What’s your most recent learning?

What’s your most recent learning?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently.

I remember sitting in a staff meeting at the first church I ever got paid to work at and hearing my pastor say that you could tell what year someone stopped learning by looking at the copyright dates of the books on their shelves.You can tell what year someone stopped learning by looking at the copyright dates of the books on their shelves. Share on X

I hope I never stop being a learner.

I hope you never stop either.

Here’s what’s on my learning track right now:

• The Disciple Maker’s Handbook: Seven Elements of a Discipleship Lifestyle by by Bobby William Harrington and Josh Robert Patrick (I have long been an advocate of a groups ministry strategy that connects people into community and makes disciples there. This resource and the following book by Spader advocate a strategy that emphasizes a special group for making disciples).
• 4 Chair Discipling: Growing a Movement of Disciple-Makers by Dann Spader.
• The Culture Engine: A Framework for Driving Results, Inspiring Your Employees, and Transforming Your Workplace by S. Chris Edmonds (I am convinced that reimagining healthy corporate culture in churches needs wise expertise. I will become an expert at encouraging this development).
• Learning the StratOp and Life Plan processes. I discovered years ago that I am a strategist. It is the way I’m wired and the automatic way I think. The StratOp concept (especially as implemented by my friends at Intentional Churches) is the best way I’ve found to leverage my unique wiring.

What’s on your learning track right now? Are you actively operating as a learner? Or do the copyright dates on your shelf indicate that you’re done learning?

I hope I never stop being a learner. I hope when I’m an old man I am still becoming more of what I was meant to be. I hope there will always be a next thing at which I’m becoming an expert. I hope I will always have something to contribute.

I hope you will never stop becoming a learner either.

Need to add something to your learning track? I hope you’ll consider joining me for my next mini-course: Small Group Ministry Basic Training.

Regardless of the official role you play, (i.e., whether you are a paid member of a church staff or a passionate volunteer, whether you’re able to specialize as a small group pastor or director or you’re a senior pastor wearing a lot of hats), there is probably plenty for you to learn. It’s a never-ending journey for me. I bet it is for you too.

And whether this mini-course is your next step or not…I hope you never stop learning.