Training for all?

An anonymous person writes to Evangelicals Now:

Dear Editor,

I’m interested to know why there is very little training of Christians in general. What do I mean? I cannot remember ever seeing a course on how to read the Bible well, that is open to everyone. There are many courses out there and they all seem to have the mantra – for ministry leaders and teachers. Why is there this unspoken belief that those who are going to teach are the only ones worth teaching? I, personally, would welcome a course on different methods of tackling the study of the Bible. I am never going to teach anyone, I’m not gifted that way. But I still wish to get as much from my Bible study as I can, so I can grow in my faith.

Please note, I am not saying that there should be no courses for the preachers and teachers amongst us. But how about a few courses for all and sundry, old and young, new or old believer?

Yours sincerely,

One answer to  the question is that a range of resources are available to help Christians get into God’s Word.  Some of these may flag up particular relevance to teachers and preachers but this doesn’t mean that they aren’t accessible and useful to all.  The Bible Speaks Today series of Commentaries, Read, Mark, Learn and Dig Deeper are all helpful in this regard. Programmes like Cross lands offer a full range of courses accessible at all levels, not just for pastors and leaders.

One of the reasons for developing Faithroots as a resource was to enable further training and teaching starting with our local church but also making those resources available for a wider audience.  I of course have a particular concern to provide training and teaching for those who may not benefit from or be able to access seminary training.  I offer a range of teaching and training resources here and again much of this material should be accessible to all church members not just leaders and potential leaders. In fact, I am increasingly moving to an approach where I offer content training  to anyone who is interested rather than attempting to identify potential leaders first. Others around the UK are offering similar training.

However, another answer to the original question s to say that the kind of training that the writer speaks about is exactly the kind of teaching and training that should be available for all church members who are seeking to grow in Christ.  These are the things that we should be looking to do as we disciple others in the local church.