So Sunday I arrived in Pittsburgh for Stephen Ministry (SM) training. For those who aren't familiar with SM, it's a program through which lay people are trained to provide one-on-one care to others (like someone going through divorce, death, difficulty, etc.).
Before I share my thoughts so far on the training, I want to make one thing clear: I think this program is great. I'm excited to be working with SM at Calvary, and I remain excited about that, despite my experience here so far.
That said, as I wake up this morning, it is with great disappointment and frustration with this training thus far. Thus far, I must admit, I feel like they've been wasting my time. And I don't say that just because I'm clergy and have any special seminary training that they've been repeating. What did they spend yesterday doing? An hour and a half explaining what's in our leader's manual. But not in depth, just long-winded-like. We also spent the better part of the afternoon learning how to brainstorm, evaluate resources, come up with a plan, carry it out, and then review and evaluate how things went. Seriously. Yep, like we're third graders who need critical reading skills or something.
Now I don't doubt there are people here who perhaps haven't done much planning in their lives. You know what though? I would guess the vast majority have. After all, these are all people who are active enough in their local churches that they took a week off to come to this training. (Yes, that's my frustration...I've got the whole rest of the week of this).
They go over these very basic, elementary skills with us, but have yet to really get into details about the SM program. They've got it all backwards! See, here's how this works. You talk about the program. Then you talk about it again. You don't refer people to the written materials for details about the program, rather, you refer them for tips on how to plan. That way the rest of us don't get ticked off at you feeling like you're treating us like children.
I'll stop with the content criticism there. I'm still hopeful it will get better.
And look, I know how complicated it is to lead these sort of gatherings. I've seen and been part of our conference arrangements team, where we dealt with a lot more people than are at this training. I know it's difficult, so it really takes a lot for me to be critical of conferences. I know it's complicated. But on top of the content issues thus far, I am also disappointed in the logistics of the conference.
First, the militant organization. Really, it's ridiculous. Again, like with the content, they're catering to the least competent conference attendee. The rest of us are over it. And it's disrespectful to treat people like they can't keep up. Some people can't. But that's their own fault. Not mine.
Second, the materials sent before the conference said dress it casual. I also expected, given the nature of the material I THOUGHT we'd be covering, that the structure/speaking would be as well. But no. The presenters are dressed in suits, making them even more formal figures, and the structure is lecture. Days. Long days. Of being talked to. In rehearsed, scripted lines. As a public speaker, I could go on and on about how ineffective this all is. But my sense is, they're so dang impressed with themselves that they can't even see that.
There are other things, but I'm not trying to be a grumbler. Though my frustration thus far has, of course, got me grumbling. I'm just surprised and disappointed that for a program that is so great, their training seems to maintain a format that probably worked in the 1980s.
Side note...the main video they showed us was from the 80s, and I'm really offended they couldn't be bothered to make a new one some time since then. It makes me feel like they don't really care. Like they're phoning it in. The video isn't even all that good for what it is.
I'm concerned about SM going into the future. Younger generations like myself are going to have a really hard time getting connected as leaders when the training is so poorly formatted for TODAY. The lack of authenticity is troubling. The scriptedness is disconcerting (good scriptedness looks like none at all).
Well, off to the third day. Hopefully I can make it through without too much frustration today. I hope they actually start talking about the program. Because I'd really like to learn more. After all, that is why I came...
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