Using the Right Tool

A large part of the Costa Rican population, including the capital of San Jose, is located in a beautiful valley in the center of the country.

If you are like me, you often try to make due with whatever tool is at hand when you need to make a quick repair.  So, when I need to tighten a Phillips-head screw, I will just try to manage with a flat-head screwdriver.  The problem is, I often strip the screw and make life a lot harder.  The same is true in the area of theological education.  Often we use a didactic, lecture-orientated presentation style to train adult students who really don't benefit at all from this approach.  Recently I was in Costa Rica where I spent a few days with Resonate missionaries, Jim and Ruth Padilla-DeBorst.  Jim and Ruth do theological education through a program called Faith and Life in English or CETI (Comunidad de Estudios Teologicos Interdisciplinarios) in Spanish.  Instead of trying to communicate a defined body of information didactically, CETI focuses on inviting dialogue, asking the right questions, and participative learning.  Experience has shown that this method of learning provides better results for adult learners--the kind that Resonate often engages in theological education.  Like many of the other training tools that Resonate uses, CETI focuses on application of learning and reflection on experience.  This means that theology doesn't remain theoretical.  It actually gets used in everyday ministry and the results become opportunities for further prayerful reflection and learning.  We at Resonate are very thankful to have the opportunity to use CETI/Faith and Life in our theological and leadership training ministries.  It is the right tool for the job!  For more information, see http://www.ceticontinental.org/portal/