TIER 1 LEADERSHIP TRAINING

Our Tier One Leadership Training is a certified course that offers biblically sound and practical principles and methods to equip men and women to recognize and become active leaders in the ministry in which God has called them.

This is accomplished through a 30-hour curriculum presented in five 6-hour or ten 3-hour modules. A wide variety of topics are covered and specific action plans are employed. This series has proven itself beneficial to individual participants and to their churches. Participants must attend all thirty hours to receive a certificate of completion.

Who Should Attend:

This Tier 1- Leadership Series is for all leaders and those who want to step out into leadership. It is for the lay worker, the pastor, the teacher, the ministry director, business person and the group leader.

Premise:

"Leadership remains one of the glaring needs of the church. People are often willing to follow God's vision, but too frequently they have no exposure to either vision or true leadership." - George Barna

Objective:

To equip saints to step out and lead; understanding that leadership is nothing more than influence and obedience to God as we walk as the salt and light of the earth.

Competencies:

1. Leaders will become aware, know and understand the Biblical foundation and challenges of leadership.
2. Leaders will know how to apply the Biblical principles of leadership to their own activities within the church.
3. Leaders will know and understand the challenges, which face individual growth today.
4. Leaders will know and understand their own personal leadership style, work style and learning style and how those styles impact leadership today.
5. Leaders will be able to apply leadership strategies and techniques to their activities in the church which will be catalysts to others developing personal leadership skills.
6. Leaders will understand submission, the church covering and God's ordained order for leadership.
7. Leaders will know the important principles for developing a small group or study and will be able to apply these principles in developing small group activities.

Certification Course Schedule:

Session 1: Key to Leadership: Leadership Overview & Challenge

• What is Leadership?
• Who are our models?
• How do we get it?
• Where can it lead us?
• What are my own leadership strengths and needs?
• Introduction to the Cycle of Woundedness.

Session 2: Test of Leadership: Spiritual Readiness to be a Leader

• Interpersonal Communication Styles Inventory.
• Knowing yourself and your "followers."
• Situational Leadership Assessment and Implications.
• Spiritual Readiness and Wholeness of a leader.
• Readiness to Lead.

Session 3: Part 1- Developing Others: Facilitation Skills

• Developing Helping Relationships
• Facilitation Skills
• Implementing Helping Techniques
• Breaking the Cycle of Woundedness

Session 4: Part 2 - Developing Others: Curriculum/Small Group Design

• Learning Styles Inventory
• Group Development Stages
• Group Design Elements
• Group Leadership Strategies

Session 5: The Cost of Leadership: Self-Discipline, Secular vs. Christian Worldview

• Developing a personal plan based on identified gifts and skills
• Ministering to others
• Finding the leadership role meant for you

Please contact us for information about upcoming Leadership events, or to schedule an event for your organization.

LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

What Is LAMb International Leadership Challenge?

Leadership Challenge consists of a two-part training designed to encourage, challenge and activate Christian leadership. It has been uniquely developed to accommodate international groups by considering culture differences, language challenges and translation issues. It is assumed that the training will need to be paced to meet the different audience needs, understanding and abilities. Personal testimonials have shown it to be beneficial to individual participants and to their churches.

Part 1: Key to Leadership

Part 1:Key to Leadership will help people who want to discover, expand and learn how they can serve as leaders in their own church, ministry or community. This part challenges the leaders to consider the role of a leader, the readiness of leading and the potential challenges they might encounter. A critical part of the Part 1: Key to Leadership is the Action Plan and accountability commitment for each participant to implement the information and skills acquired in this training.

Part 2: Leadership Principles

Part 2: Leadership Principles introduces even more leadership information and skills. Furthermore, it presents personal and situational challenges to assist the leader in further development. These challenges help leaders progress from awareness of leadership roles to better implementation of learned principles and techniques. A final step in this session is to leave with a concrete Action Plan with personally identified accountability points.

Throughout the series, participants will complete different assessments in order to discover their own personal styles related to communication, work, learning and leading. Participants are given the opportunity to explore different options for leadership. This is an interactive curriculum focused on the adult learner. There are many different methods and technologies used to engage and challenge the learner; lecturettes, small group activities, large group activities, case scenarios, role-plays, and various media such as flipcharts, power point slides, and handouts.

The full two parts, Part 1: Key to Leadership and Part 2: Leadership Principle, are designed to cover each one of the competencies listed below and develop them as the two parts are completed. It is recommended that the Part 1 be delivered first, followed by Part 2 within one year. It is also recommended that whenever possible, participants commit to both .

Target Audience

Leadership Challenge is designed for groups outside of the United States and Canada, particularly non-English speaking audiences. It's two-part curriculum is designed for situations that are time-limited to one or two days. Participants are all those who want to step out into leadership. It is for those who are new to leadership, as well as individuals who are aware of their own personal influence and are interested in expanding their leadership skills and abilities. This includes individuals who are small group leaders, mentors, pastors, and lay leaders.

Premise

"Leadership remains one of the glaring needs of the church. People are often willing to follow God's vision, but too frequently they have no exposure to either vision or true leadership." George Barna

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…" Ephesians 4:11-13 NKJV

Objective

To equip saints to step out and lead - understanding that leadership is nothing more than influence and obedience to God as we walk as the salt and light of the earth.

Competencies

1. Leaders will become aware, know and understand the Biblical foundation and challenges of leadership.
2. Leaders will know how to apply the Biblical principles of leadership to their own activities.
3. Leaders will know and understand their own personal leadership style, work style and learning style and how those styles impact leadership today.
4. Leaders will be able to apply leadership strategies and techniques to their activities in the church which will be catalysts to others developing personal leadership skills.
5. Leaders will understand submission, the church covering and God's ordained order for leadership.
6. Leaders will know the important principles for developing a small group or study and will be able to apply these principles in developing small group activities.

Course Schedule Leadership Challenge

Part 1- Key to Leadership
Session 1: Overview & Challenge

• • What is Leadership?
• • Who are our models?
• • How do we get it?
• • Where can it lead us?
• • What are my own leadership strengths and needs?

Session 2: Test of Leadership:

• • Interpersonal Communication Styles Inventory
• • The Great Commission
• • Readiness to Lead.

Part 2- Leadership Principles
Session 1: Test of Leadership Spiritual Readiness

• • Knowing Yourself
• • Breaking the Cycle of Woundedness
• • Situational Readiness

Session 2 - Developing Others

• • Personal Learning Styles and Implications
• • Group Development Stages
• • Group Design Elements
• • Group Leadership Strategies

Session 3: The Cost of Leadership: Self-Discipline, Secular vs. Christian Worldview

• • The Costs of Leadership
• • Spiritual Growth
• • Finding the leadership role meant for you.

SHARING YOUR FAITH FEARLESSLY

Sharing Your Faith Fearlessly is a seminar designed to help Christians share their faith.

We believe that everyone should be able to comfortably share the gospel message with all non-believers. It is both a command given to us by Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20) and beneficial to each believer (Philemon 1:6).

The techniques offered in this course provide a framework for believers to communicate the truth of the gospel in a simple, honest, and non-threatening conversation. Sharing Your Faith Fearlessly is based on the ministry of William Fay, author of Share Jesus Without Fear. William Fay is an evangelist well known in the United States for witnessing his faith. He is, by his own testimony, a sinner saved by grace.

Since becoming a believer, Fay has had the privilege of sharing his faith on a one-to-one basis many thousands of times. Through these many encounters, he has developed an easily-learned process of engaging people in conversations about spiritual beliefs, introducing the gospel message, and allowing the Holy Spirit to do the rest.

Sharing Your Faith Fearlessly is a 3-5 hour class which utilizes a variety of interactive techniques including:

• • Video presentations
• • Demonstrations
• • Discussions
• • Role-playing
• Practice scenarios

Barriers to witnessing are discussed and techniques for overcoming them are demonstrated. Whenever possible, this seminar is followed up by the entire class taking to the streets, a mall, or other venue to put their new-found skills into action.

Sharing Your Faith Fearlessly is an excellent resource for:

• • Youth Groups
• • Senior Ministries
• • Singles Groups
• • Men's and Women's Ministries
• • Cell Groups
• • Home Bible Studies
• • Or Entire Congregations!

LIFE SKILLS TRAINING

Life Skills is a program developed in cooperation Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) in Ukraine. This program was initiated to meet the needs of children who are aging out of orphanages. In Ukraine, it is the norm for children to leave orphanages and rehabilitation centers as young as 14 years of age.

Most of these children have never had the opportunity to learn such things as self-identity, social skills, managing money, preparing for a job and developing healthy relationships. Life Skills addresses these areas and many more using the principles found in God's Word as a foundation. The entire curriculum consists of 10 modules with 50 90-minute lessons.

In keeping with our vision of activating the ministry of others, we are training Ukrainian nationals to teach these lessons. Requests to attend these trainings is phenomenal. The participants are from cities and regions throughout Ukraine. They are psychologists, directors, orphanage staff, volunteers, ministry leaders, university instructors, teachers, and parents. They represent government agencies, non-government agencies and a variety of ministries.

By 2009, LAMb International trained over 600 trainers to take this critical curriculum out to orphanage and schools. It is presently being used in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. It has been sent to Thailand for translations. Just imagine, a biblically based foundation for an entire nation of children!

In addition to its use in orphanages, Life Skills can be readily adapted for use in other countries for both orphanages, street children programs and schools. We also believe this program can be modified to address the needs in venues such as rescue missions and transitional housing facilities. We look forward to exploring these opportunities as God opens the doors.

Program description

The program consists of 10 modules. Each of the modules has 4 to 7 lessons totaling up to 48 - 90 minute lessons. The module topics include:

• • Identity (who am I and how can I develop each part of my personality)
• • Social Skills (how to relate to others, manage conflicts and use good manners)
• • Health and Hygiene (nutrition, hygiene, bad habits, first aid)
• • Love and Sex (respect in friendship and girls/boys relationships, the purpose of sexual relationships and their possible consequences)
• • Gift of Marriage (things to consider before you agree to get married, way to express love and deal with disagreements in marriage)
• • Raising Children (how to create a family, be a positive parent and know child’s needs, dermatogens)
• • Homemaking (food shopping and cooking, taking care of your home and clothing, hospitality)
• • Time and Money Management (what life costs and how to budget; how to manage time)
• • Job Skills (profession orientation, how to find and keep a job, the risk of human trafficking)
• • Legal Rights (human rights, orphan’s rights, law and the consequences of its breaking).

The program teaches children practical skills and is based on Christian worldview and values.

Becoming a Trainer: Contact us and we will help you bring this program to your organization or country. We have materials in English and Russian. In addition we have materials with and without scripture references in order to accommodate countries where there are religious laws prohibiting religious material.

PRESERVICE TRAINING CURRICULUM FOR FOSTER/ ADOPTIVE/ KINSHIP CAREGIVERS

This comprehensive training program is designed to prepare adoptive parents, foster and/or kinship caregivers to care for a child in need of a family.

Curriculum Premise

Advance preparation to care for children who have been removed from their homes, abandoned or in need of substitute care is critical for the success of the placement. Disruptions can be reduced dramatically if first there is a thorough assessment of the caregivers’ strengths, readiness and appropriateness for adoption and/or foster care. Secondly, disruptions are reduced when adoptive parents and caregivers fully understand the child coming into their home and they are prepared to meet the child’s unique needs.

Curriculum Foundation

This curriculum was developed by the Institute for Human Services based in Ohio. It is the result of many years of training, consultation, and data gathering. The developers are experts in the field of Child Welfare representing both the United States and Canada.

Presently the curriculum is legally mandated by several states and provinces. The material represents “best practice” in the field and has been tested against practice across the United States and Canada.

Curriculum in Other Countries

This material is being used in Bosnia, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Ukraine, United States and Canada. It is the desire of LAMb International to:

• • Offer this curriculum to additional countries, fully translated into appropriate languages.
• • Train national trainers to propagate this curriculum.
• • Provide consultation on issues surrounding Child Welfare.

OUTLINE OF PRESERVICE TRAINING CURRICULUM FOR FOSTER/ ADOPTIVE/ KINSHIP CAREGIVERS

Sessions are 3 hours each.

• I. Orientation and Overview of Foster Care, Adoption, & Kinship Care
• II. The Parent as Part of the Child Welfare Team
• III. Child Abuse and Neglect
• IV. The Effects of Abuse and Neglect on Child Development
• V. Attachment and Separation
• VI. Discipline
• VII. Cultural Issues in Placement
• VIII. Primary Families
• IX. Caring for Children Who Have Been
• X. Sexually Abused
• XI. Effects of Caregiving on the Family
• XII. Permanency Issues for Children
• XIII. Permanency Issues for Families

TRAINING OF TRAINERS

Contact us to learn how we can train trainers to deliver this critical material in your organization, system or country.

ADOPTION ASSESSOR TRAINING

Objectives:

That all adoption workers be highly trained and skilled in order to effectively conduct assessments of prospective adoptive parents. That all workers fully understand the complex dynamics of assessing, selecting, matching and supporting adoptive placements.

(Legally mandated training for all adoption assessors in the state of Ohio. Presently being used as a primary tool for adoption assessor preparation in several US states and several Canadian provinces. In addition, LAMb International has implemented the program in Ukraine.)

The Adoption Assessor training is a program which was developed by the Institute for Human Services in Ohio. It is a dynamic training program designed to prepare assessors for their work in choosing and preparing families for adoption. The training program is divided into two tiers and has 9 different modules which specifically relate to the process of adoption. The following are brief descriptions of each of the modules:

Tier 1 – 5 Modules

Services for Birthparents

This one-day module includes information regarding counseling issues and methods in the pre-placement, placement, and post- placement phases of adoption planning with birth parents and their families. The workshop also includes information regarding good-byes and closure to help birth parents experiencing involuntary termination of parental rights cope with their losses. In the case of voluntary adoption, information will be given on how to foster responsible birth parenting in decision-making, birth planning, choosing adoption options, and following through on adoption planning. The workshop will help define the phases of grieving and the importance of grief work and how to best support birth parents and their families cope with their losses. The workshop will acquaint trainees with methods to gather and record social and medical histories of birth parents.

Family and Child Assessment

This two-day module will provide workers strategies to mutually assess families as adoptive resources for children; and introduce the philosophy of joining the Foster Care/ Adoption home study process. The workshop will present information to assist trainees in the identification of families who will have a high probability of long-term success in parenting adopted children.

The Family and Child Assessment module will provide workers strategies to assess the social and emotional functioning of children, their developmental needs, and readiness for adoptive placement. Finally, the workshop will present information regarding Selection and Match in Adoption.

Placement Activities

This module will present trainees with placement strategies to maximize success and minimize trauma to the child, foster family, and adoptive family. Trainees will learn pre placement visitation rationale and methodology as well as information that should be shared with families making an adoptive commitment to a child.

Pre-Finalization Services

This workshop prepares staff to assess the adjustment and attachment of the child and family prior to finalization, to recognize stages of adoption disruption, and to implement strategies to avoid disruption. The workshop focuses on specific techniques that strengthen adoptive placements.

Post Finalization Adoption Services

This module provides an overview of the need for post adoption services, the components of such services, information regarding release of identifying and non-identifying information, and strategies for implementation of post adoption services.

Tier 2 – 4 modules

Achieving Permanence through Interagency Collaboration

This workshop is designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of workers in information about interagency and interpersonal collaboration as well as the ingredients and stages of successful collaboration. Finally, assessors will be given strategies to enhance their skills in navigating these stages to ensure permanence for children.

Cultural Issues in Permanency Planning

This workshop will address the importance of cultural continuity in permanency planning, identification and preservation of the child’s cultural identity, as well as strategies to identify, engage and assess prospective adoptive families within their cultural context. Finally, the workshop will develop the worker’s skill in assisting adoptive families to make an accurate assessment of their ability to parent transculturally.

Openness in Adoption

This two-day workshop will examine the continuum of openness and the various styles of adoption occurring along that continuum. The historical perspective of openness will be presented as well as reasons supporting openness within current adoption practice. Trainees will learn about the advantages and liabilities of openness and will learn strategies to maximize the advantages while minimizing the liabilities. Participants will also learn techniques to open adoptions that finalized as closed adoptions. Finally, techniques to manage conflict within open adoption relationships will be presented. Gathering and Documenting Background Information

This workshop will examine the importance of honesty in disclosure of information to adoptive families as well as the ethical and legal consequences of wrongful adoption (misrepresentation, intentional concealment, or negligent disclosure). Participants will learn what information adoptive families need and creative ways to access that information. Participants will also learn how and when to share information effectively with adoptive parents. Finally, techniques to help adoptive parents communicate information in a helpful way to their children will be shared.

TRAINING ADOPTION ASSESSORS AND ADOPTION WORKERS:

Please contact us on how to bring this training to your system, agency or country

TRAINING OF TRAINERS

This curriculum is a three-day core-training program for trainee trainers and has been delivered throughout the United States and Canada. Most recently it was taught in Ukraine to trainers who are preparing to teach foster parents, adoptive parents and orphanage staff.

To be effective as a trainer, the trainer must have knowledge of his or her content and be skilled in delivery of content. Trainers need to continually examine their personal effectiveness and seek training and development opportunities. The master trainer communicates these needs to the trainee group early in the session.

The curriculum has been developed with the adult learner in mind. Malcolm Knowles has said adult learners need to experience the following in training:

• A) - A problem-centered time perspective,
• B) - Be seen as capable and self-directed,
• C) - Understand how what they are learning will help improve what they are doing,
• D) - Be valued for their life experiences and what they bring into the job.

Delivery of training, therefore, is interactive and focused on the adult need for application of information to the “real training world.” Key content information supports the lecturettes to help the trainer better understand his or her responsibilities as a trainer. In addition, the lecturette material and activities will help the trainer understand the scope of the job as a trainer. In order to accomplish this, the lecturettes are supported with group discussions; large and small group activities, videos and videotaping. Feedback sessions, along with the master trainers’ stories of personal experiences are all used to develop the new trainer.

The interactive process will also help the master trainer understand and better address the individual strengths and needs of the participant/trainers. Feedback is given both openly and privately to the trainers through the session.

The curriculum is designed to establish a solid foundation of knowledge and understanding of the role of the trainer in the earlier sections; while developing skill transfer (use of platform skill in delivery of relevant content) in later sections via the application activities (video taping activities). This process enables the trainer to move the information out into the real world as they present training material in the future.. Throughout the training, the master trainer is modeling the skills of an effective trainer.

BRINGING TO YOUR AGENCY:

Contact us to bring this to your agency.

CORE COMPETENCY-BASED TRAINING FOR CHILD AND YOUTH CARE WORKERS

(Orphanage Staff)

About this curriculum:

This curriculum is part of a ten-module CERTIFICATE training for child and youth care workers. Content has been selected to correspond with identified competencies critical to child and youth care workers, their role and the job itself.

Key content information helps the child and youth care worker better understand the responsibilities and scope of their job. Case studies, group discussions, large and small group activities, along with the trainers’ personal experiences are all used to better equip the child and youth care worker understand the job and the profession.

The curriculum is designed to establish a solid foundation of knowledge and understanding in the earlier sections; while developing skill transfer in later sections via the application activities. The lectures are rich with information and develop the foundational information necessary for the child and youth care staff to begin the process of transferring their learning to the job. A foundation of information leads to readiness for the practice activities during the application phase of the training.

Target audience:

All orphanage staff, supervisors, directors, caregivers, caring directly for children and youth.

This training has been used across the United States and Canada. It is mandated training in the state of Ohio and the Province of Manitoba, as well as being used in several other jurisdictions across Canada and the United States. The training is presently being delivered throughout Ukraine for orphanage staff, directors and psychologists. Training has been used for foster parents, social workers, agency directors and those persons hoping to work in the field of child welfare.

Development:

The critical competencies, the foundation for this training and all the materials were developed by Ruby M. Johnston of the Institute for Human Services - Canada, in conjunction with Manitoba Child and Family Support Branch and system service providers.

A guiding committee was created in Manitoba, Canada and the United States to assure curricula represented “best practice.” The US committee met with representatives from the Manitoba guiding committee and vice versa. The nature of this cooperative effort has ensured that youth care workers will receive up-to-date and relevant information throughout the core training.

Modules:

The Core Curriculum for Youth Care Workers is an in-service training program for child and youth care workers. The curriculum is organized into three parts that address competencies, which have been deemed critical to child and youth, care workers. Each part reviews and reinforces the values, concepts and skills that are taught in other modules.

The curricula establish a theoretical framework for child welfare practice, transmits critical information, including the values and dilemmas of family-centered child welfare practice and promotes the development of job-related skills. Each training session is designed for adult learners, and, as such, integrates numerous opportunities for experiential learning and application of content to the job. Targeted exercises have been developed in conjunction with each module to ensure that the trainee is prepared for the training, and that the trainee can practice new skills once s/he returns to the workplace. In this way, competencies become competence on the job.

AN OUTLINE OF CORE COMPETENCY-BASED TRAINING FOR CHILD AND YOUTH CARE WORKERS

The standardized modules consist of the following:

Part 1 – Core Awareness (5 days of training)

• • The Job: Child and Youth Work as a Profession
• • Family Systems: The Impact of Abuse and Neglect on Child Development
• • Attachment, Separation and Re-unification
• • Youth Worker Counseling
• • Family Focused Practice in Residential Care.

Part 2 – Core Fundamentals (4 days of training)

• • Group Living
• • Understanding and Approaching Behavior

Part 3 – Core Focus (3 days of training)

• • Working with the Child Who Has Been Sexually Abused
• • Observation, Documentation and Reporting.

To bring this important training to your child welfare system, please contact us.

ADDITIONAL TRAINING

The following are more examples of trainings we offer. We are constantly developing new, biblically-based training modules in the areas of leadership and child welfare. Please contact us for more information about any of the following topics, others listed on this web site or specific needs of your organization.

LEADERSHIP	CHILD WELFARE
Communication Styles Conflict Leadership Helping Relationships Money Management Time Management Program Development Learning Preferences Following and Leading Youth Leadership Stress Management	Independent Living Skills Working with Youth Toward Interdependent Living Vicarious Trauma Child and Family Assessment for Adoption
MANAGEMENT	OTHER
Strategic Planning Group Development System Development Staff Development Management of Situations Crisis Management Effective Supervision Effective Management Effective Leadership	PSTD Fetal Alcohol (and others)