Seminars are not enough! The Need for Follow-up Mentoring
Seminars are not enough! The Need for Follow-up Mentoring
(Continuing reflections on the book Breaking Tradition to Accomplish Vision by Paul R. Gupta and Sherwood G. Lingenfelter.)
Sherwood Lingenfelter writes:
“The weakness of informal teaching and learning lies predominantly in its ad hoc nature. Because it is learning on demand, the students and trainers engage in brief encounters that lack continuity and feedback. The trainer shares as much information on a topic as possible in a very short, intense seminar. However learners rarely take home more than half of what was taught. When they return to ministry, they still face the challenge of applying what they remember to everyday life and work (p. 154-155).”
This has been a growing concern of mine as we continue to do seminars with the MCPI. Even though we have all of the seminar participants develop an action plan based upon what they have learned and identify a person to whom they can be accountable to carry out that plan we have no idea or method of receiving feedback to see if indeed they are following through with their plan.
I know from my own experience that often I would attend a seminar, come home with a nice notebook filled with good material and promptly put it on my shelf with all of the other notebooks from previous seminars. Then the pressures of ministry would come upon me and I would soon forget about what I had learned.
Is this what is happening in Africa as well? In Kenya, we have many who come from the West and perhaps elsewhere and put on seminars for pastors and then leave with no visible or viable plan for follow-up. To me, this may result in a lot of wasted time and resources. Those who come for their “drive by” teachings may feel good about the exercise but I have doubts about the long term results.
We at the MCPI do not want to go down the same path. Therefore, we are developing a mentoring network so that those who receive training will also be able to receive guidance, support and encouragement as they seek to put what they have learned into practice in their ministries.
We are calling it the Barnabas Accountability and Mentoring! Network. Or BAM! Network for short.
Contact us if you want more information about it. Or if you have suggestions. It is a work in progress!
This is a great idea, Dad! In my class on development one of the weaknesses we have talked about is that once people leave, there is no follow up and everything falls apart. It’s encouraging to see that MCPI is recognizing and addressing a potential problem, and I’m looking forward to hearing more about this!