When designing its training, BUILD keeps this simple mnemonic in mind: ASK, which stands for three domains that need to be addressed in all-round training: attitudes, skills and knowledge (it is not simply a reminder that learning is a gift). The mnemonic puts attitudes first deliberately; skills and knowledge count for nothing if they are not coupled to the right attitudes of the heart.
BUILD’s sixth module of training takes the Psalms as its point of departure and has a special focus on wholehearted leadership. It recognises the struggles that leaders face and the attrition they experience, and teaches approaches to personal renewal. This testimony is therefore particularly heart-warming:
“I thank God for the training we have just completed because it has transformed my life drastically. I came frustrated and heartbroken. I was not sure of what the future would be. I only came because I wanted to complete the course but little did I know that God would speak to my broken heart. I was asking myself many questions, wondering whether there was any point in continuing in ministry. The Book of Psalms in Module Six was a source of inspiration to me and more so Psalm 73, a text we encountered in Unit 7. A realisation of God’s goodness in verses 23-26 gave me hope and now I can move on knowing that God is good. I have been reading the Book of Psalms over the years but in this training I have seen many things that I never saw in the Psalms, and I have loved the book more and more. Now when I preach the Psalms I will preach it more accurately by the grace of God. Once again I thank God for his great love. Thank you for allowing God to speak through the entire teaching staff into my heart.”
This experience was in the context of a block of training in a formal academic course, which functions as a training-of-trainers programme for BUILD. How encouraging to hear of training that brings the heart into the heart of theological education, and which equips leaders to then transform others from the inside out.