Interested in improving your face-to-face communication skills? Check this out

Interested in improving your face-to-face communication skills? Check this out

Today’s technology provides a multitude of ways to communicate with our friends, relatives and acquaintances but that connectedness has come with a price. Increasingly people report feeling alone and isolated in social situations, at work and even in church.

As believers we often wonder: How can we counter this increasing divide in our relationships with others?
One answer is to improve our interpersonal communication skills.

The act of communication simply means to transfer information from one place to another. However, communicating with others is so much more than providing information. We must choose the right words, speak them in the right tone and even share them with appropriate body language. In addition influences like the setting and the emotional mood of each person in the conversation can affect the communication effort as well.

With all these factors to consider, technology may seem like an easier way to share a message — and sometimes it is. But our faith is about more than communicating a message. It is about relationships, first with Jesus then with others. As a result, improving our relational communication skills is of utmost importance for small group leaders, pastors, church staff, Bible study teachers, lay leaders and others involved in ministry and discipleship.

Online course

To help, Samford’s Ministry Training Institute (MTI) is offering Interpersonal Communication, an online course designed especially for those who want to brush up on their communication skills.

The eight-week course will explore several aspects of communication, including nonverbal communication, communicating one-on-one and in community, expressing emotions, conflict management, gratitude and forgiveness. Lessons will include instructor-led discussions on these topics as well as practical exercises to observe and practice interpersonal communication. Participants will leave the course with a renewed sense of the value of communication in all aspects of life. The course begins today (March 28) but it’s not too late to sign up.

Interpersonal Communication is part of MTI’s Online Communication Certificate program, a new certificate launched in August 2016 in partnership with The Alabama Baptist. The course is being taught by TAB’s Carrie Brown McWhorter. The other three courses in the certificate program are Writing Communication (taught by TAB’s Jennifer Davis Rash), Verbal Communication (taught by Samford’s Bryan Gill) and Digital/Social Media Communication (taught by McWhorter). (TAB)

For more information or to register, visit www.samford.edu/programs/ministry-training-institute/current-classes or call 205-726-4055.