New Connectional Ministries Resource: The Learning Corner

Does learning really take place if it doesn’t lead to application and transformation?  Have you really taught something if no one ever puts into action what they have heard? Sometimes the emphasis in teaching and learning is on receiving information instead of the application of it. Teaching only happens when someone learns enough to apply it and be changed in some way because of the application.  
 
In South Georgia, our goal is to provide learning and training options that do more than just give you a certificate for completion. We want to help facilitate application and transformation in our local churches and within our leaders. That is where Connectional Ministries’ new Learning Corner comes in. This new resource aims at helping church leaders - both clergy and laity - equip themselves with the knowledge to lead well and incentivize application that leads to transformation.
 
Flexibility is built into The Learning Corner. We know you are busy. Sometimes it’s hard to make time for learning when our days are so full of ministry. But we all know in order to be more effective and efficient at making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, we must take time to learn and grow so we don’t just keep repeating the same things over and over.  
 
Each of the learning modules can be done on your own time individually or with a team. The courses are structured to include learning videos, application activities, and a reporting page where you can let us know what you have learned, how you have applied it in your setting, and earn CEUs for your participation in the course.  
 
At the launch of The Learning Corner, we are featuring four courses with more on the way:  
 

1. Creating a Healthy Volunteer Culture: How healthy is the culture of your volunteer teams? Do your volunteers come excited, expectant, and ready to serve? Or do they seem to look at their service area as a "have to" instead of a "get to”? Let's spend some time learning about how to create a healthy volunteer culture, applying it through a team workbook and the Start, Stop, Continue exercise, and then let us know how what you have learned is making a difference in your context.  Earn 1 CEU for completing the whole course. 
2. Small Group Leadership Basics: Small groups are the best place for deep discipleship, care and community to happen in the life of the local church.  No matter what name you give your small groups (Sunday School, Accountability Group, Life Group, Bible Study, etc.), these smaller gatherings are essential to the life of a believer. If they are so critical in our spiritual and corporate growth and development, how can we be equally intentional about creating and cultivating healthy small group environments in our churches?  In this series you will learn the basics of healthy small group leaders, apply what you've learned in a leadership gathering to assess the effectiveness of your groups, and then let us know how this has made a difference in your context. Earn .5 CEU for completing the whole course.
3. Resetting our Thinking: We often spend a lot of time talking about challenges and problems that will lead us to creative solutions no one else has ever tried or thought of before. Often when we get to the implementation phase, we get frustrated that the solution we tried didn't give us the results we had hoped for. So we meet together again to try something else. Many times the change that needs to be made isn't a change in programming, but a change in mindset. In this series of trainings, we will learn several strategies for resetting our thinking, adjusting our mindsets, and moving from surface-level problems to root-level problems. You will be given prompts to use with your leadership teams to help you make the shift in your thinking to move your mission forward. Then fill out the form and let us know how this has transformed and changed your ministries. Earn 1 CEU for completing the whole course.
4. Transformational Teaching:It's the desire of every leader and teacher that what they teach and communicate to learners will end up making a difference in the lives of the hearers. As church leaders, the message we communicate is transformational by the power of the Holy Spirit, but what if we could improve the way we deliver this transformational message so it could be more easily understood and applied? That is what this course is all about - Teaching to Change Lives, a book by Howard Hendrix. In this course we will explore the 7 laws of teaching, then download a reminder sheet with quick questions to help us remember and apply them to our teaching. Finally you will have the opportunity to share with us how this has transformed your teaching. Earn 1 CEU for completing the whole course. 

Here's how you can be part of The Learning Corner:

1. As a leader and learner: Go through the courses individually or take your team through with you and use these conversations to help you change your culture and become more effective in accomplishing your mission. 
2. As an evaluator: Let us know what was most or least helpful for you. If you would like to see a course on a particular topic, reach out and let us know. 
3. As a contributor: If you have something you’d like to teach and share with the rest of the conference, reach out and we will work together to come up with a training course you can lead and share. We want this to be a connectional place for learning and sharing.

Check out the Learning Corner at www.sgaumc.org/thelearningcorner. Have any questions or suggestions?  E-mail Anne Bosarge at abosarge@sgaumc.com.