The Greenhouse

We are just about to start a training programme in our church which we are calling ‘The Greenhouse’. It reflects our conviction that non-academic people can be Christian leaders and that Christian character is more improtant than skills. So we have tried to design a programme that is not book-centred. The seven elements of the programme are:

 

	1.Prayer	discovering a passion for God through prayer and praise
	2.Witness	sharing the good news with unbelievers
	3.Service	becoming a servant by serving
	4.Holiness	meeting for encouragement and accountability
	5.Bible	learning Bible stories and verses
	6.Skills	getting new skills in ‘how to’ sessions
	7.Shadowing	spending time with experienced Christians

The kind of people we work with (and want to work with) are not schedule-, diary-, workbook-, course-type people. Their lives are much more ad hoc. Books and courses don’t really do it for them. Anything highly programmed is intimidating. So we want to spend time with people ‘doing’ things together. We want to spend a good bit of time in prayer together - not just as an end in itself, but to cultivate a passion for God and a dependence on him. We want to spent time witnessing together. We want people to serve others so that they learn to be servant-hearted. (We use the analogy of the film ‘The Karate Kid’ in which the young novice is made to wash the car and paint the fence for weeks. He wonders what this has to do with karate, but discovers he has learnt and strengthened the core karate moves. We want people to learn to be servant-hearted by serving before ever they think about leadership.) In the Bible stream we want to teach people Bible stories and verses. Again, our people are not going to read theology books, do theology courses or use workbooks. So we want to teach them Bible stories and explore the contexts in which those stories are relevant. So, for example, if they are asked what God is like they will answer (as an ancient Israelite would) by telling the story of the exodus.

The ‘how to’ sessions will be short, focused workshops on ministry and life skills with just a few key points. Subjects will include things like:

• how to read the Bible
• how to tell your story
• how to explain the gospel
• how to answer questions
• how to give a talk
• how to do a Bible study
• how to pray to God
• how to serve the church
• how to lead a meeting
• how to relate to our culture
• how to view the city
• how to show hospitality
• how to make decisions
• how to encourage other Christians
• how to help the needy
• how to resolve conflict
• how to be a good spouse
• how to treat members of the opposite sex
• how to parent your children
• how to act in the workplace
• how to interact with other cultures
• how to create audio visuals
• how to talk with other people

Well that is the plan anyway! Our plans have a habit of going left behind by events. So please pray that ‘the Greenhouse’ will produce gospel workers and future eladers. Pray especially for people trying to fit it around jobs.