Return to the Apprenticeship Training Plan.
The term “apprenticeship” refers to a method of training where a skilled worker passes on the practical knowledge they have acquired over the years. The apprentice receives one-on-one training, hands-on practice, and an opportunity to see the skills needed to succeed. The benefit of this method is that it allows our learning to move out of theory and into reality. It is one thing to read a textbook about a medical procedure; it is another thing entirely to perform that procedure under the watchful eye of a knowledgeable and caring mentor, with an opportunity to ask questions and receive feedback.
In our community groups, we take an apprenticeship approach to leadership development. This means we don’t just train new community group leaders in a classroom or on a screen. Rather, we ask each of our group leaders to take on an apprentice, in order to relationally pass on the knowledge they have acquired in their experience as a leader. In doing so, apprenticeship moves leadership out of theory and into reality. It's development with dirt under its fingernails.
In addition, apprenticeship allows us to not solely focus on techniques, but to aim for mature followers of Jesus marked by wisdom. Our hope is that, through apprenticeship, a person would grow as a disciple and deepen their understanding of how God can use them in the lives of others. The primary goal of apprenticeship is not to increase our number of community groups. The primary goal is “that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col 1:28).
Return to the Apprenticeship Training Plan.