Long hours with few people

(Reflections on the Institute for Forming Instructors continued)

Robert paused and confessed: “Whenever I attend international events I find myself questioning why CCI /LA has so few members. Why don’t we have 1000’s of people attending our conventions and events?”

“I have compared ourselves to other ministries and felt like we aren’t getting anything done. But of late my perspective has changed. Look what we noticed when we counted how many hours we spent working with each individual who attended the IFI-3, we created an event whereby they would interact with God’s Word in various settings—90 hours total!”

“Let’s compare that to other teaching models”, Robert continued.

How long does a professor spend with a student per semester?

At Trinity, I responded, over a 2 week period of time, I spend 30-40 hours in class with the professor and I have the opportunity to get maybe one or two 30-minute appointments with them during the two weeks I am on campus.

Another comments, “I receive training 2 hours per week but the teacher comes and leaves class barely speaking to anyone, he is not available for but a few brief moments after class.”

Robert ponders on: “Let’s look at Christ’s ministry of earth. How long did He spend with the multitude versus with a small group of disciples? He spent far more hours with a few than with the multitude. But look at what those few did. Those eleven were used by God, together with others, to start a revolution that pushed on even today and has changed the course of history. It’s what Lisa’s professor Jim Plueddemann calls a ‘silent, peaceful revolution.’ ”

As a staff and teaching team we came away from that discussion encouraged. Encouraged to look at the value of really investing our lives in a not so large a group of people who in turn will invest themselves significantly in other and so on. We’re not perfect and we can do much more to promote what we do but we are on the right track.