Here are some FAQs that will help you understand what the PowerMinistry.School is and how it might help you fulfill your calling in Jesus.
What is the Power Ministry School?
- The PowerMinistry.School is a FREE online learning platform designed to support the mission of Jesus’ church to train and mobilize his disciples for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:12).
- Our learning platform lets churches or ministry organizations develop blended-learning training experiences (utilizing both online and offline resources). We provide online course content that can be integrated into live classes or sessions.
- This online tool is designed for those who are committed to training and equipping members of the Body of Christ so that they not only KNOW but also can DO the works of the Kingdom.
- These courses provide learners access to the important core, foundational concepts essential for ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit to be balanced and sustainable. Churches and ministry organizations can then build on these concepts in their live-training sessions and focus more of their time and effort on application and skill development.
By using The PowerMinistry.School the training you provide can be more effective and efficient in the following ways:
- Reduce the time needed to deliver concepts and content. Students can come into live training sessions with at least an initial exposure to the key concepts of ministry and the dynamics related to Spiritual Gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Maximize the time in live sessions for a hands-on clinic, modeling, and demonstration by enabling participants to arrive at the session with a foundational understanding, or at least exposure to, the key concepts that will be the focus of the training session.
- Maximize the opportunity to reinforce and repeat essential ideas, concepts, values, etc., through repetition, rather than the live training session being the student’s first exposure to key ideas, time spent in training sessions can better serve to reinforce and deepen their understanding and help them transition from Concepts to Application through modeling and clinics.
- Provide a shared set of core values, concepts, and language for all participants, resulting in better coordination, communication, and teamwork.
These online resources can be used in a variety of ways, including but not limited to the following:
- Small Groups: members view the sessions online and discuss and apply what they learned in the small group meetings when they meet.
- Training Programs: program participants use the online sessions as a key curriculum to augment live training sessions. This is a blended learning approach. These online courses can be used as prerequisites to attending the live training, as supplemental to the live training, and/or as follow-up resources.
- Weekly preaching series: weekly assigned online sessions can follow up or preview Sunday sermons in a coordinated manner.
- Stand Alone: we also expect that there will be those whose only opportunity to begin learning about these concepts and practices will be on their own.
How We Can Help
This project was not conceived in a vacuum. Over the years, we have observed and experienced various challenges and obstacles that hinder or prevent a healthy practice and high level of participation in the ministry practices of the Kingdom of Jesus. We seek to minimize these hindrances by establishing a better understanding of best practices and wisdom as a foundation for learning to participate in the power and ministry of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
- Reduce Confusion – Disjointed and disconnected ideas and experiences bombard most believers. By providing a framework of ideas and explanations, we find that this confusion can be reduced, if not eliminated, as they begin to explore and develop the practices of power ministry. These courses will establish a grid for interpreting and understanding new ideas and experiences they will encounter.
- Increase Expectation – While there are times and places where experiences of God’s power and work seemingly come from ‘out of nowhere,’ it is often the case that he responds to growing faith and expectation as he works with his children. This curriculum will focus on and increase expectations for the Holy Spirit’s work.
- Maximize Limited Time – Another problem local congregations struggle with is finding the time to do enough equipping and training. This is experienced in two ways: 1) people are busy with hectic lives and find it difficult to attend the number of training sessions needed to learn new information and be exposed to new skills. 2) congregations need to spend their precious teaching and training time on multiple things. Unless they are a ‘one topic’ church, it is difficult to schedule training sessions often enough to accomplish the level of training needed to adequately train members, much less to bring new people into the church up to speed.
- Provide a Baseline – Finally, local congregations that value “equipping the saints for ministry” often discover their congregation is filled with people from diverse theological and ministry methodology backgrounds. Given the challenge to provide accessible teaching and training, this results in a limited level of uniformity in values, priorities, and practices.
Philosophy of Ministry
Our approach is based upon the following understandings about the Kingdom of God and how God works in and through the Church to advance his kingdom’s purposes through the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Everyone Gets To Play: Ministry in the power of God is for every member of the body of Christ.
- Anyone Can Be Taught: Everyone can learn how to hear from God and cooperate with the Holy Spirit (using spiritual gifts) in the ministry process.
- Generalization and Specialization: While everyone can participate, some will specialize and develop ministries characterized by strong evidence and fruitfulness in some areas more than others.
- Ordinary versus Extraordinary Times and Places: We see two general contexts in the Bible and in the modern experience of the church. One is what we call Extraordinary Times and Places. These are special in that the power and presence of God are Extraordinary in scope, power, and fruitfulness. This would include things like great awakenings, revivals, and places where the power of God seems to be abiding and unusually manifest. The other context is what we call Ordinary Times and Places. This is where the church spends most of its time meeting together and when salted out into the world at work and living normal life. Many of the teaching and training resources published today seem to be focused primarily on the Extraordinary Times and Places, that is, how to work within and facilitate ministry in big power meetings, to encourage the release of revival in churches and communities, etc. The Power Ministry School is focused on training and equipping every believer to hear from God and live and serve in the power of the Holy Spirit in the Ordinary Times and Places of Life. Our conviction is that while we are grateful and eager to see the Extraordinary, the fact is that we spend most of our time in the Ordinary. We want to help the church to be powerful and fruitful in the power of God in the normal flow of church life, family life, and work life. We also believe that if everyone is equipped to hear from God and serve in the power of the Spirit in the Ordinary, then when the Extraordinary comes, they can easily ramp up and participate in all that God is doing.
- Naturally Supernatural: The work of the Holy Spirit and the power of God is not aided by adding religious affectations or emotional hype. While there are times when ‘things happen’ to people (shaking, crying, jerking movements, falling down, etc.), there is no value to cultivating them as a means or method or as a requirement for the work of the Holy Spirit or the practice of ministry in the Power of God. Believers can learn how to confidently bring the love and power of Jesus into their world as normal people doing extraordinary things without having to ‘put on’ religious trappings or eccentric behaviors.