requires more than knowing information and more than knowing how to apply that information in other contexts.  Effective ministry also requires mature and godly emotions and the ability to relate to God, to self and to others in ways that are healthy and resilient.  
Examining the ‘head-heart-hands’ of mission training

For several decades the popular mission training slogan, ‘head-heart-hands’ with its alternative ‘knowing-being-doing’ has been used to summarise whole person learning. Take a look at the websites and brochures of many mission training institutions around the world and they will present this slogan as their ethos for training. [1]  But what does head-heart-hands really mean and is this triplet a useful or adequate description for the kind of whole person learning so essential in Christian mission training?   

The ‘head-heart-hands/know-be-do’ motif neatly signifies three domains of learning that were described in the 1950s and 1960s by Benjamin Bloom.  He conceived learning in three domains that he described as cognitive, affective and psychomotor. The cognitive domain refers to developing knowledge, the affective domain refers to attitudes and psychomotor refers to skills.  Importantly, Bloom’s taxonomy was developed in the context of Western academic institutions.[2]

Mission trainers recognise that preparation for mission is not solely a cognitive process leading to knowledge acquisition but must also include the development of right attitudes and appropriate skills.   So the ‘head-heart-hand/ know-be-do’ appears to be a helpful way for mission trainers to design training that equips people with appropriate knowledge, attitudes and skills.  However, there are two significant problems with this understanding of learning.

Firstly, the ‘head-heart-hand/ know-be-do’ motif ignores a crucial social dimension of learning.  Understanding about learning has developed since the 1950s and 60s and educators now recognise that all learning is both situated (cannot take place in a vacuum) and a social process.  The social dimension of learning is essential not only to understand whole person learning but also, in the context of Christian discipleship and mission training because missionaries’ ability to relate is crucial.  
  
Secondly, the ‘head-heart-hands/ know-be-do’ over emphasises the cognitive (thinking) dimension of learning. Knowledge and skills are essentially both cognitive processes. Therefore, if educators use the ‘head-heart-hands/ know-be-do’ slogan to guide their training design they are likely to emphasis the cognitive.  It is also much easier to measure and test the cognitive (knowledge development and skills abilities) so training is skewed towards ‘knowing and doing’ with less attention to emotions and no explicit attention to the social dimension. 

Reconceptualising whole person learning: H3

Therefore, I suggest that ‘head- heart-hands/know-be-do’ as it has been understood is not an adequate description of whole person learning and needs to be reconceptualised if it is to be helpful in informing mission training.

We need to move on from Bloom and find alternative ways to conceive learning.  Knud Illeris is a Danish professor of adult education.  He defines learning as: ‘an entity which unites a cognitive, an emotional and a social dimension into one whole[3] (Illeris, 2002, p.227). 
Using this view of learning I offer a reconceptualization of ‘head-heart-hands’ where ‘head’ signifies cognition/thinking (knowing and doing), ‘heart’ signifies emotion (feeling/attitudes), and ‘hand’ signifies relating.   This is shown in figure 1 below.

Interaction
                                                                              Acquisition 
Cognition (knowing and doing) = Head                                        Emotion (feelings/attitude) = Heart                                                  
                                                         ______________________________
                                                                            

                                                                               
                                                              Social (relating) = Hands          

Figure 1: Reconceptualising head-heart-hands, adapted from Illeris, 2002                               
                                                                                 
Furthermore, Illeris[4]  conceives learning as a two-dimensional process of acquisition and interaction.  The three dimensions of learning: cognitive, emotional and social, are developed through an acquisition process interacting with others.   These ideas of learning have informed my research in mission training and shaped the way I think about course designs. [5]
 
Over the last decade I have introduced the symbol H3 to represent whole person learning.  In this symbol the H signifies head-heart-hands (thinking-emotions-relating) and the superscripted 3 denotes the possibility of whole person learning (holistic learning) when these three dimensions are addressed together.  My research has found that transformation may be possible when there is integration of our thinking, our emotions and our relationships. 

H3 and its implications for mission training

Adopting the ideas of H3 may helpfully inform how we design mission training. Firstly, it can enable trainers to give attention to nurturing the learners’ emotional and relational development.  Trainers mostly focus on the information content of the curriculum but to foster whole person learning trainers will need to consider different kinds of questions.  For example, how will the learners’ emotions be engaged in the learning?  What kinds of learning tasks connect thinking and emotions?  How will emotions be challenged? How will emotions be supported?  How will relationships be nurtured?  How will learning strengthen relating with God, with self and with others? What kind of learning tasks foster relationships? 

Finally, Illeris’s two learning processes of acquisition and interaction are a helpful way for us to talk about two crucial aspects of mission training namely, learning to learn and learning to relate.  The acquisition process concerns how we learn and the interaction process concerns how we relate. Being able to learn and being able to relate are essential in Christian mission.  Being able to learn and being able to relate are indivisible and together represent the process of whole person learning. 
Now let’s share ideas!  How can we design training that will address these and other questions arising from the whole person learning? 


Ruth Wall is a mission trainer at All Nations Christian College, UK


[1]                      For example, see All Nations website: www.allnations.ac.uk
[2]                      Today we better understand ways in which Bloom’s three domains are culturally shaped.
[4]                      Illeris, K. 2014. Transformative Learning and Identity. Abingdon: Routledge 
[5]                      Wall, R. 2015. Preparing adults for crossing cultures. PhD Thesis. London,  p.171

NEMI 2018 Graduation Ceremony



Nigeria Evangelical Missionary Institute (NEMI)















2018 GRADUATION CEREMONY

As part of its custom, the Nigeria Evangelical Missionary Institute holds graduation/convocation ceremony for her graduates every two years. The 2018 graduation ceremony may have come and gone, but the lessons will remain relevant and evergreen in the lives of the graduates and participants alike. The graduation took place at the school’s premises. One distinguishing feature of this year’s event was that the 29 graduates were commissioned and sent to occupy for the Lord as missionaries to the nations. This was witnessed by a wide array of dignitaries, friends and families and was duly covered by about five media houses in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. The occasion was under the chairmanship of Rev. Stephen Panya Baba who was represented by his special Assistant (SA), Rev. Dr. Elijah Ipole.

Speaking on the occasion, the chairman congratulated the graduates for attaining such a wonderful feat in life and urged them to use the training to follow the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ at all times. He charged them to go into the world in order to transform its darkness into light, adding that the coming of missionaries to Africa in general and Nigeria in particular has transformed people from darkness into God’s marvelous light. Speaking on some of the challenges facing the school, he told the management that they would not abandon the institute since it is a child it gave birth to because ECWA as a denomination is one of the founding fathers of the school. He further affirmed the partnership of the denomination to the school by playing its fatherly role as it should. He thus used these and many more words in encouraging the school’s management not to relent in this daunting, yet rewarding task in view of the number of missionaries the school has churned out over the years.

Also speaking at the occasion, the Guest Speaker, Rev. Dr. Jim Piomoki Stephens called on the graduates to remain steadfast in the grace of God that brought them to NEMI, adding that they would also need God’s grace to sustain them, especially now that they were expected to go into full missionary practice. He further told them that what God invested in them is not for their personal consumption alone, but for them to use in mentoring others. Hence, he challenged them to equally live lives of daily relationship with the Holy Spirit, and to have a deep devotion with God.
Also in his remark, the school’s Principal, Pastor Samuel Olatunbi alluded to the fact that whatever success they might have achieved as a school in preparing foot soldiers of Christ for the expansion of His reign in the nations was largely due to consistent prayer and solid financial backing, adding that the institution is however in urgent need for the renovation of staff quarters and students’ hostel, more classroom blocks, a new female hostel, a multipurpose school hall as well as accreditation and/or affiliation with a reputable institution. He advised the graduates to uphold the teaching of the institution and be good ambassadors of Christ wherever they find themselves as missionaries despite the challenges that may confront them in the process of doing so.

Other highlights of the event was the prayer and commissioning of graduates led by the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association (NEMA), Uncle Mike Adegbile; presentation of certificates to graduates, awards to deserving students and outgoing Board members of the school, goodwill messages, joyful celebrations by families and friends of the graduates, etc. To God be the glory.

Wednesday 26 June 2013

GREETINGS FROM NEMI

As a stakeholder in the life of NEMI. Thank you for your partnership in praying and giving. Sixteen missionary trainees are currently on third month cross-cultural ministry placement across various fields in Kogi State, Niger State, Kaduna State and Taraba State.

Please, pray for them to master the cultures. Pray also for wisdom  for trainers.

Thank You
Sam Olatunbi

Friday 23 November 2012

UPDATE ON TENT MAKING 2012 @ NEMI



TENT MAKING 2012
Cross-cultural Training for Christian Professionals

Tent making 2012, Cross cultural training for Christian professionals held at NEMI from November 4th to 10th 2012, first of its kind in our area, was tremendously impactful. Total number of participants was 34 comprising invitees from various organizations within Jos and its neigbouring states, as well as NEMI students. Among them were 2 nurses; a medical doctor; an accountant; pastors; teachers; and missionaries.

Monday 22 October 2012

TENT MAKING TRAINING IN NEMI THIS NOVEMBER

TENT MAKING TRAINING FOR CHRISTIAN PROFESSIONALS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE IS HOLDING AS SCHEDULED:

Date: November 4 - 10, 2012
Venue: NEMI Campus, Mista Ali along Zaria Road Jos, 
Plateau State.
Subsidized Registration: N4,000 it covers workshop materials and lunch only.

Partial Listing of Courses to be taken includes: Tent making Biblical Basis; Business As Mission (BAM); Workplace Evangelism; International Job Market; Cross-Cultural Communications; etc.

Tuesday 11 September 2012

NEMI IS RE-POSITIONED TO HELP IN REALIZING YOUR BIGGEST DREAMS


NEMI is Re-positioned to help in Realizing Your Biggest Dreams


Is the call of God evident in your life? Are you seeking to be well equipped to serve the Master? Will you like to gain appropriate know-how on reaching people of different cultures?

Are you willing to move from being a casual observer to becoming an active participant as God’s Change Agent in a world turned down?

Nigeria Evangelical Missionary Institute (NEMI) will help you with right answers to these pertinent questions.

Equpping the Whole Person in Mission Training

IMTN    A conversation of trainers that leads to action Bulletin 1                                                                    ...