Classroom Instruction and Mentoring Compared

Copyright© 2009 by George Patterson and Galen Currah
May be copied and published freely.

 

Four urgent reasons to compare classroom with extension training includethese:

1.   In order to enablechurches to multiply in a normal, biblical way, and to do all the ministriesthat the New Testament requires of a church, fields without churches andexperienced leaders normally need some kind of extension training that includesmentoring for new pastors and cell leaders.

2.   The comparison inthis document shows why top educators seek an effective ratio between classroomand mentoring. This ratio varies as churches mature. To multiply churches orcells effectively, wise trainers use both methods.

Keep an EdifyingRatio
Between both Kinds of Education

3.   Both methods canimpart the inspired Word, prepare leaders and exalt Christ. Both methods can proveto be essential, depending on current circumstances and the levels ofdevelopment of churches and pastoral students.

4.   Traditionaltheological education often exalts lecture so much that it overlooks mentoring,even when mentoring is sorely needed. Some educators lack experience inmentoring in the way Jesus and His apostles practiced it. This document createsawareness of the need to use both training methods.

Extension Training. Mentoring newleaders is time-consuming. Paul mentored Timothy and Titus by spending muchtime with them and giving them fatherly care. When they matured in the faithand outgrew their need for such intensive care, Paul left them in key cities totrain other leaders. They passed on what they had learned from Paul to newerleaders. Just as newborn babies need much personal attention, new leaders andnew churches need mentoring until they are doing what the New Testamentrequires for them.

Classroom Training. Classroom teachingis time-effective in that an instructor can teach more people at a time. Itworks well for mature leaders who no longer need intensive care, and whoseflocks are already doing the things the New Testament requires of a church. Fewchurches ever reach this level of maturity without receiving some mentoringfrom an experienced pastor or instructor.

Extension Training. Location is notimportant as long as participants maintain two-way communication.

Classroom Training. Teachers oftendeal with a large group of students and prefer a classroom designed for one-waycommunication.

Extension Training. Trainees form acircle or some other arrangement that allows good interaction. When modelingskills, participants walk or ride together, or they sit around a table as atthe Last Supper.

Classroom Training. Students often allface the same way, seeing mainly the backs of other students? heads.

Extension Training. Where mentoring isthe primary method of training new leaders, such as among those who use TrainAnd Multiply® or Paul-Timothystudies, sessions are held less frequently, and students do more reading andfieldwork between sessions. Sometimes, mentoring sessions are held every twoweeks or so. Participants who lead very new churches meet more often, and thosewho live far away, or for whom transportation is difficult, meet less often.

Classroom Training.Classesare often held daily for regular students in institutional degree programs. Ina particular academic course, sessions are commonly held two or three times aweek.

Extension Training. Mentoring haslimited acceptance as a vital part of Evangelical theological education.Relatively few educators mentor in a disciplined way or teach the value of mentoring.Fortunately, a healthy trend is moving toward mentoring the way Jesus and Hisapostles practiced it. Observation reveals that in movements where churchesmultiply, someone mentors new leaders in some way, often informally, as needarises.

Classroom Training. For trainingmature leaders, classroom instruction is normally accepted as the main method.

Extension Training. Instructors trainpotential leaders who meet biblical qualifications for ?elders? who arespiritually mature and who, for example, keep their children in order. Instructorsnormally do not add prerequisites to biblical requirements, lest they denypastoral training to some to whom God has given the pastoral gift. Normally, amentor?s trainees lead a flock of some kind or have a definite, currentministry. In a pioneer field, a flock may begin with one?s family and grow intoa church or cell. Trainees put into practice immediately, with theirflock or ministry group, what their instructors help them plan and prepare.

Classroom Training. Often, intraditional Bible Institutes in mission fields, educators enroll single youngpeople who are not proven in service and, thus fail to meet a biblicalrequirement for a shepherding elder. They are not mature enough to start achurch or lead a group that includes mature heads of families. Graduates becomepastors, because they have studied a certain number of years for a diploma thataffirms little more than that they could repeat memorized material forexaminations.

ExtensionTraining.Instructors keep their training sessions small enough to listen and respond toeach trainee. They help each one plan what his flock will do the next fewweeks. Christ occasionally took three of the twelve apart for special counsel.

Classroom Training. Teachers normallyseek larger classes. Floor space sometimes determines class size rather than effectivelearning dynamics.

Extension Training. Trainers continuementoring until new leaders and churches no longer need it. The interaction istoo time-consuming to continue indefinitely. Christ phased out of training thetwelve, as Paul did with Titus whom he left in Crete to instruct others (Titus1:5). Paul also left Timothy in Ephesus to do the same (2 Tim. 2:2). Once aleader can carry on ministry without a mentor?s help, or once a church isfunctioning well, mentors phase out their personal interaction. Furthertraining may take the form of lectures or workshops. Mentoring may be resumedto deal with a special need such as a change in ministry, or a personalsituation such as when Paul wrote Philemon, a house church leader, about amatter of slavery.

Classroom Training. Degree and courserequirements, class schedules and semester calendars determine the duration ofthe teaching, often without reference to the maturity of a student?s church orministry development.

Extension Training. A good mentorshows loving care and interest for each trainee. Paul shed tears for newleaders in training (Acts 20:31).

Classroom Training.Aninstructor?s main concern is normally less personal, focusing on how wellstudents grasp subject matter.

Extension Training. As seen amongJesus? disciples and in Paul?s apostolic bands, wise instructors enableinteraction between trainees who serve one another and participate together inministry. Students should not work alone. They should travel by twos or insmall groups to minister while they learn.

Classroom Training. Instructors giveonly minor attention to interactive conversation except for occasionalquestions, special events and to keep order.

Extension Training. Instructors trainleaders as part of normal church life. After Pentecost, leaders trained newleaders while raising up and shepherding congregations. Apostolic bands trainednew workers while traveling to sow the seed in new areas. Wherever the apostlesmade disciples, churches multiplied. Students can lead cells that are littlechurches within bigger ones. In New Testament times, churches met in homes andwere part of an interactive, citywide ?church? that was a network of tiny housechurches or cells.

Classroom Training. Education easilybecomes ingrown and lacks balance, when instructors teach in an institutionisolated from the rest of the Body of Christ. Even when held in a churchbuilding, classroom teaching can be quite disconnected from the life of churchmembers.

Extension Training. Instructors keepnew leaders in touch with current events that affect their work. John theBaptist?s imprisonment and death, for example, profoundly affected Jesus?disciples. Paul?s companions were constantly affected by community events suchas the riot in Ephesus. Instructors make sure that their students? deal immediatelywith community matters that relate to their faith and morals.

Classroom Training. Traditionalinstructors often shield students from outside influences. Thus,pastors-in-training have little or no involvement with outside society, andprepare only for ministry in the far future, often with only a vague idea of howthey will apply God?s Word.

Extension Training. A trainer?s imageof a leader-in-training includes hands to serve, feet to spread the gospel andheart to obey Jesus in love, that is, a balanced body. Instructors considertrainees to be ?student-workers? or ?apprentice pastors? who serve in aministry from the beginning of their training. Instructors help trainees takeon more and more responsibility, as Paul did, while they grow in knowledge andskill.

Classroom Training. Traditional BibleInstitutes and seminaries often give more attention to scholarship. Instructorsexpect their trainees to be good students, but not necessarily servant-leaders.Teaching sometimes aims exclusively at students? ears and brains.

Extension Training. Mentoring can be doneinformally and spontaneously, or in a highly formal manner with scheduledsessions and policies as firmly structured as those of classroom training. Tolabel mentoring or extension training always as ?non-formal? gives an erroneousimpression.

In some extension programs, pastors receiveformal training by being mentored for two or three years, or until theirchurches are doing all the ministries that the New Testament requires.Instructors sometimes consult a menu of core modules focusing onessential church activities, choosing subjects in any order that a new churchneeds them. A mentor can use such a menu to monitor both the student?s and hischurch?s progress, and can award certificates for specified levels of churchdevelopment.

Some instructors prefer the term ?coaching?to the word ?mentoring.? Both words imply hands-on training. Jesus and Paul didnot train new leaders in the same way they taught the public. Once Jesus taughtthe crowds by the sea where His classroom was a beach and his platform was aboat. However, immediately afterwards, he mentored a smaller group of newleaders on a hill they climbed and where he sat with them to converse.

Some educators have assumed that thatmentoring is for students who have a problem, or only to be an occasional,unscheduled chat in a teacher?s office or in a hallway. The fact that mentoringemphasizes immediate, practical application of what one learns should not leadanyone to assume that mentoring must be less formal than classroom instruction.

Classroom Training. Formality isconsistent; classrooms and degrees require a formal, fixed approach toeducation. More emphasis is put on cognitive content and standard examinationsthan on application in an actual church or cell.

Extension Training. Participants tryto serve in harmony as a team or interactive body, as Scripture requires in 1Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4:11-16. A mentor serves those who have other spiritual gifts while they serve him. Normally instructorswork closely with a church or network of churches, or an educational arm of thechurches or mission agency focused on churches.

Classroom Training. Educators are organizedin departments for the sake of specialization. Imbalance can occur if theyisolate their teaching from other New Testament ministries, or if they isolatetheir educational institution from churches.

Extension Training. Instructors seekto help the congregations that provide an arena for training leaders. In NewTestament times, churches sent out apostles to make disciples in neglectedareas, training the new leaders in the process. Their pastoral trainingcurriculum was integrated with dynamic church life.

Classroom Training. Churchparticipation in a seminary or Bible Institute?s classroom training is usuallynil or perfunctory, especially if educators ask pastors merely to recommend atheological student. Educators also weaken their students? application ofmaterial, if they wait too long to implement internships with a church.

Extension Training. Educators viewteam ministry as the New Testament norm, not merely an option. Every passagethat describes how to use spiritual gifts requires cooperation. Trainers askother mentors to help students with special needs. A trainer and students serveas a team. Teams are temporary and task-focused, not permanent; no permanentapostolic team appears in the New Testament.

Classroom Training. Instructors seldomteach as a team, and seldom require teamwork by students as they preparelessons or do ministry.

Extension Training. Educatorsrecognize pastoral or evangelistic achievement. Assessment of learning dependsmainly on results in ministry. Teaching is said to have been good only if thestudents do good ministry. Paul the apostle did not rely on writtencredentials; neither did he condemn them.

Classroom Training. Instructors praisestudents who do well on tests and acknowledge achievement with diplomas,degrees, certificates or public honors.

Extension Training. Instructors helpstudents to aim for effective service for Christ and His church by obeying Himin love (John 14:15; Heb. 13:17).

Classroom Training. Instructors urgestudents to aim for good grades and, although inadvertently, to compete forhonors. Competition can also lead to rivalry, which is listed in Scripture as awicked work of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21).

Extension Training. Educators normallyare not concerned with professional credentials. Field practitioners who valueresults higher than formal credentials seek first to recognize skillacquisition.

Classroom Training. Institutionalrecognition opens doors for paid positions by conferring credentials that arewidely accepted. Mentoring, even when producing excellent results, often goesunrecognized by educational institutions.

Extension Training. Instructors aimfor the same results as the apostles had; wherever the apostles mentored newleaders, churches multiplied.

Classroom Training. Educators oftenaim for such ideals as academic excellence, increased enrollment, growth of theinstitution and its positive image.

Extension Training. Student-leaderscommit to shepherding a ministry from the outset of their training. Theyshepherd at least their own families, often forming the core of a new cellgroup or church. Mentors require them to have a ministry from the beginning,but only require that they do what their level of training allows. For example,students may not preach sermons while still taking child?s steps as newleaders.

Classroom Training. Students normallycommit themselves consciously to completing units of study or a degree program.In some programs, they commit to internships that are quite disconnected fromclassroom learning.

Extension Training. Instructors listenor in some other way learn first what a student is doing with his church orpeople, to detect current needs and ministry opportunities. Mentoring includesmodeling the corresponding skills. Wise trainers integrate fieldwork withteaching the Word, history, doctrine and other relevant disciplines. A wisementor also works in cooperation with other instructors who have skills inareas that he lacks. Mentors help students plan activities for their churchesor ministry groups, and hold them accountable to follow through.

Classroom Training. Teachers aregenerally more committed to preparing thoroughly their lessons, assign amplereading that is relevant to the subject, and communicate in a way that ensuresunderstanding. They feel satisfied when their students get good grades.

Extension Training. Inexperiencedleaders benefit greatly from mentoring. Also, extension training isparticularly useful for those who have responsibilities that hinder studyingfull time, who are making a career change or who are launching a ministry orproject for which they lack experience.

Classroom Training. Institutionaleducation is most effective for those who require mastery of vast amounts ofsystematic knowledge.

Extension Training. Training newleaders by mentoring is more common in newer mission fields where movementsof church reproduction take place spontaneously, without extensive financialhelp and control from outsiders, also in churches in which small groupsreproduce spontaneously. A fervent faith in Christ, awareness of the work ofthe Holy Spirit in people?s lives, and devotion to the Word of God almostuniversally characterize such movements. Mentoring in such contexts has analmost universal record of raising up faithful, Christ-centered teachers whoare filled with the Holy Spirit. In such movements, the only common falsedoctrine is legalism, which is characteristic of such church planting movementsno matter how new leaders are trained, because appreciation of God?s gracerequires a degree of maturity and a working knowledge of His Word. In animisticcultures, it also takes time to abandon fetishes and superstitions, but no moretime than what is common under traditionally trained leaders.

Classroom Training. Historically,traditional, academic, theological institutions have bred far more falsedoctrines that are non-biblical, excessively rationalistic, and dishonoring toChrist. In some countries, few seminaries teach the authority of the Word ofGod and fail to focus strongly on Jesus Christ. Especially in older seminariesand Christian colleges, teachers often spend much of their time correcting theerrors of the previous genera­tion of professors.

Extension Training. Good extensioninstructors evaluate leaders from their churches? view. Instructors considerstudents to be leaders only if those students lead others. Simply teaching isnot leading. A leader must move people from one point to another. This movementincludes growth in Christ-like character and a corresponding increase inministry involvement, serving others in a practical way. Good leaders initiateand continually improve the ministries that the New Testament requires of achurch, and bring a high percentage of the members of a congregation intoactive service.

Classroom Training. Students whoreceive only classroom instruction often confuse leading with merely teaching. Thereforethey lead few people in their churches into active ministry.

Extension Training. Where the greatestneed is to multiply churches or cells, instructors train in a way that newstudent-workers can imitate and pass on at once, training others who trainothers also. Jesus commanded His disciples to do only what they had seen Him dofirst in a way that they could easily imitate. Paul told the Corinthians to beimitators of him as he imitated Christ (1 Cor. 11.1). He trained Timothy andTitus in a chain reaction; one trained others who immediately began trainingstill others (2 Tim. 2:2; Tit. 1:5). New leaders should begin almost from thebeginning to train newer leaders in newer churches or cells. Jethro advisedMoses in Exodus 18 along similar lines. Wise mentors ?lower? theologicaleducation standards until they are simply biblical enough to enablehealthy churches and cells to multiply.

Classroom Training. Multiplication inthe 2 Timothy 2:2 sense is seldom a conscious purpose of one?s teaching. Thus,institutional training almost never integrates instruction with church multiplication,and often causes unhealthy, sterile churches as a result.

Extension Training. For politicalreasons, roughly one-third of the world?s population has little or no access toinstitutional, pastoral training, so trainers must mentor them in secret.

Classroom Training. Institutionaltheological education adapts better to the following conditions. 1) Sufficientaffluence to build campuses and pay salaries and tuition. 2) High enough studenteducational level to assimilate intensive input. 3) Enough well-established,well-financed churches to employ and benefit from professionally-trainedclergy.

Extension Training. Mentoring newleaders is not usually a profitable source of income for instructors.Instructors rarely view mentoring by itself as a professional vocation; rather theyregard it as one of several duties required of leaders by the New Testament.Pastors trained by mentoring normally consider mentoring newer pastors to be anormal, biblical, pastoral duty, the same as preaching, giving member care orserv­ing Communion, for which they charge no fee.

Classroom Training. Because instructorsoften view teaching as the main duty of a salaried Christian leader, manyconsider teaching to be a viable source of income.

Extension Training. Instructors aimfor pastors or shepherding elders to take the main responsibility andinitiative to train new leaders, including ?apostles? who extend the movementinto neglected areas (Eph. 4:11-12). A mission agency or educational programmay provide guidelines, tools and some instructors, but should not take theprimary training responsibility away from pastors.

Classroom Training. Faculty members ofa traditional educational institution tend to assume the main responsibilityfor preparing mature Christian leaders. Sometimes Bible Institute and seminaryfaculty members lack pastoral gifting, and therefore produce preachers that arenot pastors. Their students teach well but do not shepherd their flocks byleading them into the gift-based ministries required by the New Testament.

6a. Criteria forUsing Technology to Communicate:

Extension Training. Mentors modelpastoral skills and other activities that new leaders can imitate and model forothers, using only equipment that is available to trainees. Rapid churchmultiplication requires a ?light baton.? Especially when training workers for apioneer field, instructors use only those equipment and materials that providean affordable and reproducible model.

Classroom Training. For trainingmature leaders, instructors often seek the latest and highest technology thatbudgets allow. The primary concern for selecting equipment is effectiveclassroom communication, usually without considering whether the method istransferable to others in the students? future ministry field.

Extension Training. Instructorsemphasize modeling on-the-job pastoral skills, discipline and character. Theyrespond at once to students? ministry needs and oppor­tunities, by observing,listening, encouraging and demonstrating skills. Such demon­stration, if notpossible in a church context, can take the form of role-plays. Jesus did notsimply lecture, and did not teach leaders-in-training what they could learn forthemselves. For example, He answered questions with questions such as ?What doyou read in the Law?? Interaction is evident in much of Jesus? teaching, as He respondedto questions and comments. Such interaction between instructor and student isespecially important, if the student?s ministry or church is new.

Classroom Training. While lecturing,instructors do not normally encourage much interaction with or betweenstudents. Consequently, students lecture in their churches.

Extension Training. Training includes themodeling of skills and the holding of discussion sessions. In discussionsessions instructors normally do six things.

1.   Pray for guidance.

2.   Listen to each student?sreport on work done and the condition of those whom they are mentoring,pastoring, discipling or serving in some other way.

3.   Plan. Normally, astudent?s plans flow from his report as the instructors asks him what he plansto do with the people he is serving and ? often more importantly ? what those folkswill do. Plans are usually specific things to be done in the next week or two.Mentors often consult a menu that lists ministry options to facilitateplanning.

4.   Review studies completed.

5.   Assign new studies.Normally these correspond to a student?s plans.

6.   Pray for power to carryout the specific plans.

Classroom Training. Research andsubject mastery, lesson objectives, organization of material and choice oflearning exercises precede delivery. Instructors give more importance to theirresponsibility to communicate knowledge than to the student?s ability to passit on immediately to others.

Extension Training. Extensivepreparation by the instructor often takes place after listening to astudent?s report instead of before the training session. Thus, the instructorcan deal with current needs of a student?s church or ministry opportunities.

An instructor can consulta menu and so teach in response to current needs of students or their churches.The trainer listens as students relate their church?s progress, and asksquestions. Then, over the next week or two, the trainer often prepares studiesto deal with the needs and ministry opportunities that students have reported.

Classroom Training. Instructorsnormally prepare class material and outlines before entering the classroom.

Extension Training. Instructors expectnew leaders to apply their learning immediately to a life, family, society,cell or church.

Classroom Training. Instructors expectapplication but not immediately. They seldom apply their teaching to immediateministry opportunities that students currently face. Often both students andteachers look forward only to a vague and far future application.

Extension Training. Instructors oftencategorize truths under verbs, and their module titles urge action. Mentorsintegrate their teaching content with church, community or family activities.Teaching modules balance action with abstraction. Instructors present doctrinaltruths together with plans to edify the church body at its current stage ofgrowth. They link abstract content to preparation for immediate tasks such aswhen Christ gave instruction to the 70 to evangelize Judean villages (Luke 10).

Classroom Training. Instructors oftencategorize truth under titles that use static, abstract nouns. They presentmaterial in a logical and analytical order, comparing similar concepts andlisting them together. For example, a teaching unit might deal with all ofGod?s attributes, rather than focusing on one of them and using it to definetomorrow?s work plans, applying it at once to people?s lives.

Extension Training. Instructorsintegrate widely different disciplines and applications, focusing them all onthe edification of a person, a project or a church body. Each of Paul?s epistlestaught a variety of doctrines bundled together but related to the current lifeof a congregation or individual. Instructors verify first what a particularstudent?s church or ministry requires to be learned.

Classroom Training. Instructors limitinstruction normally to an area that is well-defined in analytical and logicalterms. They relate a subject to other disciplines only when a logicalpresentation requires it. Focus from an intellectual viewpoint is often sharperbecause it is limited to one area.

Extension Training. A decentralizedstructure?s greater flexibility facilitates holistic education tied closely tofield ministry. Instructors deal in the same session with whatever disciplineshelp to edify students and their churches or whomever they serve.

Classroom Training. Sessions tend tofocus on one area of cognitive truth.

Extension Training. Instructors often consulta menu. Students select content from different sources as required bycurrent situations. Jesus said that a good teacher in the Kingdom of God islike a householder who brings forth treasures from his storehouse, things bothnew and old (Matt. 13:52). Extensive preparation of material often followsa session, in response to students? reports of needs or ministry opportunities.

Classroom Training. Instructorsprepare material ahead of class time and normally limit it to one subject,following closely a logical outline.

Extension Training. Instructors useany relevant material. If instructors write, edit or compile materials, theyoften present these in a menu format, so that new leaders can easily selectoptions that will edify their flock at its current stage of development and need.For example, the 65 small textbooks of the Train & Multiply®pastoral training program is keyed to a menu, so that students and trainers caneasily select material written specifically for a current need, problem orministry opportunity of a student?s new church or cell.

Classroom Training. An instructor?steaching and reading assignments often follow one or more textbooks writtenspecifically for the subject, with little emphasis on options.

Extension Training. Mentoring is a wayof making disciples of leaders, because instructors base training on the divineauthority of our Lord Jesus Christ and of His apostles. Jesus commanded Hisfollowers explicitly in Matthew 28:18-20 to make disciples by teaching themto obey His specific commands. The first New Testament church, according toActs 2, exhibited this obedience by obeying all of Jesus? basic commands. Hecommanded many things, which can be summarized in the seven basic commands thatthe first disciples obeyed (Acts 2:37-47): repentance and faith, baptism,breaking of bread, loving fellowship, prayer, giving and making disciples.Jesus? commands form the foundation for all ministries, for He is the Rock.Building upon the Rock means obeying His words (Matt. 7:24-27). Bible doctrine assuch is not the foundation; rather Christ and our relationship with Him arewhat we build on. Instructors establish first a relationship of loving,childlike obedience to Jesus (John 14:15; 15:14). This is foundational, ground floorof the ?building.? The written Word and doctrine are the second and thirdstories and on up. For all eternity, the redeemed will be learning more andmore about God. New Testament curriculum builds upon the commands of Jesus andHis apostles, such that students? churches soon practice all ministries thatGod requires of them.

Classroom Training. Instructorsrecognize the authority of Scripture, but give less attention to buildingministry on the foundation of obedience to the specific commands of Jesus. Sinceteachers in traditional Bible Institutes and seminaries often fail to balanceabstract doctrine with obedience to Jesus? commands, their students may overlooksubmission to the living Word, Jesus Christ. Instructors often consider thefoundation of theological education to be only knowledge of the written Wordexpressed in abstract propositions.

Extension Training. Instructors usethe Bible, especially the New Testament, not only as content for teaching butalso as the norm for how to practice evangelism, confirm repentance, organizechurches, conduct worship, relate to other congregations, train leaders anddeploy missionaries.

Classroom Training. Instructors insome bible institutes and seminaries use the Bible extensively as content for theirteaching, but seldom as the norm for the way to practice many of theactivities, including that of teaching, which the New Testament requires.