Yesterday on the plane I read another chapter in Practicing Greatness by Reggie McNeal on self-development. He describes what he called “intentional learning networks” as the venue for all of us continue to develop and learn.
The residency program would fall under this category of “learning networks” as opposed to the more traditional classroom environment.
Here is a snippet of the chapter that intrigued me:
“Another factor pushing the development of the learning community is the ascendancy of relational learning in the postmodern world. Intriguingly, this development actually goes back to the way education was done in the premodern world, when teachers and pupils were much more closely bound together in a learning relationship. The mass standardization of the modern era (courtesy of the advent of the printing press) shifted the emphasis in education to curriculum, with didactic instruction that supplemented textbooks. The teacher became central as the disseminator of information, the expert passing on knowledge to those who did not have it. In relational learning the learners help to drive the process by framing the learning agenda (based on the learner’s challenges) and by taking responsibility for learning outcomes. The relationship between mentor and learner sets the ‘load limit’ of information that can be exchanged and the speed limit of how fast knowledge can be developed. If significant trust and authenticity characterizes the relationship, then a broad range of issues can be more easily addressed and at a quicker pace.”
I think this is huge for the way we do church. How does this affect what it means to develop someone as a leader in the church? How does this affect the way we view the discipleship process of every Christian? Good stuff to ponder.
