Christ gave to the church . . . the pastors and teachers.
Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work . . .
Ephesian 4:11-12
A primary responsibility for the pastors of our church is to equip the people for ministry. If you aren't sure of your area of spiritual gifting (or even what that means!), we want to help you discover how God has uniquely gifted you to serve and love others. And we want to provide many opportunities for you to learn more about the ministry that God has given you, and the freedom to sharpen your skills and become even more effective in using the gifts that you've been given to build up the body of Christ. Look over the opportunities listed below. If something clicks with you, we'd love to talk with you about it. If you're eager for some type of training that you don't see listed here, tell us about that too!
Passion & Purpose
This is a detailed process for determining your own unique mix of gifting and motivations. Rather than trying to plug you into a preexisting profile, with this process you will draw from things you've accomplished and enjoyed throughout your lifetime, and discover significant patterns and insights. This is an 8-week workshop, with preparation work done prior to beginning the workshop.
Teacher Training
Teaching to Change Lives
This is a 7-week course that is appropriate for anyone interested in teaching or leading an adult small group study, youth or children's class. The students have assigned readings during the week and then come together for guided discussion of the material. This is an excellent course for brand new teachers, but also extremely helpful for those with extensive teaching experience. There is no specific prerequisite for this training, but before you begin the course we'll want to talk with you about your ministry interests and experience.
How to Study the Bible
This 14-week course will equip believers to accurately interpret the Bible, particularly in preparation for teaching. A special emphasis is placed on understanding the different genres of Scripture, how to determine what the text meant in its original context, and how to apply the Bible to our lives today. There is no prerequisite for this course.
Teaching Lab
The Teaching Lab will train you to effectively teach from Scripture, particularly in a small group setting. Each step in the process will be clearly explained, discussed and practiced. This course is an active workshop, and you will learn to prepare and teach by actually preparing lessons and teaching them. Teachers will also become familiar with a number of common Bible study tools. This is a 14-week course, and you must have completed both Teaching to Change Lives and How to Study the Bible before beginning this training.
Counselor Training
How to Be a People Helper
This is a 12-week course, and is appropriate for any Christian who wants to be able to help those around them as they face problems and circumstances in their everyday lives. You'll learn how the Christian faith relates to every area of our lives, and how we can use Scripture to help and counsel each other. There is no prerequisite for this training.
The Biblical Basis of Christian Counseling
What makes some counseling Christian as opposed to other types of counseling? This training will ground you in the differences and importance of counseling that is scripturally informed. It is essential for anyone desiring to serve effectively as a counselor. This is a 14-week course, and there is no prerequisite.
Christian Counseling
This is a 43-week, comprehensive course for those who are committed to a significant, ongoing counseling ministry. It covers ethical and legal issues, as well as examining in depth most of the types of problems that cause people to seek counseling. How to Be a People Helper and The Biblical Basis of Christian Counseling are both required before beginning this course.
Leader Training
Leading Where You Are
Because leaders are typically very busy people, our Leader Training courses are organized into monthly seminars. Leading Where You Are is a great course for anyone interested in being a better leader: in your home, at work or in the church. (All of the Leader Training courses are also excellent resources for continuing education for current church leaders.) This is a 3-month course, and there is no prerequisite. We'll read one relevant book per month and then meet together to discuss the insights we've learned. The books for this course are:
- Living in the Lions' Den without Being Eaten, William Carr Peal
- Hand Me Another Brick, Charles Swindoll
- Agape Leadership, Robert Peterson
Leading in Ministry
This course continues in the monthly format of Leading Where You Are. This is appropriate training for anyone currently involved with some level of leadership in one of our church ministries, or for those interested in serving as a leader within a church ministry. You must complete Leading Where You Are before beginning this course and be currently serving in some capacity in one of our church ministries. This is a 5-month course covering the following books:
- The Jesus Style, Gayle Erwin
- Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness, Jerry Cook
- When All Else Fails . . . Read the Directions, Bob Smith
- Simple Church, Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger
- Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, R. Kent Hughes & Barbara Hughes
Church Leadership
This course is specifically intended for those committed to a significant leadership ministry in the church. You must have completed Leading in Ministry and be serving in some form of leadership within the church. This is a 7-month course, and we will examine the following books:
- They Smell Like Sheep: Spiritual Leadership for the 21st Century, Lynn Anderson
- Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Plea to Restore Biblical Church Leadership, Alexander Strauch
- Spiritual Leadership, Henry Blackaby & Richard Blackaby
- The Great Evangelical Disaster, Francis Schaeffer
- Lifestyle Evangelism: Learning to Open Your Life to Those Around You, Joseph C. Aldrich
- Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God, Greg Ogden
- The Leadership Baton: An Intentional Strategy for Developing Leaders in Your Church, Rowland Forman, Jeff Jones, Bruce Miller
Church Principles
This course examines our essential beliefs, as well as the scriptural principles of ministry we follow and our distinctive practices. This is a 10-week course, and is required for all those who wish to serve as a ministry leader or pastor for Church without Walls.
If you would like to attend one of our training courses, please email Curt Parton.
School of Pastoral Ministry
Didasko School of Pastoral Ministry is our in-house pastoral training program. This is in-ministry training, for pastors and future pastors who are currently serving in our church and who don't want to leave their ministry, move somewhere else to attend school, and often acquire burdensome debt along the way. We believe that church-based pastoral training is biblical, historical and sound. Didasko is a 3-year training program. This training is not overly academic in nature, but does require considerable amounts of reading, reflection, discussion, problem solving, and the completion of relevant projects and papers. Teacher Training courses (see above) are not required, but could be helpful preparation for this training program. We do expect those who enter Didasko to be demonstrating significant ministry leadership.
For more information regarding our School of Pastoral Ministry, please see our Didasko page.
