BILD Resources Philosophy

BILD Resources contain several features that make it unique among most resources available today for leadership development:

• BILD Resources are Church-Based. To those familiar with the typical schooling paradigm of education, most courses are based upon a model that is for-service, meaning that one goes to school and takes courses to prepare for future work. The Leadership Series requires a context that is church-based, i.e., a context where development and training are strategic components of the life and ministry of the church, the equipping processes are integrated with and strengthen the efforts of the church, and the participants are involved in the life and ministry of the church. In this way, the training is in-service, i.e., preparation for the work of the ministry is hands-on and participatory.
  
  
• BILD Resources are Discussion-Based. The end goal for most courses is to master a set body of knowledge, which is either delivered in a book or from a teacher or professor. At the end of the term, one is graded on their mastery of the material. The end goal of each course in The Leadership Series is to bring leadership teams of churches into unity of belief and mission. Through readings (the Bible, books, and articles), written projects, and Socratic discussion, participants seek to develop unified strategies for ministry within their cultural setting. BILD International has no requirement for churches and participants to agree with our particular theological framework. Our courses are arranged around important ministry concerns that all churches face and that leadership teams need to be oneminded in.
  
  
• BILD Resources are Wisdom-Based. To many in the pulpits and the congregations, the study of theology is a pursuit reserved for those "called" to professional vocational ministry. Theological education today takes place primarily in institutional settings, usually in a graduate school, and is reserved for those who can afford the time and the resources to make such an investment. This has not always been the case. The early church understood theology as a community activity whose ultimate goal was the maturity of every member in the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16). Theology should be a disposition of the soul for the purpose of acquiring wisdom that all men and women need regardless of their station in life and not the mastery of academic disciplines for an elite professional clergy. As such, the process of studying theology integrated into The Leadership Series promotes a shepherding-based, wisdom-based orientation to theology that takes place in the context of a missional community of like-minded Christians.
  
  
• BILD Resources are Developmentally Sound. Many courses and curriculum require the student to comprehend a body of material and then to recall that information in various forms of testing and student work. This approach covers only two of the six levels in Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. The six levels are 1) recall, 2) comprehension, 3) application, 4) analysis, 5) synthesis, and 6) evaluation. The Leadership Series employs all six levels of Bloom's taxonomy, and employs several different modes of learning as well, appealing to the many different ways in which people learn. The learning modes used by The Leadership Series are listening, writing, speaking, discussing, drawing, reading, practicing, and others; and since they are conducted in a church-based context, the use of hands-on experience is an invaluable component in the total development of a minister of the gospel.
  
  
• BILD Resources are Constructed Around a Biblical Theology Framework. A "biblical theology" is not just a name for a theology that is biblical. Biblical Theology is a theological discipline; just as Systematic Theology is a theological discipline. By beginning with the proposition to first construct a biblical theology, the goal while constructing a theological framework is the formation of a theology that emerges from the historically unfolding message of the Scriptures to the original communities of faith. In that way, the structure of the theology is based upon the Biblical narrative and divinely revealed theological framework. What emerges is a framework that focuses on theology for the people of God and for the carrying out of His purposes in the world, not a human system of categories devised in the modern theological enterprise, which tends to be more scientific in its approach. With a biblical theology framework in place, culturally relevant theological constructs can be developed that address in-community, in-world concerns because the locus inherent in the theology is not a set of unrelated doctrines, but a wisdom for people in human and religious community.
  
  
• BILD Resources are Oriented to Lifelong Learning. While many view schooling as a 13-year, a 4-year, or some other time-specific effort, The Leadership Series is open-ended and encourages lifelong learning. This does not mean that specific content and goals for participation in the course cannot be set and met. It simply means that when someone participates in a Leadership Series course, they can indeed finish the course in the timeframe set by the church, but as theological reflection never ends, and as our worlds continue to change, we can never completely exhaust the biblical message and its significance in our lives. Therefore, we should anticipate a periodic revisiting of biblical concerns that relate to our lives, families, and communities.
  
  
• BILD Resources Employ a Portfolio-Based Assessment Program. Degrees, grades, and formal assessments may successfully assess academic competence, but they are insufficient for assessment of character and skill, and in some ways, academic proficiency. BILD International promotes in-community, portfolio-based recognition and assessment. In this way, the skill, character, and academic proficiency can be assessed more completely, providing for a more qualified and effective minister of the gospel.