If in two field ed courses you could introduce 12 topics (six per course) for children and family‘s pastors, what would those topics be? Or at least what would you think absolutely must be included in those topics?
Imagine being asked this - how would you feel? I can tell you I was and am very excited. It's an amazing opportunity to possibly influence the development of a training opportunity for Children & Family Pastors / Leaders / Workers. As you can imagine I took hold of this chance with both hands. And here's what I've just sent in response with special thanks to Rosalea Cameron, Kathy Eddie, Amanda Mitchell, Viona Schulz and Kathryn Smith for their input and thoughts. The fantastic thing about all this input was how similar all our lists were.
But please don't ask me where this course is being developed because I'm not allowed to tell you yet. I will tell you as soon as I can
Blessings
Pastor Pete
Topic | Covering ... |
Leadership / Mentoring others / partnership / team building | What does it mean to be a leader? Leadership styles and which are most effective in different contexts. Team building - stages of team building, how to deal with the stages, e.g. conflict. How to recruit, develop and work with a team of volunteers. |
Administration | Legal issues of child protection, disclosure etc., OSH; Writing & review of safety policies etc. Keeping rolls, recording leaders and children details etc |
Reflective Practice | Using professional frameworks that give insight to the reciprocal nature of our interactions. |
Strategic Planning | Developing and implementing vision |
Pedagogy | Basic pedagogy Working with children, Teaching (preaching) techniques, Working with special needs, disabilities, mental illness etc |
Theological basis for ministry to children and the family. | Including a focus on the need for transformational learning |
Prayer and worship | Introducing children to prayer and teaching children to pray Prayer during home visitation Personal prayer life as an essential element of pastoral care The importance of praying for the children and your team Teaching children to worship |
Child Development | Developmental stages Child psychology Spiritual development of children What a child can comprehend at each stage and the implications when planning activities, programmes, teaching biblical principles and spiritual truths. |
Learning styles of children | Practical opportunities to design specific lessons using each of the different learning styles; Practical opportunity to evaluate learning based upon the range of learning styles |
Evangelism | How to evangelise children Nurturing the faith of children Discipleship |
Ministry development including curriculum, resources | Mapping ministry rather than planning programs (How to really consider and reflect on how best to meet ministry goals and how that might affect the volunteers required to run it, including whether people in the church's demographic can realistically be asked to give that much (do we destroy families to create "church"?) Developing the skills to evaluate/adapt/design curriculum, resources etc designed specifically for the unique needs of a local setting Practical experience through attachment to a CEC Chaplain or as part of a Bible In Schools type programme |
The family context | What to do in visitation etc Ministry to children in the context of the family. How to support families as they disciple their children. |
