Knowing God’s Being (Essentials Series 4 of 6)

1. God’s Transcendent and Immanent Being

In our last session we learned one of the ways God chooses to reveal what he is like is through the meaning of the names he gives himself. By referring to himself with the general Hebrew name for God, Elohim, he was revealing his nature as a divine, powerful being whose essence is high and lifted up from humanity and the world he created. Theologians often refer to this revelation of God as his transcendence, emphasizing that God’s being is wholly independent and separate from his creation. But later we saw that God revealed his name to Moses as YHWH, or LORD, whose essence is near to the world he created and present with his people. Theologians often refer to this revelation of God as his immanence, emphasizing that God is also a very personal, faithful, covenant-keeping God of grace who promises to deliver his people by his great power.

To have a biblical understanding of God requires a diligent effort to maintain both a transcendent and an immanent understanding of his attributes revealed in Scripture. It’s been said that “The challenge to theology is to do justice to all the attributes of God revealed in Scripture.”[1] The Bible clearly presents the fullness of God’s being and attributes as both transcendent and immanent. In fact, one of the great dangers in the history of Christianity is when followers of Christ fall prey to sacrificing the biblical teaching of God’s transcendence on the altar of God’s immanence, or sacrificing the biblical teaching of God’s immanence on the altar of God’s transcendence.

Herman Bavinck writes,

“If God is not held to be independent and unchangeable, eternal and omnipresent, simple and free from composition, he is pulled down to the level of the creature and is identified with the world in its totality or with one of its powers.”

Then he goes on to say,

“What good would it do us to know that God was independent and unchangeable, eternal and omnipresent, if we had to do without the knowledge that he was compassionate and gracious, and very merciful?[2]”

If we deny the absolute transcendence of God’s being above all his creation and humanity, we are at risk of falling into forms of what we’ll study later called Pantheism, believing that everything is God, or Polytheism, believing there are many gods. The opposite is also true. If we deny the immanence and nearness of God’s being to his creation and humanity, we are at risk of falling into forms of what we’ll study later called Deism, believing that God does not intervene in the world, or Atheism, the denial of the existence of God in the world.

We will see that the bible presents God as not only a transcendent, eternal being who is high and lifted up, but also a very immanent being who has somehow mysteriously broken into time and revealed himself in astonishing “figures and images which sparkle with life:”

Bavinck writes,

“It speaks of his eyes and ears, his hands and feet, his mouth and lips, his heart and bowels. It ascribes all kinds of attributes to him—of wisdom and knowledge, will and power, righteousness and mercy, and it ascribes to him also such emotions as joy and grief, fear and vexation, zeal and envy, remorse and wrath, hatred and anger. It speaks of his observing and thinking, his hearing and seeing, his remembering and forgetting, his smelling and tasting, his sitting and rising, his visiting and forsaking, his blessing and chastising, and the like…In short, all that can be found in the whole world in the way of support and shelter and aid is originally and perfectly to be found in overwhelming abundance in God.”

The big idea here is that the same bible that reveals God as incomparable and lifted up in his transcendent greatness and majesty, also speaks of him in all these, sometimes shocking, immanent “figures and images which sparkle with life.”

So, how do we reconcile the bible’s transcendent and imminent images and descriptions of God?

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2. God’s Analogical Language


To help us do justice to all the attributes of God revealed in Scripture, theologians often refer to the concept of analogy; our human knowledge of God as being necessarily analogical in character. Calvin describes this adjustment like someone adjusting themselves to the limitations of a baby they’re caring for, talking in baby-talk to be understood. When God reveals himself to humans using human language he has to adjust himself to our limitations as his creatures by using some form of analogy to his creation.

Examples include the bible’s descriptions of God as a rock, a light, a fire, an eagle, a father, a king, a judge, a warrior, a shepherd, and many other analogies. It is good for us to understand God’s being in all these ways. But, in doing so, we must be very careful to realize that all biblical analogies, and descriptions, and words ultimately fall short and that’s because it is not possible to use analogies and words drawn from God’s finite creation to fully reveal the infinite, uncreated God.

Similar to the concepts of God’s transcendence and immanence, there are two common errors to avoid here as well. The first error is the false belief that the biblical descriptions of God mean the exact same thing as biblical descriptions of God’s creation or humanity. As an example, when the bible reveals to us that “God is good,” that is not exactly the same meaning of good as when the bible reveals to us that other aspects of God’s creation are good.

God’s goodness is infinitely greater than any goodness found in his creation or humanity, because his goodness is the source and criterion of all finite goodness. Many fail to understand this important distinction because the same Greek word used in the New Testament to describe God’s goodness, agathos, is also used to describe man (Matt. 5:45), gifts (Matt.7:11), trees (Matt. 7:17), conscience (Acts 23:1), God’s Law (Rom. 7:13), the will of God (Rom. 12:2), and even an unbeliever in authority (Acts 23:26).

A second common error is the false belief that God is so different from his creation and humanity that it is not even possible to understand what he is like. This is the opposite extreme view that there is no similarity between God’s goodness and man’s goodness. If such a view is believed, then meaningful speech about God is actually not even possible. This view is in direct contradiction with the Apostle Paul’s strong declaration that God’s attributes have been clearly understood by humans, when he writes these words, “For his (speaking of God’s) invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, (and then he uses the phrase) have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made (Rom 1:20-21).”

So what’s the solution to this dilemma?

It is to understand that, although the descriptions of God’s being revealed in Scripture are different and infinitely greater than what we mean by them, as mentioned above, there are still strong and true similarities in the meaning.

For example, it is good for you to see God like a father, but not exactly the way you think of a father. God is infinitely greater than that. He is the Father that measures all other fatherhood (Eph. 3:14-15).

And, it is good for you to see God like a judge, but God is more than that. When you see in Scripture that God is joyful, you should know that God’s joy is beyond the realm of human joy. And, when you read in the bible that God is angry you should not think of God’s anger being exactly the same as human anger, it’s not. And when you read in Scripture that God repents or changes his mind, you should not think of God changing his mind like you would.

But just because our knowledge of God is limited does not mean it is not true and good knowledge. Not knowing God as fully as he knows himself, doesn’t mean we can’t know him at all. Even though God must condescend to reveal himself to us, using words and analogies drawn from his creation, the good news is that the knowledge of himself that he does reveals to us is true, trustworthy, and perfectly adequate for us to “...proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Pet 2:9).”

Knowing God as LORD (Essentials Series 3 of 6)

1. God is Lord

When God appears to Moses in the burning bush, he reveals more about himself than being the Redeemer and Holy God of Israel. God continues his self-revelation by also telling Moses his names, including his personal name.

God told Moses earlier that his plan to deliver Israel was going to be through him. Moses responded by asking God what seems to be an odd question: In Exodus 3:13 we read, “Then Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”

Why would Moses ask God for his name? In the ancient Near East, the names people called their gods always had meaning. A god’s name revealed what their god was like. They needed to know their god’s name in order to understand him, pray to him, worship him, and serve him. By asking for God’s name, Moses is asking God who he is and what he is like. God answers Moses, saying:

“…I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ (Exod 3:14-15).”

This can be a very confusing answer. One reason is because God refers to himself in the third person voice, as he often does throughout Scripture. Another reason is because God is using various forms of the Hebrew verb “to be” for his names. This answer can also be confusing because God reveals three of his names in three difficult Hebrew forms:

The first name of God is in a long Hebrew form in the first part of Exod 3:14 ( “eh-yeh a-ser eh-yeh,”) translated “I AM WHO I AM.”[1] The second name of God is a shorter Hebrew form taken from the first (“eh-yeh,”) translated “I AM” at the end of Exod 3:14. And the last name God gives himself is in a very short Hebrew form in verse 15, (YHWH,) often pronounced “Yahweh,” and translated here as “LORD” in all capital letters.

Throughout Scripture, one of the most significant ways God chooses to reveal what he is like is by revealing his many names. Theologians suggest many distinctions between a host of God’s names. But almost all agree that God’s name YHWH, or LORD, is the greatest revelation of God’s name in the Old Testament. This mysterious, personal name of God is meant to point us to God’s very being by using various forms of the Hebrew verb “to be.”

Insights into the meaning of YHWH are not found primarily by studying the etymology of the Hebrew term, but more by understanding the historic contexts in which God reveals his personal name. Although Israel’s forefathers knew the name YHWH for God, they could not understand it’s full meaning because Israel had not yet been in captivity to Egypt in need of YHWH’s deliverance as a display of his faithfulness to keep his covenant promises.

Bavinck writes: “From this point on the name YHWH is the description and guarantee of the fact that God is and remains the God of his people, unchanging in his grace and faithfulness.” From this time on God gives a whole new meaning to his ancient name as describing the God who keeps his covenant promises and delivers his people from their captivity (Hos 12:9, 13:4).

God concludes his answer to Moses’ question regarding his name saying, “This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations (Exod 3:15). So we should not be surprised to learn that the English name for God, LORD, another Hebrew name, Adon, and the Greek name, Kurios, occur more than 7000 times in the Bible referring to God. Throughout all of history recorded in Scripture, we learn that God acts in the lives of his people so they will know that he is LORD (Exod 6:7).”

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2. God is Personal

Prior to God’s revelation to Moses of the fullness of his name as YHWH, God was known by more simple, general Hebrew names, like El, Elohim, and El Shaddai. These names emphasized God’s power and might, and that he is high and lifted up. But as YHWH God reveals himself as a personal, faithful, covenant-keeping God of grace who promises to deliver his people by his great power. Bavinck writes, “YHWH is the highest revelation of God in the Old Testament. YHWH is God’s real, personal name.”

In the New Testament we learn that God retains many of these names and translates his personal name YHWH as Lord (kurios). But there is a new personal name for God added by Jesus Christ. It is the name “Father,” that indicates God’s astonishing familial relationship with his people. According to Bavinck, “Father” is thus the supreme revelation of God, and since the Father is made known to us by Jesus through the Spirit, the full, abundant revelation of God’s name is now Trinitarian: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

By giving himself a personal name, God is reveals to us that he is a person and not an impersonal force or higher power. The world God created consists of personal and impersonal beings. Humans are personal beings with names. Impersonal beings include things like matter, space, time, motion, energy, the law of gravity, thunderstorms, oranges, and bicycles.

Many today believe that humans are ultimately just impersonal matter that has come into being through a mysterious and random convergence of mass and energy over billions of years, for no apparent reason and for no purpose. But the bible teaches that all matter, space, time, motion, and energy are designed by God to bring glory to his name by revealing his rule as a holy, personal God over the universe he created and sustains to accomplish his purposes.

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3. God is One

God’s name as LORD also reveals the oneness of His being. Unlike the nature of pagan idols portrayed as multiple beings, the LORD’S personal nature consists of one being. Theologians refer to the oneness of God’s personal being as one substance or one essence.

The affirmation of the LORD’s oneness is at the heart of the ancient confession of God’s people, Jewish and Christian, throughout every generation since the time of Moses:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut 6:4-5).

This fundamental confession of God’s Lordship is a succinct summary of the main message of the whole Bible. The confession of God’s people in the Old Testament was that “God is LORD!” And the good news is that this same fundamental confession of God’s people continues in the New Testament as “Jesus is LORD!”

Knowing God as Holy Creator and Redeemer (Essentials Series 2 of 6)

1. Knowing God as Creator 


A good place to begin our study of God is in the first book of the bible, Genesis.

In the first verse of Genesis we read the famous words, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Genesis begins with creation as a magnificent act of God that reveals God to us as the creator of everything that exists.

Genesis was written by Moses after the exodus of God’s people from slavery in Egypt. This was a long time after God’s mighty act of creation. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Moses wrote Genesis for the benefit of the people of Israel during their hard pilgrimage in the wilderness between Egypt and entering the Promised Land.

These people did not need a definition of theology. They already knew God, as did their ancient forefathers for many generations. The Genesis creation story encouraged their trust in God by reminding them that the God who delivered them from their slavery in Egypt is the same God who created the heavens and the earth.

When God spoke to Moses, he revealed himself as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exod 3:6).” These were their ancient patriarchs to whom God revealed himself in magnificent acts. How did God’s people in Moses’ generation come to know God’s mighty acts in previous generations before receiving the book of Genesis from Moses?

They learned primarily through the stories passed on to them from their forefathers that were faithfully preserved for them by God’s Holy Spirit to each succeeding generation. The Apostle Peter writes, “… men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:21).” These stories greatly shaped their understanding of who God is based on what he had done in and through the lives of their ancestors.

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2. Knowing God as Redeemer

But God revealed himself through Moses as not only the mighty Creator but also the mighty Redeemer.

By the time of Moses, Israel had been held in slavery in Egypt for four hundred years. Even though Israel cried out for God to deliver them from their cruel bondage, he didn’t. For four hundred years God was silent. Why did God not answer their heartfelt cries for help? Many of them must have doubted whether all the old stories they believed about God were true.

But God began answering their prayers by first appearing to Moses. We have a written record of this act of God in Exodus 3. It’s the famous account of how God appears to Moses in a burning bush that never burns up. We read, “He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned (Exod 3:2b-3).’”

After Moses discovers this strange phenomenon, he stops to take a closer look. When he does, God reveals himself to Moses as the deliverer, the redeemer of his people, saying:

“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey (Exod 3:7-8a).”

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3. Knowing God as Holy

God revealed himself to Moses as being not only the mighty Creator and Redeemer, but also as being Holy.

When Moses approaches the burning bush, God first says to him, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground (Exod 3:5).” God reveals himself to Moses as being so holy that even the ground near him is holy. How does Moses respond? He is utterly overwhelmed. “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God (Exod 3:6b).”

Later, the Scriptures teach that the Prophet Isaiah would have a similar experience as he comes near God’s holy presence (Is 6:1-5). When the disciples of Jesus saw his miracles they would sometimes shrink back from him with a renewed sense of how sinful they were in his holy presence. After Peter saw a miracle of Jesus, he fell down at his feet, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord (Luke 5:8).”

Because God is perfectly righteous and just, there is a great barrier between him as supremely holy and imperfect sinners like us. He is the one whose presence we dare not approach without great respect and awe. The Hebrew word for holy (qodesh) means separateness, set-apartness, and sacredness.

Many people misunderstand God’s holiness to mean that God is so separate from his creation that we cannot really know him or be near to him. This is why some believe that human language can’t even describe God accurately. We’ll study later how this misunderstanding of God separateness from his creation often leads to forms of Deism.

Despite the limitations of our abilities as creatures to fully comprehend God as our Creator, the bible teaches we can know definite things about God. And despite the limitations of human language, God uses it to reveal to us who he is and what he does in history. When Scripture reveals God to us as “high,” “exalted,” and “lifted up,” it is not presenting God to us as being far away from us so that we cannot know him or be near to him. It is revealing to us that God is King and Lord.

In a similar way we need to avoid the opposite danger of believing that God is so near to his creation that he becomes immersed in it and unable to be distinguished from it.

We’ll study this more later as the historic error of Pantheism–the opposite danger of Deism.

The Scriptures reveal God to us as always distinct from the world. He is the Holy, Creator and Redeemer King–and the world is his creation. But the good news is that our holy God came to be with us as his creatures, to be near us, especially in the person and work of Jesus Christ through his Holy Spirit.

Knowing God Through Scripture (Essentials Series 1 of 6)

1. Theology is a study of God

 What is theology? The basic concept of theology is found in the meaning of the word. The first part of the word comes from the Greek word theos for God. The second part of word is from the Greek word logos, that can mean word, reason, account, or knowledge. So, theology can be defined as an account or study of God.

Like the study of any topic, the study of theology is greatly enhanced by defining key terms and concepts. So, throughout our study of theology, we’ll be carefully defining several terms and providing you with a growing glossary of terms you can use to help you along the way.

This is especially true of terms not used in the bible. Even the word theology is not a word used in Scripture, but it’s still a word that can help us better understand what the bible teaches. Other terms like this include Trinity, general and special revelation, God’s transcendence, immanence, person, substance, being, nature, hermeneutics, exegesis, inerrancy, and a host of other words.

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2. Theology is a study of God in Scripture

If theology is a study of God, that raises the next question, “Where does God reveal himself so we can study him?” We need a more precise definition of theology. God reveals himself to us in three primary ways.

a. God reveals himself in nature.

One of the ways God reveals himself to us is in his creation, through nature. In Psalm 19: 1-2, we read,

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.”

When we look up into the sky on a star-lit night or look down into a microscope at living cells, we see masterful design and majestic beauty that proclaim the glory of a masterful and majestic designer. The Apostle Paul refers to how God reveals himself in creation, saying: “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made (Rom 1:20).” This revelation of God in nature is called general revelation. We’ll study this in much greater depth later.

b. God reveals himself in acts

But God does much more than reveal himself in the beauty and wonder of his creation. The eternal God also makes his invisible presence visible by sometimes breaking through into our temporal world. Theologians use the Latin phase “Magnalia Dei” to refer to these magnificent acts of God breaking through in history. The writer of the book of Hebrews refers to these magnificent acts by telling us that God spoke to his ancient people “Long ago, at many times and in many ways… (Heb1:1a).”

We learn from Scripture that God sometimes reveals himself directly and personally to individuals. Other times, He reveals himself by dreams, visions, and miracles. The Apostle Paul teaches that God writes his law on our hearts so that our consciences will bear witness to him (Rom 2:15, 2 Cor. 4:2, 1 Tim 1:5). One of the primary ways God revealed himself to his people in Old Testament times was through the prophets of Israel. Hebrews 1:1 tells us “…God spoke to our fathers by the prophets (Heb 1:1b).”

But, the ultimate act in history, through which God reveals himself most fully, is in the first century when God reveals himself through the person and work of his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 1:2 we read, “…in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” In the person and work of Jesus Christ, God reveals himself like at no other time in history.

In Hebrews 1:3 we read, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature…” This means that when we see the power, wisdom, and goodness of Jesus Christ, we are seeing the power, wisdom, and goodness of God. Jesus said, “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him (John 14:7).”

c. God reveals himself in Scripture

Since we could not be there to experience first-hand all these magnificent works of God in history, God, by his Spirit, has graciously recorded his acts and words for us in the ancient Scriptures. We’ll study later how God gave us the Scriptures. But for now, our focus is on how theology is a study of God’s revelation of himself to us in the Scriptures.

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3. Theology is a study of God in Scripture to know God

Now we come to the important question, Why do we study theology? The word logos, from which we get the second part of the word theo-logy, conveys not only the idea of the study of God, but also the knowledge of God that is the result of that study. This brings us to a fuller definition of theology as a study of God in Scripture to know God.

But how can we, as mere creatures, know the creator? Isn’t it arrogant, or even delusional, even to claim we can know God?

Here we raise another foundational pillar in our study of God. The Scriptures teach that God is incomprehensible. Through the prophet Isaiah, God declares: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa 55:8-9).” In the New Testament, the Apostle echoes this when he writes, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways (Rom 11:34-35)!”

Although the Scriptures teach God is incomprehensible, they also teach that God is knowable. Because God is incomprehensible does not mean he is unknowable. Of course, we cannot know God exhaustively and completely. Only God knows himself at that level. But we can still know God. The Apostle Paul describes his knowledge now in comparison what his knowledge will be like in the age to come, by writing: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Cor 13:12).” Theologian Herman Bavinck writes,

“While our knowledge of him is accommodated and limited, it is no less real, true, and trustworthy. As God reveals himself, so he truly is. His revealed attributes truly reveal his nature.”[1]

Toward the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and prayed to God the Father on behalf of all his followers, saying, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3).”

The knowledge of God Jesus refers to here is the very essence of eternal life. This knowledge is not merely knowing about God, or about godly behaviors. It is knowing God like you would know another person. This is a personal knowledge of God that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Theology is a study of God in Scripture to know God. We study God’s revelation of his magnificent acts and words in Scripture, not merely to understand Christian doctrine academically, but to know, love, serve, and honor God personally.

Leadership Development Contracts (Leadership Series 6 of 6)

Development Contract Part 1

In this section, we’re going to be taking a look at Leadership Development Contracts

So far we’ve taken a look at the Leadership Profile that contains the common leadership marks or competencies normally shared by spiritually mature, effective church leaders.

We’ve also learned about the Leader Assessment component in the Leadership Development Model. Here we learned how not only to do a self-assessment, based on the competencies in the Leader Profile, but also gather the assessments of others so that we can have a more objective and realistic understanding of very specific ways we can develop as a church leader. We referred to this as the 360 Assessment.

Now we come to the third component in the Leadership Development Model called Learning Methods.

Here we are confronted with a very common and very serious problem.

Once a leader understands all the basic Leadership Profile competencies that are needed to be a spiritually mature, effective church leader--and the leader has been effectively assessed in light of that model showing specific competencies that need to be developed, the question then arises:

 “How do leaders then go from where they are to where they need to be regarding character, ministry, and knowledge competencies?”

One of the most effective, proven ways to help leaders develop the competencies they most need to develop is through what is called a “Personal Learning Contract.”

What is a Personal Learning Contract?

A personal learning contract is a self-designed plan to help a leader develop competencies necessary to be a mature, effective leader.

It’s been called a self-designed vehicle to move you from where you are now to where you want to be. It’s a guide to help you monitor and direct your learning.

A personal learning contract identifies the answers to Five Key Questions:

1. WHO you are going to learn with and be accountable to? (Mentor/Coach)

2. WHAT competencies are you going to develop? (Character, Ministry, Knowledge Goals)

3. HOW you are going to learn it? (Resources and Adult Learning Method Objectives)

4. WHEN you are going to learn it? (Clearly Defined Timeline with Deadline)

5. HOW you will know that you learned it? (Collected Credible Evaluated Evidence)

And a final question, WHAT will you focus on next? (Evaluation and Lifelong Learning)

There are three primary benefits to using personal learning contracts. The first one is:

 1. Leaders Learn

 When leaders use learning contracts they learn material more deeply and permanently. One reason why is because they learn it through resources and methods of their own choosing –instead of merely listening to it being taught in a classroom.

As you’ve heard me say in this course before, “The purpose of teaching is to make learning possible.” It is a false premise to believe that if teaching is taking place then learning must be taking place. Educational studies have shown that the tradition lecture model, where students are primarily passive scribes taking notes, is just not an effective way to learn.

But when the same criteria in educational studies is applied to students using personal learning contracts, the findings are normally significantly different. Students normally learn. Why? Because proven Adult Learning Principles and Methods are required in learning contracts.

And one of the primary reasons they truly learn is because they are developing in a specific area where they are aware they need to be developed and they are motivated to be developed in that area.

You’ve also heard me say several times in education, “One size does not fit all.” By this I mean that standardized class curriculum is usually just not very effective because all learners are not starting at the same place.

Every learner has unique strengths and weaknesses. And one of the foundational leadership development principles we saw earlier in this course described the need for the leader to supplement standardized formal instruction with more individualized non-formal instruction.

The use of personal learning contracts, more so than any other type of instructional method, create the conditions for individualized learning.

A second benefit to using personal learning contracts is that…

2. Leaders Learn How to Learn

This way of learning shifts the primary responsibility for learning from the teacher to the student. Learning contracts lead students to become more self-directing and more responsible for their own learning.      

And in doing this it’s often like a conversion experience. Students stop being passive and always complaining about their lack of development as leaders, blame shifting. They begin to take personal responsibility for their own development as a leader in a renewed way. It’s like an awakening.

Church leaders often need to have this kind of conversion experience when they stop blaming their school or church or ministry organization for their lack of development as a leader. And they start recognizing that the only reason they’re not truly learning is because they are failing to lead themselves well.

A third benefit to using personal learning contracts is that…

3. Leaders Learn How to Learn for the Rest of Their Lives

As time passes, the unique educational needs of pastors and churches change inevitably.

But many church leaders, especially in the developing world, have no access to education today. And the church leaders who do have access and who can afford education, can usually only afford a brief time of education during the beginning of their ministries.

There is no other vocation or profession, except for pastoral ministry, has such an unparalleled lack of quality control and lifelong, continuing education for its practitioners.

This is why one of the most important things a church leader can learn is how to become a lifelong learner.

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Development Contract Part 2

In this section, we're going to be taking a look at leadership development contracts. Specifically, our focus is on how to design a learning contract. Now, the steps to designing a learning contract are based on developing your answers to the earlier questions that were used in this module to describe the basic components of a learning contract. We'll be surveying six steps that you can see on this personal contract worksheet, which we'll be looking at in detail later.

Let's begin with question number one. Who. Who are you going to learn with and be accountable to? This is the question regarding your mentor or your coach, however you might define it. This is the first step. Now, it's actually not listed in one of the columns, but it involves answering this very important question. Ideally this will be a leader in your local church, someone whom you believe reflects the specific competencies you are seeking to develop. Now, this could be a pastor, an elder, a lay leader.

Now, although it's not necessary, you may want to consider someone outside of your church with special expertise in the area or areas that you are developing. Please don't think that because you're planning to be a pastor, if you are, that you must have a pastor to be your mentor or coach. Sometimes the so-called "most successful" pastors are the worst mentors and coaches. Sometimes they rarely listen to you well, often very quick to tell you what to do. They're not good listeners. They're often not good coaches. So know that often times a Godly lay leader can be a much more effective mentor or coach than even an ordained pastor.

Step two. What competencies are you going to develop or learn? Here we're talking about the character, ministry, and knowledge competencies, or here we're going to call those competencies that you list on the learning contract your competency goals. This is where you need to draw from the results of your 360 Leadership Profile Assessment that I'm assuming you've already taken before watching this video. Now, from your assessment results, select two competencies which you think need further development for the specific season of life and the phase of ministry that you are in now.

Choose one character competency, as you can see on this list. Character competency, here is an example of a report where the respondents: two disagreed that this person was disciplined, one was neutral. So it was just three thinking there was a concern there and three thinking there wasn't. That would be an example of one. You list one character competency goal from the Leadership Profile Assessment, as I just shared with you, and then list one ministry competency goal from the Leadership Profile Assessment, too. Here would be Ministry Competency Assessment in the area of prayer that three of the four people thought that this was a weak area that needed to be strengthened.

Number three, how to design your learning contract in terms of, how are you going to learn it? This is in reference to resources and adult learning objectives. Now it's time to break down each competency goal, the character goal and ministry goal, that you set earlier into that first column into specific learning objectives. Now, it could just be one or two with each goal, one or two objectives with each goal, but you break down very specific objectives for each of the goals. You would list your objectives for the character competency goal here as well as the objectives for the ministry competency goal. Notice the asterisk include holistic objectives here if you can, including understanding, affections to cultivate, skills to develop.

Now, notice number three here is to then compile a list of resources that will help you in these areas. This could be a vast array of resources, including people, including groups, support groups, seminars, books, online courses. You have a host of resources that are out there to choose from to strengthen you in this particular area. Finally, you draw from the adult learning principles and methods we covered earlier and list processes or exercises that you believe would have the greatest impact on you in these areas seeking to accomplish these objectives to fulfill the goal, the competency goals. Now, be sure to include active, creative participation experiences through which you learn or relearn key concepts or develop renewed affections and sharpen skills.

Step four, when are you going to learn? This is in reference to a clearly defined timeline and deadline. Here is where you list specific deadlines for all your character competency objectives and specific deadlines for all your ministry competency objectives. This contract is to be for six weeks, including six meetings of 60 to 90 minutes with your mentor or coach, and also during that week giving reports at the cohort meetings during the last weeks of this course.

Here you notice in this column of "when are you going to learn?", you list the specific deadlines for all your character competency objectives, and then you list your specific deadlines for all your ministry competency objectives.

Step five, how will you know that you learned it? This is in reference to credible evaluated evidence that you will gather to actually show that you have accomplished these objectives to fulfill these goals. You list the types of evidence that will be used to demonstrate that each objective has been met. Notice under this fourth column now, list the types of evidence that will be used to demonstrate that and list how the evidence will be validated and by whom. We're seeking to remove as much subjectivity from the process as possible and be able to have specific, measurable, achievable objectives that you can verify, and not just you, but specifically your coach or your mentor.

Finally, step six would be what. What will you focus on next? The focus here is on evaluation and lifelong learning. Now, as a part of your assignment for the last week, you will be submitting a summary where you will list the positive results of completing this learning contract, as you can notice in the last column here. You will list ways that this learning contract experience could be improved. For a really practical ending of this process, you will be listing practical ways that you are planning to be a lifelong learner including next steps.

Leadership Development Principles (Leadership Series 5 of 6)

Learning Methods Part 1

It’s been well-said that the goal of teaching is to make learning possible. In order to educate pastoral leaders well, it’s not enough for them to merely read books, listen to lectures, write papers, and take tests.

Mark Twain once said, “College is a place where a professor’s lecture notes go straight to the students’ lecture notes, without passing through the brains of either.”

We’ve seen so far that in order for a leader to develop well and holistically, the leader must be led into a life- changing, lifelong process of ongoing reflection and action as they learn how to apply God’s truth to their personal lives and ministry in the context of doing ministry in a church – normally under the oversight of a mature church leader. 

To develop as a mature, effective church leader, you must be part of a life-long leadership development process. This is the model that we are surveying in this course called the Leadership Development Model and these are the five components. In the last session we examined the first two of five components in an effective leadership development process, the leader profile and the concept of leader assessment. 

In this section we’ll be examining more deeply the leadership learning methods components  in this leadership development model as well as how does particular methods can best result in the desired learning outcomes of the development of personal competencies

Effective learning methods must be based on sound educational principles. In the field of education today, great advances have been made in the principles and practices and methodologies of effective education of adults.

In fact, a new word has been popularized for adult learning during the end of the 20th century by educator and author Malcom Knowles and that word is called andragogy.

The word is a combination of the Greek ἀνδρός (andros) "man" and ἄγω (ágō), meaning "to lead”: meaning, “to lead a man” literally. More specifically andragogy, though, is the science of understanding and supporting the lifelong education of adults as opposed to the more traditional, short-term education of children.

The word arose from the practice of pedagogy to address the very specific needs in the education of adults as opposed to the education of children.

The word pedagogy is a derivative of the Greek παιδαγωγία (paidagōgia) which is a combination of παιδός (paidos) "child," and ἄγω (ágō), "to lead": hence, "to lead a child.’’ The word was originally used in reference to a slave who escorted Greek children to school.

Andragogy is intentionally less “content/teaching-centered” and more “learner/learning-centered” than pedagogy with a strong focus on engaging adult learners within the context of their learning experience.

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Learning Methods Part 2

There are ten adult learning principles and methods that are grounded in neuroscience and andragogy I would like to survey for you in this session.

Let’s begin with the concept of motivation.

1. Motivation: Adults must want to learn

Studies have proven that adults learn most effectively when they are motivated to acquire a particular type of knowledge or develop a new skill.

2. Relevance: Adults must see connections to learn

The concept here is that adults learn most effectively when they see links between new information that they’re learning and their previous knowledge and experience, especially how the topic they’re learning relates to their life and to their work or ministry.

3. Participation: Adults must interact to learn

The concept here is that adults learn most effectively by an extensive use of interactive exercises that are critical for student engagement and learning, as opposed to and in contrast to traditional passive listening or passive reading.

4. Active Learning in Class: Adults must interact in class to learn

Adults learn most effectively in classes or groups when that time is used for active learning with the instructor and peers. Many studies have demonstrated that standard classroom lecturing is often a very ineffective mode of learning. A more effective classroom learning model is to “flip the classroom” so that students watch or listen to lectures outside of the classroom (as part of their homework) so that classroom time can be used for interactive engagement with the instructor and with peers.

5.  Active Learning Outside Class: Adults must interact outside class to learn

Adults learn most effectively outside of classes or groups when that time is used for active learning with learning resources. This is especially true of homework where even brief audios or videos need to be paused periodically for students to answer a question to test whether they are truly understanding the concepts and the ideas. When adults are not actively participating in their learning outside of class it will have the same effect as being a passive learner in a formal classroom just listening to a long lecture.

6. Peer Learning: Adults must have interaction with peers to learn

Adults learn most effectively when they receive input and feedback on the subject they’re learning from both the instructor and their peers. Unlike most traditional education where the instructor is the only source of input and feedback, properly designed peer learning exercises and assessments can have a very significant impact on adult learning. Many studies have proven that students can learn actually more from constructive evaluation and feedback from others students than the instructor.

7. Competency-Based: Adults must have measurable competencies to learn

Adults learn most effectively when they are seeking to develop clearly defined goals, what we call holistic competencies while being held accountable through objective and measurable results. Unlike most traditional education that is primarily teacher/teaching-based, students learn best when their learning is primarily learner/competency-based. This requires clearly defined, measurable outcome-competencies (e.g. a learner profile), a learning process designed to develop those competencies, and learning assessments then to measure the results.

8. Problem-Solving: Adults must solve problems to learn

Adults learn most effectively when focusing on solving relevant, realistic problems as opposed to merely acquiring knowledge sequentially. Unlike most traditional education where the instructor shares solutions to problems and answer to questions, properly designed learning experiences that allow adults to discover solutions to problems and answers to questions is a much more effective learning process.

9. Mastery-Learning: Adults must have immediate feedback to learn

Adults learn most effectively when they receive immediate feedback from testing methods resulting in self-discovery. Unlike most testing methods in traditional education, students need to receive immediate feedback on any concepts that the student does not understand before moving on to be tested on another concept. This allows for ongoing re-study and re-attempts in self-discovery while completing assignments.

10. Hybrid Methods: Adults must have hybrid methods to learn

Adults learn most effectively when they are using integrated learning methods that are actually adapted to their unique context and learning styles. Unlike most traditional education that focuses mostly on formal learning methods, adult students learn best through integrating formal, non-formal, and informal methods according to their needs. Both face-to-face learning and online learning methods are considerably more effective than either method alone.