IFES Worldwide Training Consultation Ghana - Day 1

Expectations (from Daniel Bourdanné, GS IFES)

• May this consultation give us back the passion to training.
• Think of the content of our training: So that students become more like Jesus.
• Training form: Becoming creative, explore new paradigms.

Some memorable quotes

• This is the danger when we become experts: We do not open our intelligence to other realities that may not be possible yet but could be possible tomorrow, can even become the norm.
• We can become prisoner of our training methodologies, forms.
• God often uses people from the periphery to bring a change of paradigm. 
• If we want to change we need to face our insecurities. 
• Change of paradigm may imply that we need to get rid of some things radically.
• This is precisely where the change of paradigm is: What people thought was impossible becomes possible.
• The OT is the oldest program of theological education.
• The teaching in the NT is for the church as a whole. 
• This community together learns about the divine program of education.
• Christians invented theological education, converting the educational system of their contemporary time.
• Christian understanding is developing continually as it interacts with the world around.
• Theology is about thinking in interesting ways, making decisions in a Christian way. So there are always new questions that arise as we interact with the world.
• A change of paradigm will not happened if you are satisfied with the status quo, without critical reflection, a critical judgement of the assumptions.
• We look at history to move forward.
• We read history to see where we are going in the future. Our history is who we are.
• Two things that give IFES strength and that create an environment where paradigm shifts can happen easily:
• Rock solid commitment to Scripture.
• Commitment at the grass-root (student initiative).
• God has used very young and ordinary people.
• Acts 1:8 – the vision is to share until the end of the earth.
• We need to give the glory to God. At the end of the day is through the power of His spirit.
• Counter cultural: even if we are the only people in this place we will do it. How do we create that passion? Because, yes, it is possible.
• Principle of student leadership is very important.
• There are seasons and we need to adapt the work in and out of seasons.
• We need to tell our stories and we need to tell it with passion. We need to celebrate what God has done.
• Questions come from context but answers don’t: we have to go to Scripture to get answers.

Provocative Questions

• What is worthy of study?
• What will be the order in which you ask the following questions?
• What enduring or eternal truths should the curriculum provide?
• What essential skills and knowledge should the curriculum provide?
•  What problems or experiences of the learner and his/her context should the curriculum address?
• What do learners need to grow to their full potentials? What threats should the curriculum help them to remove?
• What is curriculum? What does it include? What does it have to achieve? How do we go about it?