‘’I realised if you can change a classroom, you can change a community, and if you can change enough communities, you can change the world.’’ – Erin Gruwell
Petra Institute has always equipped leaders with multiplication at the core of its training methodology. A multiplication strategy with high impact potential means that we strive to develop trainers of trainers in all of our courses.Lecturers from Petra Institute work with associates or alumni to provide training in various countries. We make use of alumni in the country where we are providing training to help us with the facilitation and evaluation of the training, a process through which they also become more equipped, especially where further development took place in training. In this way our alumni are also kept abreast of new developments.Once a person has a high level of experience in training and strategic processes, we accept that person as a consultant of Petra Institute.
But does it work?
Absolutely!Some practical illustrations of how this works can be highlighted by the following examples:
Walking with Wounded Children
During 2015, we realised our need for more facilitators for our Walking with Wounded Children Course. In answer, we proceeded to train 6 tutors during 2016/2017 in De Doorns and 8 in Pretoria. These tutors facilitated a 5-day course as part of their training. The resulting team facilitated courses in Wellington, Kimberley, Stellenbosch, Witrivier, De Doorns, Hazyview, Port Elizabeth, Grabouw, Tweeling, Vishoek, Nelspruit, Modimolle, Pretoria, Bosbokrand and Balfour. Three of the tutors also presented courses in Uganda, Egypt, Israel and Zambia.
Advocacy Workshop
We presented a selection of courses and workshops to equip leaders in various places (orphanages, aftercare centres, churches, farms, and leadership development organisations). We had 19 participants (5 pastors and 14 children’s ministry workers) and 9 independent churches in attendance.Here are some of the seeds that have been sown as a result:
- Nelspruit: Participant Colin Mathebula, who completed our Walking with Wounded Children Course started a ‘bicycle library’ project from a container. He is teaching children to cycle, which offers them a form of release for their energy (and preventing them from using that enery negatively). The children are reported to be more focussed and are fairing better at school. The course helped Colin to better understand children’s behaviour, how to identify signs of trauma and how to respond to it.
- Potchefstroom: Koot and Engela van der Walt have completed various courses through Petra Institute. Says Engela: ‘’Once I started with the study material, I couldn’t put it down. It is extremely well-written. In my 25 years as lecturer, I have never seen or written such excellent study guides.’’ You can read more about the impact Koot and Engela are making in this separate article.
- Palestine: Five tutors and 15 participants from the Palestinian Bible Society (PBS) attended a 10-day training facilitated by Dirk and Louwrens (Petra Institute). In the afternoons, they saw between 20 and 40 children. The PBS does life-changing work with Palestinian children and families. Our relationship with them spans over a decade and they are still of the opinion that our courses are the most practical, relevant and applicable courses for Palestinians.
- Cairo, Egypt: Leaders from the Egyptian Church Planters Movement (CPDE) met over 4 days for discussions on how to involve all generations in the ministry and gatherings of small house churches. Most of the leaders are from the upper regions of Egypt, where churches and resources are scarce, but with an incredible hunger for the Word. Dirk and Louwrens, supported by Christine and Hanaa from Eye on the Child (EOC), facilitated the workshop. The Petra EOC team presented a short Intergenerational Ministry Workshop with leaders from the Protestant churches in the heart of Cairo. There is a growing need among church leaders to understand the principles and practice of interngenerational ministry, and we receive regular invitations from various places in the world to present on this.
As you can see, *leader development takes place in various contexts and cultures and can be adapted to address the specific needs of the community in question. This takes place within partnerships that have been formed with denominations and organisations.Petra Institute’s strategy is that of multiplication, therefore our end goal with every course that we present is to equip leaders from these groups to become trainers of others (tutors, trainers of trainers, and finally mentors), so that they can continue the training themselves within their own context, culture and language, and continue with the multiplication model.
Whenever possible, we make use of these trainers to present training in other areas or countries. They become co-workers or consultants for Petra Institute. Through our ongoing contact with them, they are also exposed to new developments in terms of course content, and continuous evaluation takes place to ensure that the training they are presenting still take place within Petra Institute’s values and standards.
*Leader development differs from leadership development in that leadership development mostly focusses on skills, whereas leader development focusses on character, values, Biblical perspective concerning children, spiritual growth and healing.
Petra Institute: Building communities where children are welcome
Our dream is to see communities where children and adults connect with God and with each other in such a way that all grow together in faith, hope, and love.We dream of a world where young and old find healing and purpose in Christ, where everyone belongs, is valued and has the freedom to add value.
We dream of compassionate, inclusive, just communities where relationships are built on trust and acceptance, where the most vulnerable find protection and the least valued find dignity.
We involve partners in a rolling movement towards the dream. We do it through networking and collaboration, by creating awareness, training and mentoring, consultation, relevant research and development. We start with the partner’s context, needs and goals and equip leaders with the values, skills and knowledge to create welcoming communities, and then equip them with the skills to train others - a cascading community-based process.
