Women's Ministry

This active group of women who minister to each other through Bible studies, praise, testimony, and fellowships.  For more information, contact our church offices.

Women of Worth

Come for brunch and hear from different ladies each month.

Every 3rd Saturday ~ 10:00am-12noon

LWF FELLOWSHIP HALL

2007 Schedule

Saturday, July 21st

Welcome to the Living Word Fellowship Women’s Ministry On-Line Bible Study!  God has graciously brought gifted teachers into our fellowship, and we are pleased to be able to share this ministry to women with you over the internet.  Although you are going through these lessons in your own home by yourself, we hope to be able to meet with you from time to time.  But whether in cyberspace or face-to-face, God has called us to Get Connected and we plan to use all means available. 

These lessons are written as Word documents, so you may print them for your convenience.  There will be a new lesson about every two weeks, unless otherwise indicated.  We would like to get together with everyone who is participating on-line and will announce times and places where we can meet and discuss the learning, ask questions, and share the insights God is giving as each of us ‘studies to show ourselves approved.’

 May God richly bless your time!

Session 3 GUIDING THE LEARNING PROCESS Adults don’t approach learning the same way children do, so it follows that we shouldn’t approach teaching them the same way. Even when an adult’s knowledge level is very low (such as if I decided to start studying Astrophysics) she will learn more effectively if the fact that she is an adult is taken into account. The model for teaching children, called pedagogy, gives the teacher the responsibility for making all the decisions about what will be learned, how it will be learned, and whether it has been learned. Actually, this would be closer to the model to use with me learning Astrophysics, until I have acquired a sufficient base of information and knowledge, then I will want to approach it as an adult learner, as described in the following sections. The model for teaching adults, called andragogy, puts the teacher in the role of Facilitator of Learning, with the adult student very actively making decisions about what to learn, how to learn it, and whether it has been learned. In the previously mentioned example of me studying Astrophysics, this means that I, as an adult, will only undertake this kind of study because I have some life-oriented purpose in mind. Children, on the other hand, study what they are told to. Our discussion will include looking at what research has discovered about adults as learners in the following areas: Need to Know Self-direction Role of Experience Readiness to Learn Applications to Real-Life Need to Know – Adults have a need to know why something is important for them to learn before they will invest the time and effort into learning it. As a teacher of high schoolers, I was often asked things like “why do we need to know how to bisect angles?” or “solve a word problem?” No explanation ever was enough so we did a lot of hands-on applications but an adult faced with a relevant construction problem would no-questions-asked, eagerly learn how to bisect an angle in order to continue their construction project. And, of course, all we adults ever get are word problems! Adults want to understand the benefits derived from learning something and/or the negative consequences of not knowing it. This could be the familiar What’s in it for me? but they also are very willing to learn anything that benefits what they value: their families, jobs, church, etc. They want to be able to see an impact from their efforts in ways that are meaningful to them. If they do not see an impact or value in learning something, they will likely not be receptive to it. A Scriptural example occurs in John 13 and 14. Jesus is giving His final words to His disciples about loving each other, preparing a place for them, sending them a Helper, them doing greater things than Him. And all they want to know is “where are you going?” and “what has happened that you aren’t going to reveal yourself to the world?” They only heard what pertained to what they felt they needed to know right then; the rest would have to come later when the Holy Spirit brought it to mind. Self-directed– This characteristic deals with the decision-making involved in the learning process. Self-direction says “I want to learn this in my own way at my own pace for my own reasons.” In essence, it is a mark of maturity that adults assume responsibility for their own learning. This is great news for a mentor because it means the disciple is highly motivated to learn how to go right to the Source! Let her hear how you have learned to listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, how you discovered the power in prayer, how limitless a study are the things of God! The self-directed disciple will consider it very good news that God speaks directly to individuals, and not just to the pastor or a few ‘holy people.’ You may encounter a disciple who seems to not fit this description. She seems to want you to make up her mind for her, give her direction, make decisions for her, etc. Ironically, this is her chosen way of being self-directing, learning in her own way at her own pace. Your encouragement and suggestions can help her to grow past this. You will need to do a lot of LISTENING to find out what is behind this behavior. She may have some fear from her past, or even present, to deal with; she simply may not have had much practice in making decisions; she may not feel very confident of herself as a ‘student.’ Use some open-ended questions to probe into some possible causes and then work with the disciple to craft some approaches that she is willing to try, and build up from there! Generally, adults tend to resist learning situations in which they feel that others are imposing their own wills, because “what makes your will any better than mine?” Some Christians, as you probably know, also resist God’s will as an imposition, which is a vestige of the carnal mind. Sometimes, it may be hard for them to separate God’s will from another person’s will! But, drawing on what we just said about learning that impacts what they value, you as a mentor can help them make the connection between God’s will and their families, jobs, need to forgive, etc. Plus, you will be a living lesson of how yielding to God’s will is the most responsible and effective course of action. A Biblical example of self-direction in learning is Paul, who went away for 3 years to study by himself, to build his own relationship with the Lord of his life, and to come to a sure understanding of what he had been called to do. Only then did he go and spend time with the other apostles, who were in the midst of their own ’work in progress.’ (Galatians 1:15-18) Role of Experience – As learners, our experiences can help or hinder us. For example, if the buttons for the CD player were on the left side in my last car, I will be constantly frustrating myself because the buttons in my new car are on the right-hand side. Even more far-reaching, as an adult I have had decades to decide how the world works, and I do not even question many of the assumptions I act on daily. The implications of prior experience for teaching adults are significant. Due to adults’ wide ranges of experiences, any two adults will be more dissimilar than any two children, which makes andragogy a preferred model. The disciple you mentored last year is most likely very different from the disciple you are mentoring now. But mentoring does provide an ideal environment in which to learn, because it is the ultimate in individualized learning. You will have to remain constantly aware of how the disciple is processing what you are saying because adults tend to weigh new information in the light of past experiences, to see how it measures up and where it fits. (For instance, you have been doing this to what I’ve written in this lesson! Have you been agreeing with what I’ve said because you have been there/done that or disagreeing with what I’ve said because you have never experienced it or wondering about it because you have not experienced anything like that?) Can the new be grafted into the old, or does one of them have to go? One of the joys of teaching adults is the new insight you will gain from seeing things from the disciple’s point of view. Past experiences become a detriment when they present roadblocks to assimilating the new – sometimes the new seems to literally bounce off before it hits home, like when Jesus started talking about forgiving 70x7! How about putting new wine into old wineskins? Or pick any of His dealings with the Pharisees. To get a feel for this, let’s play a little game. Right now, while you time yourself, write your full name (first, middle, last) five times. Write down your time. Now, do the same thing but write only every other letter of your full name. How did you do? Theoretically, you should have been faster since you were writing fewer letters! Something we know so well can really be difficult to change. When writing our names, we go on ‘autopilot’ and to do anything differently takes conscious effort. If I asked you to do this two or three more times, you would soon be just as fast as before. The same principle applies to anything we have learned thus far. For instance, for me anger used to be a measure of how much a person cared about something so it took quite a bit of unlearning to know that the anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God. And think of all the unlearning/ relearning that had to take place in the Apostle John, to change him from someone who wanted to rain down fire onto a whole city into a man who wrote some of the most tender passages of Scripture about love. To compound the issue, adults often find much of their identities in the past experiences they have had that have led them to be doing what they currently are (“I’m a teacher,” or “I’m an Astrophysicist” or “I’m a housewife.”) So rejecting or downplaying past experiences can be perceived as personal rejection. This is a tricky area because we Christians now want our identities defined by Him, being who He created us to be. It may take quite a bit of finesse and sensitivity on your part to help the disciple through enough new experiences and new learnings to have her find her identity as a new creature in Christ. Even then you will need to help her keep from settling in on an exclusive identity that says “I’m a prophet,” or “I’m a teacher, “or “I’m a singer.” You want to help the disciple understand that a gift is not a call but a gift is needed in order to answer a call. But neither is a call a purpose. We are created for many purposes, the first of which is to worship God. It is important to realize that ‘purpose’ and ‘call’ do not refer to just one event or vocation, but to an array of events and vocations and activities lived out over a lifetime, that together fulfill many of the purposes of God. As an example, if a disciple’s gifts, desires, and experiences lead her to believe that she ‘is a singer’ then she will tend to resist what she considers to be ‘non-singer’ in nature. Perhaps God wants to teach through her but this whole idea just bounces off before it can take root because she says to herself, “But I’m a singer, not a teacher!’ Perhaps a stark example from Scripture is found in John 3, where Nicodemus scoffs when Jesus talks about being born again, since it is nonsense to re-enter a mother’s womb, something totally contrary to experience. Jesus replies, ’You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t understand these things?’ What He meant was that Nicodemus knew that Jewish teachers often used parables and object lessons in their teaching – Nicodemus had probably done so many times himself – but he was so intent on being the teacher that he could not be the student! Readiness to Learn – Adults want to learn something that they need to be able to do right now. The learning needs to occur as closely in time as possible to the actual use of it. I think of my days of learning the computer. My eyes would glaze over when anyone would start talking about how to use a computer, but when I needed to write papers, I sat down and learned how to use a word processor; when I needed a spreadsheet, I learned how to make one. I find it easier to memorize Scriptures when I am using them right away, in a context. Educators have another saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” Generally, people talk about things that are currently their hot items, so you should not have much trouble identifying something to work on. Sometimes, they need help in identifying just what it is they need to learn right now – they may think it’s one thing but your experience tells you it is something else. When an issue presents itself, you will talk through and strategize about what to do about the immediate problem, but then move into what it will take to prevent this problem – get to its root. In medical terms, what you see are symptoms, which you will treat but which you can also use to identify diseases. For instance, say the disciple is upset with her son’s behavior and all her scolding and spanking are only making matters worse. The immediate problem is to find ways to effectively discipline her son, which you may have some personal insights for, or you can recommend Growing Kids God’s Way or a book by Dr, Dobson, etc. But, as you listen to her, you find out that she was raised this way and needs to forgive her parents for some of the choices they made, forgive herself for doing the things she swore she would never do when she grew up, and adjust her expectations of her son’s behavior. As a mentor, you can help create “teachable moments” by pointing to models in Scripture or among mutual acquaintances of behavior to emulate, zeroing in on a particular Scripture that applies to what they have been telling you, using personal examples as appropriate. You and the disciple might also set out some “assignments” for her to try and then debrief at your next session. Application to Real-Life – OK, so I have seen the movie Speed, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, three times. In one scene, the ‘mad bomber’ is taunting the policeman as he is dragging his partner away at gunpoint in order to make his escape. He is saying something like, “The suspect is getting away but you can’t shoot him because he will shoot your partner or you may accidentally shoot the bomb and kill everyone. But if you let him get away, he will live to blow up something else. WHAT DO YOU DO?” What an excellent example of a ‘teachable moment!’ A real-life scenario! You will not have to get this extreme, but notice how a good set-up and a great, albeit, simple question can be so effective! Adults learn new knowledge, understandings, skills, values, attitudes most effectively when they are presented in a context such as solving a problem or mastering a job – real-life situations. We might simplify to say that a mentor wants to help the disciple ask really good questions, all of which in one way or another relate to “How do I now live life as God intended?” Encourage will be your watchword, because she may very well take some time in seeing the desired change – as we know all too well! A good example from Scripture is Philip asking the Ethiopian eunuch if he understood what he was reading, and the Ethiopian eunuch asking Philip about a passage from Isaiah 53. Since he was on his way home from worshipping in Jerusalem, we can surmise he probably had heard this passage at some time before. Today, however, it sparked his curiosity. This made it so easy for Philip to preach Jesus to him, to the point of his understanding his need for Him and baptism to go with it. (Acts 8:32-36) As you read through these five characteristics of adult learners, you can see some overlap among them. “Readiness to learn” and “Application to real-life” can occur in the same incident, such as my example of learning to use a word processor. These are meant to give you some insight into where your disciple is coming from and what is most likely going through her head as you tackle issues together. Familiarize yourself with them so that they become effective tools in your toolbelt. Assignment In the following table, write down examples of situations or things that you have heard yourself or others say that demonstrated each of the characteristics of adult learners. For instance, regarding Need to Know, I decided to take a CPR class to better prepare for emergencies, since it was important to me to be able to help someone who might need it right then and there. Need to know – learner must see the learning as important or valuable Self-direction – learner is responsible for the learning Role of experience – learner values their prior experiences, and they will help/hinder the learning Readiness to learn – learning must occur close in time to application Application to real life – learner learns what is useful for solving a problem, doing something

Join Our 

Email List
Receive info of upcoming events and special meetings

Copyright 2006

 © Living Word Fellowship
All rights reserved.

Mentoring to Maturity-Session3

Mentoring to Maturity-Session2

Mentoring to Maturity-Session1

My Way or the HIGH Way-Session4

My Way or the HIGH Way-Session3

Session 3 Homework

My Way or the HIGH Way-Session2

My Way or the HIGH Way-Session1