Developing and Training

You can teach people how to do task, in order to get a job done.
However, you can do the same with a monkey ... even a chicken for that matter.

Sounds funny, but it's true. I have watched as a trained chimp has tackled a situation and mastered it because they had been trained.

I also went to a little rural area one time where there was a chicken in a small cage that had a money slot on the outside.

When anyone dropped a coin into the box, a bell would ring, and that was the chickens cue to dance.

That little chicken would strut around and perform just as she had been trained, and then she would peck a button that would release food for her.

These animals had been trained, but they weren't developed. They could perform, but they had not actually grown. They could do what they had been trained to do in order to get results that they wanted, but they had not generated or evolved into newness.


God does not just want us trained, he wants us transformed (developed). He wants us to grow up in him. To be all that we can be. The bible says to "Train up a child in the way he should go and when He is old he will not depart from it." The word train here actually means to discipline a child, or we could say to instruct a child in the way he should go ... this has to do with principles and values.

It has to do with structures, guidelines and goals. It is much more than treating them like animals ... and saying do this or you don't get dinner tonight, do that and you will get to eat! To treat a child like this may train them in what they have to do in order to get certain results, but it will not develop the child. Children need to be developed as well as trained (disciplined). Within ever child there are special gifts and talents that need to be recognized and developed, and developing takes time and intentional effort ... wither they are natural children or spiritual children.

• First you must recognize the gifts and talents.

This means that you must be giving attention to the children ... Watching and listening to them. It means that you have to get out from in front of the mirror of your own personal agendas and ideas and get involved in their lives. Developing children is not about YOU ... it is about the children!

• Second you must begin to sow into the child's strengths once you recognize them.

You must encourage them through praise. You put time and money into educating them in the talented areas. You give them a structured atmosphere to grow in. You give the the opportunity to use their gifts and talents.

Remember:

• When you are training a person you are always focusing on the task that the person will be performing.
• When you are developing a person, you are focusing on them and what is on the inside of them.

• Developed people move into positions and operate successfully.
• Trained people perform task, but do not fit well into positions.

If you were to ask any well meaning parent, "Do you want your child to be able to fit in to society well?" They would say ... "Yes, of course."

Ask any Christian Parent, "Do you want your child to be able to fit into the body of Christ and function properly?" And they would say, "Absolutely!"

For this to happen each parent must give their time and interest to the children. They must recognize the children's strengths and weaknesses and help them to develop properly.

Child development in general requires the right nurture, nourishment, environment, discipline, and education. Children come with responsibilities ... let's not take that lightly.

Let's lose sight of our own agendas and begin to look to the children's interest and get them developed!