It seems so easy. You pick up a ball and throw it to another person squatting about 63 feet away. Your goal is to throw it in such a way that a guy standing there with a piece of wood can't hit it. To aid you in this, there are several different ways that you can grip the ball before you throw it, which will affect how it twists and turns on the way to the glove. If you just look at the grips, you also should be able to throw the ball so that the guy with the wooden stick misses it, right?
How many of us think that we could throw a baseball with the many different pitch options that there are, and do so effectively, just by looking at pictures of the different grips? I remember, when I was young, that I would go out to the side of our garage and try the different grips to see if I could make the ball spin like it should. Unfortunately for me, I could really never get the ball to do what I wanted it to do. But it sure wasn't for lack of trying!
What I'm describing here is something that I call experiential learning. You learn to do something by actually doing it. If you want to learn to throw a baseball pitch, you actually go out there and throw the pitch, as least, to the best of your ability. If you want to learn to become a more conversational person, you don't do it by reading a book; you do it by going out and talking to people. Sure, the first few conversations may be a bit awkward, but as you learn the give and take of conversation, you learn how to talk with people that you may not know well.
I would argue that the Christian Church has not always focused properly on experiential learning. So often, we simply teach what God says is right or wrong, but leave it at that. There's a time and place for this kind of teaching. It's the first step in our Christian lives. But so often, that's where Christian instruction stops (and yes, I'm guilty of this too). We teach the head knowledge, but fail to carry it through to the life knowledge and experience.
Take, for example, God's gift of forgiveness. We hear that God has forgiven us in Jesus, and that we then become forgiving people. But so often, that's where the lesson stops. We don't actually send people out, tell them to find someone to forgive that week, and then talk about their experiences the following time when we get together. We simply teach it as head knowledge, but the experience of living out forgiveness happens far too infrequently, and in part, I believe that's because we fail to have people experience it and then talk about it.
For those who are part of the place where I minister, you can expect to see much about experiential learning in the future. And don't be surprised when I actually have you go out and practice some of the things that we believe as Christians!
How many of us think that we could throw a baseball with the many different pitch options that there are, and do so effectively, just by looking at pictures of the different grips? I remember, when I was young, that I would go out to the side of our garage and try the different grips to see if I could make the ball spin like it should. Unfortunately for me, I could really never get the ball to do what I wanted it to do. But it sure wasn't for lack of trying!
What I'm describing here is something that I call experiential learning. You learn to do something by actually doing it. If you want to learn to throw a baseball pitch, you actually go out there and throw the pitch, as least, to the best of your ability. If you want to learn to become a more conversational person, you don't do it by reading a book; you do it by going out and talking to people. Sure, the first few conversations may be a bit awkward, but as you learn the give and take of conversation, you learn how to talk with people that you may not know well.
I would argue that the Christian Church has not always focused properly on experiential learning. So often, we simply teach what God says is right or wrong, but leave it at that. There's a time and place for this kind of teaching. It's the first step in our Christian lives. But so often, that's where Christian instruction stops (and yes, I'm guilty of this too). We teach the head knowledge, but fail to carry it through to the life knowledge and experience.
Take, for example, God's gift of forgiveness. We hear that God has forgiven us in Jesus, and that we then become forgiving people. But so often, that's where the lesson stops. We don't actually send people out, tell them to find someone to forgive that week, and then talk about their experiences the following time when we get together. We simply teach it as head knowledge, but the experience of living out forgiveness happens far too infrequently, and in part, I believe that's because we fail to have people experience it and then talk about it.
For those who are part of the place where I minister, you can expect to see much about experiential learning in the future. And don't be surprised when I actually have you go out and practice some of the things that we believe as Christians!
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