How do adults learn?

A few weeks ago I (Kristi) attended a second training about Community Health Evangelism (CHE), along with two colleagues from South Sudan. We spent the week discussing how to effectively teach people in a way that they would connect and respond to, and also the vision for promoting spiritual growth and physical well-being in community.

One teaching was about how to introduce a lesson using a drama, story, or activity. We were each given a topic and told to come up with a ‘starter’ for the lesson that would grab people’s attention. The dramas had us buckled over in laughter. Through our healing and reconciliation workshops, I appreciate how much drama adds to a teaching by helping people to emotionally connect with the topic and visually see the principles at work. 

Peace and Tesila created a skit about family
planning that could be used to start a lesson.

A real focus for CHE is on empowering communities or groups to identify and resolve their own problems. With this goal in mind, the trainer always seeks to ‘facilitate’, to help people discover truths and solutions rather than just presenting answers. The goal is that the focus always be on the participant, not the teacher. Therefore, discussion, practical activities, or group work are always a part of any ‘lesson’ that a facilitator presents. We studied how the learning process is different between adults and children, including the importance of letting adults identify and own their own problems and be challenged to find solutions, rather than simply being told what to do. We looked together at Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well (John 4), and how he asked her questions and prompted her curiosity, rather just telling her the spiritual truth he wanted her to believe.

Elijah and Moi doing an exercise where one person describes a pattern 

of geometric shapes to the other person, who draws it without looking. This showed 

us how differently someone might interpret what we think we are communicating!

My colleague Elijah recently visited the town of Aweil, in the north-western part of South Sudan. While there, he visited a small rural congregation that started about two years ago. As is common in this culture, the congregation took the opportunity of having a visitor from the capital city to present their list of ‘needs’. They needed a building, and in the mean-time a large plastic sheet to worship under, they needed help getting land, chairs to sit on, instruments for worship, etc. As Elijah told me the story, he said “I decided to use CHE principles!” He listened to their request, and then challenged them to consider what resources they had and what problems could be resolved without appealing to the denominational leadership in Juba. “There are some things that you need help with, but you can not expect the denomination to meet every need,” he told them. The congregation realized that they could get the plastic sheet for a temporary building in their area, and that they could make bricks for a building. The local government also affirmed the positive impact that the church has had in the community and allocated a piece of land for them – they only required about $300 for finalizing the legal registration of the land. Elijah, encouraged by the significant work that the local pastor has done in evangelizing and helping the community, was able to give a personal contribution from his family towards the land registration, further motivating the congregation in carrying on the work. And, to top off the story, the congregation never realized that Elijah is from a tribe that has experienced a lot of conflict with their tribe.  I was excited to hear that Elijah didn’t wait for a ‘project’ or a designated training to share what he had learned.

Elijah visiting the church in Aweil

It is always helpful to be challenged to try doing things in a different way.  As we seek to promote God’s shalom, well-being, and salvation in our churches and communities in South Sudan, we know that it will not be easy. We are grateful for the principles of CHE, which always focus on community and its members as the owner and driver of any change that happens. We trust that God will guide and use us in the difficult but sacred process of learning and walking together with community leaders as we pray for God’s transformation in South Sudan.

Participants and facilitators at our recent CHE training in Nairobi

An Outside Perspective

An outside perspective always helps. Within the last two weeks I have been able to sit and share with a couple of visitors who have come to Juba, this being their first visit here to South Sudan.

Antoine Rutayisire  is an Anglican pastor, Christian leader, and preacher/teacher extraordinaire from Rwanda. Some of you reading this post will know his name quickly, others will not. I lived with Antoine in Rwanda for one year and served alongside him for two and a half years with the organization he led, African Evangelistic Enterprise, Rwanda. Antoine has always been known as an original thinker and a man of deep understanding and abiding faith. I still refer to him as my “spiritual father.” I could sit and listen to Antoine for hours; his life and his story and the story of his people are the primary reasons I was drawn to this great continent. A couple of weeks ago Antoine and three colleagues came to South Sudan on an exploratory trip, listening and learning to church leaders, discerning how they can come alongside them and promote a way of “being church” that will better serve the peoples of South Sudan. During our evening meal and fellowship during his visit, I asked Antoine, “What are your impressions now at the end of your trip?” Antoine’s ready response came with one word, “Potential.” In the midst of so much trauma and dysfunction which seem to define this young country, the word that Antoine reached for was ‘potential’. He described how South Sudan feels like it is just waiting for the right environment so that it can take off. Antoine also shared his observations regarding the “weariness and tiredness of the people.” He says that he does not feel a sense of urgency amongst the people. “People have been living in an environment that is so troubling and difficult for so long, they have no idea what normalcy might even look like,” he said. Yes, there is potential, but there is the tragic history and the dysfunctional present which keep people down. 

With Antoine and his wife Penina and their sons, Christmas 2014 (in Kigali)  

     

Rev. Karen Krige returned to South Africa from Juba this last Sunday. She was sent to us by the Network for African Congregational Theology (NetACT), a network of theological institutions in the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rev. Karen had come to assist me with the Spiritual Formation class I am teaching. I gave her the last two weeks classes of the course for the degree and the diploma students. She taught my students about the value of Spiritual Direction and also the need for discernment. She took time to do Spiritual Direction individually with students, quietly and humbly and lovingly listening to their stories of pain and trauma. In listening to these stories, she was struck by the utter cruelty exacted against so many in this land. Yet, in spite of all the pain and hardship, she saw glimmers of hope, and commented on the power of the human spirit, with divine aid, to overcome. 

Rev. Karen Krige sits and listens to the story of one of our students 

It is always helpful to see the place where you live and breathe and work 24/7 with new eyes and fresh faith. I am grateful for both Antoine and Karen and their recent visits. I feel strengthened and encouraged to continue the good work God has called us to here. May God bring more visitors here to encourage His people in the work He has called us to do. Amen.