(here's part 01 and part 02)
You've probably heard of a 'bucket' list, people writing down all the stuff they want to do in this world before they kick the bucket (pass on, in other words). I was just sorting through my stuff the other day and I came across another list I did years ago. It's what I call a lottery list, a list of things to do if I ever got a huge sum of money (like winning the lottery). And at the top of that list was this: writing a book on worship ministry.
It's really weird to see that on the list now, because even though I haven't got that huge financial windfall (well, not yet...) I've already written the book. More than that, I've recently updated the book and added a new chapter, so the book went from 164 pages to 171 pages. And I am certain that this will not be the last update for my book, there will be more updates and upgrades, as time goes by.
Why the updates and adding of new material to the book? Because I have a vision of what this book is meant to accomplish, and as I keep growing in understanding of the worship ministry, what has to be in that book to do all for which I have written it for has to grow also. And how did I get the increased understanding of the contents of my book? Through the process of teaching and sharing with other people, whether online or offline.
In a sense, you can say that my book follows an emergent curriculum, to some degree. An emergent curriculum is an idea from early childhood education. When kids are really young we want them to learn certain things, like language, math, science and all that. An emergent curriculum uses whatever topics the kids are interested in at the moment (dinosaurs, plants, people in the community) to provide a meaningful context for teaching them language, math, science and so forth.
And so it is with my book, The Invisible Worship Musician. I have certain core principles and ideas to convey, and the questions, ideas and comments from people who have read my book or attended my training sessions give me a wider context to explain those core principles and ideas.
I personally believe that the concept of an emergent curriculum is what God had in mind when he gave the following instructions:
"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, NIV)
If you are going to walk along the road with younger children, expect that they are going to be asking questions about anything and everything in the environment. At that time, you have to choose between telling them:
"Daddy's busy right now, don't bug me!"
OR
"Yeah, that's a bird. Yup, that's a nest. And what do birds do inside nests? Yes, they lay eggs! Very good!"
OR
"Yeah, that's a bird. Yup, that's a nest. Hey, did I ever tell you before what God said in his word about birds and nests? He said..."
So you use whatever is in your immediate environment to give the children the context for whatever truth from the Bible you can see illustrated there. That's the concept of an emergent curriculum.
One thing that I've learnt from actually spending time interacting with children in general, and my two sons in particular, is that they are more interested in what they learn and how they learn it than in the polished presentation of the end result. A few nights ago I was just working with my elder boy to prepare a wizard's costume for a party at this childcare centre (in case you are wondering, no, I am not a Potter critic). The next morning when I brought him down to the centre I saw all the store-bought props and costumes the other kids had. Boy, my heart sank! I felt embarrassed and slightly ashamed at the hand-made, home-produced, amateurish things we created.
But my son had no such problems. He happily told the other kids that costume, hat and wand were the result of working with his Daddy. You could see that he was really proud of what we created, in fact, he was very keen to show it all off. He wasn't at all intimidated by the good stuff the other kids had. Why? Because it was made together with his Daddy, and he also learned interesting things along the way. So he's happy.
And likewise with the people who have learned from my teaching. I can present things logically, but not necessarily in an aesthetically pleasing way. But that doesn't keep people from benefiting from my teaching. I am moving on, working on creating more teaching materials, and letting other people help me refine the presentation as we go along. I am not waiting until I have loads of money to create cool teaching materials with very professional and slick presentations, because
Ecclesiastics 11:4 - Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. (NIV)
In other words, if I keep waiting for my environment to become more ideal, things will NEVER happen. So I grit my teeth, told my perfectionist streak to shut up, and got on with getting my teaching out to those who need it.
And people have come alongside to help. If you check out my articles page on my website, and look at this other site at called2music, you will see my articles there. And the site owner, Batsirai Chada, has taken the effort to make my articles look really good. But all this wouldn't have happened if I didn’t just get started in the first place.
So what's on YOUR lottery list? If there are items on it that you are afraid to begin working on now, because you don't think you have the resources, financial or otherwise, to bring it to completion, remember what Ecclesiastics 11:4 teaches us. The environment will NEVER be perfect.
I wanted to work on my first book from a position of financial abundance, so that I could focus on it like a full time writer. I also wanted to have a few thousand people on my mailing list so that I can have good sales without having to work so hard on publicity. But in the end I still completed the book without all that.
And I've grown, God knows how much I've grown through the process. All that growth took place because I decided not to wait for things to become ideal, and just get started anyway.
So this is what I'd like to share with you. For me, my purpose and my joy in life is to teach. For you, it may be something else. Whatever it is, don't put in on your bucket list, or lottery list. Put it on your to-do list. And get on with it.
Well, what are you waiting for?
You've probably heard of a 'bucket' list, people writing down all the stuff they want to do in this world before they kick the bucket (pass on, in other words). I was just sorting through my stuff the other day and I came across another list I did years ago. It's what I call a lottery list, a list of things to do if I ever got a huge sum of money (like winning the lottery). And at the top of that list was this: writing a book on worship ministry.
It's really weird to see that on the list now, because even though I haven't got that huge financial windfall (well, not yet...) I've already written the book. More than that, I've recently updated the book and added a new chapter, so the book went from 164 pages to 171 pages. And I am certain that this will not be the last update for my book, there will be more updates and upgrades, as time goes by.
Why the updates and adding of new material to the book? Because I have a vision of what this book is meant to accomplish, and as I keep growing in understanding of the worship ministry, what has to be in that book to do all for which I have written it for has to grow also. And how did I get the increased understanding of the contents of my book? Through the process of teaching and sharing with other people, whether online or offline.
In a sense, you can say that my book follows an emergent curriculum, to some degree. An emergent curriculum is an idea from early childhood education. When kids are really young we want them to learn certain things, like language, math, science and all that. An emergent curriculum uses whatever topics the kids are interested in at the moment (dinosaurs, plants, people in the community) to provide a meaningful context for teaching them language, math, science and so forth.
And so it is with my book, The Invisible Worship Musician. I have certain core principles and ideas to convey, and the questions, ideas and comments from people who have read my book or attended my training sessions give me a wider context to explain those core principles and ideas.
I personally believe that the concept of an emergent curriculum is what God had in mind when he gave the following instructions:
"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, NIV)
If you are going to walk along the road with younger children, expect that they are going to be asking questions about anything and everything in the environment. At that time, you have to choose between telling them:
"Daddy's busy right now, don't bug me!"
OR
"Yeah, that's a bird. Yup, that's a nest. And what do birds do inside nests? Yes, they lay eggs! Very good!"
OR
"Yeah, that's a bird. Yup, that's a nest. Hey, did I ever tell you before what God said in his word about birds and nests? He said..."
So you use whatever is in your immediate environment to give the children the context for whatever truth from the Bible you can see illustrated there. That's the concept of an emergent curriculum.
One thing that I've learnt from actually spending time interacting with children in general, and my two sons in particular, is that they are more interested in what they learn and how they learn it than in the polished presentation of the end result. A few nights ago I was just working with my elder boy to prepare a wizard's costume for a party at this childcare centre (in case you are wondering, no, I am not a Potter critic). The next morning when I brought him down to the centre I saw all the store-bought props and costumes the other kids had. Boy, my heart sank! I felt embarrassed and slightly ashamed at the hand-made, home-produced, amateurish things we created.
But my son had no such problems. He happily told the other kids that costume, hat and wand were the result of working with his Daddy. You could see that he was really proud of what we created, in fact, he was very keen to show it all off. He wasn't at all intimidated by the good stuff the other kids had. Why? Because it was made together with his Daddy, and he also learned interesting things along the way. So he's happy.
And likewise with the people who have learned from my teaching. I can present things logically, but not necessarily in an aesthetically pleasing way. But that doesn't keep people from benefiting from my teaching. I am moving on, working on creating more teaching materials, and letting other people help me refine the presentation as we go along. I am not waiting until I have loads of money to create cool teaching materials with very professional and slick presentations, because
Ecclesiastics 11:4 - Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. (NIV)
In other words, if I keep waiting for my environment to become more ideal, things will NEVER happen. So I grit my teeth, told my perfectionist streak to shut up, and got on with getting my teaching out to those who need it.
And people have come alongside to help. If you check out my articles page on my website, and look at this other site at called2music, you will see my articles there. And the site owner, Batsirai Chada, has taken the effort to make my articles look really good. But all this wouldn't have happened if I didn’t just get started in the first place.
So what's on YOUR lottery list? If there are items on it that you are afraid to begin working on now, because you don't think you have the resources, financial or otherwise, to bring it to completion, remember what Ecclesiastics 11:4 teaches us. The environment will NEVER be perfect.
I wanted to work on my first book from a position of financial abundance, so that I could focus on it like a full time writer. I also wanted to have a few thousand people on my mailing list so that I can have good sales without having to work so hard on publicity. But in the end I still completed the book without all that.
And I've grown, God knows how much I've grown through the process. All that growth took place because I decided not to wait for things to become ideal, and just get started anyway.
So this is what I'd like to share with you. For me, my purpose and my joy in life is to teach. For you, it may be something else. Whatever it is, don't put in on your bucket list, or lottery list. Put it on your to-do list. And get on with it.
Well, what are you waiting for?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment