Distinctives and Training Strategy
Church-Based Training
At NPact Ministries we believe that pastoral training is best implemented in the context of the local church. Apostle Paul substantiates when he said, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. (Eph 4:11-12)
Christ gave these gifted leaders to the church, not to conduct the ministry, but to equip all saints for the ministry. NPact serves alongside the local church to equip the pastor with the skills he needs to equip the saints. Within the church, students find life-related training, accountability, encouragement, and affirmation.
Personal Contact and Mentoring
Our biblical content can be delivered by seminars, workbooks and textbooks, or through web-based venues. However, the content is only one third of a course. The other two thirds are character development and ministry skills, which can’t be taught without the critical agent of change: personal, one-on-one relationship.
Each NPact course consists of 12-15 lessons; a facilitated class using one of these courses involves a five-day, interactive, facilitated seminar. Our facilitators make systematic and regular trips to the target region to conduct these meetings. NPact facilitators stress the material’s life application and impact, making themselves available to each student for questions and discussion.
Total-Person Training
Very often, training for Christian ministry focuses on the first question, and training consists only of getting biblical information to the future leader. Important as this is, that is only part of the New Testament emphasis. For a person to be trained comprehensively for the ministry, a training program must answer three questions: What should he know? What should he be? And what should he do? We call this “Knowing, Being, and Doing.”
Transferability/Multiplication
Unless a training program includes a strategy for transferring it to others, its impact will be limited. Key to our training philosophy is that the curriculum must be transferable, so that students pass their knowledge to new classes. This core value affects the design of each course and the method of teaching it.
Since the facilitator does not have to be a “content” expert, neither does the student he disciples. The students train their own disciples exactly like their facilitator trained them. They can lead a seminar using the same facilitator’s guide, course materials, and assignments. By the end of the course, the student feels able to teach it himself. This is exactly what was Apostle Paul’s command to Timothy: And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also (2 Tim 2:2).