You Teaching Others

You Can Bring RW Training into Any Setting!

RW360’s training resources are being used in businesses, churches, public and private schools, military bases, police and fire departments, government agencies, seminaries, colleges and universities, ministries and nonprofits throughout the world. You could the person that brings this training into your sphere of influence!

Faith-Based and Values-Based

Our training is available in both the “faith-based” (Christian) version described on this website and a “values-based” (secular) version introduced on this page.

Three Training Channels

Our training resources are available in three forms:

  • Live webinars and seminars provided by RW360 staff or Certified RW Instructors (details here)
  • Online training through the RW Academy (available by computer, smartphone or tablet for individual or group study)
  • Group study sets for use in churches, offices and homes are available via DVD, flash drive and web streaming (Faith-based study sets, Values-based study sets)

All of the key principles in our training resources are summarized for easy review on our RW360 Smartphone App.

You Can Be the Catalyst for this Training!

To learn how you can can help to bring this kind of training into your sphere of influence, click on the appropriate category below. For additional information in any area, email the RW Team at mail@rw360.org.

  1. You as an Example, Facilitator, or Instructor
  2. Training Your Staff  in a Business, School or Other Organization
  3. Professional & Continuing Ed (Nurses, Teachers, Lawyers, Counselors, etc.)
  4. Counselor or Social Worker
  5. Pastor or Church Leader
  6. Witnessing and Evangelism
  7. Elected Official or Public Employee
  8. Military Service 
  9. Law Enforcement, Fire Department, First Responder
  10. School Administrator, Teacher or Coach
  11. Parents/Families/Homeschooling
  12. Seminary, College or University
  13. Nonprofit Leader, Employee, Board Member or Volunteer
  14. Missionary or Church Planter
  15. Jail or Prison Ministry
  16. RW Coaching and Conciliation (2021)

1. You as an Example, Facilitator or Instructor

In his classic devotional book, Morning and Evening, Charles Spurgeon wrote this: “A Christian man should so shine in his life, that a person could not live with him a week without knowing the gospel. His conversation should be such that all who are about him should clearly perceive whose he is, and whom he serves; and should see the image of Jesus reflected in his daily actions” (Sept. 6, Morning). As an individual Christian, there are several ways you can use relational wisdom to live out this high calling and introduce the people around you to the power and benefits of a gospel-driven life.

First, and most importantly, you can go through RW360’s online training or attend a live seminar to improve your relational skills and provide a compelling personal example of how a person can improve their relational abilities through deliberate study and practice. As you model these skills in your daily interactions, the Lord could open doors for you to encourage friends, family members, coworkers and even your employer, church leaders or children’s school to take advantage of RW360’s training, free downloads and weekly blog.

One of the best tools for introducing others to RW is the RW360 Smartphone App, which you can use during a conversation to explain the key principles of relational wisdom. If you’re not sure of someone’s worldview, you can begin with the values-based (secular) version of the app. When you sense an openness in the other person, you could switch to the faith-based version and explain how Jesus empowers your application of these principles. At the end of the conversation, ask if the person would like to have the app. If so, use the “Share App with a Friend” button to send the app to them so they can dig deeper into these life-changing principles … and eventually encounter the gospel itself when they open the faith-based version.

Another way to introduce others to relational wisdom is to host an RW360 study group. One way to do this is to invite a group of friends or coworkers to register for the online course and study one lesson a week when convenient for them. You could then get together during a video conference call, a brown-bag lunch at work or an evening gathering in your home to discuss what you’re learning. If your group prefers to study together, you could gather during lunch, in the evening or during Sunday school, watch the videos on a TV using either the DVD or flash version of the course and then discuss how to apply the principles in daily life. Since all of the course teaching is prerecorded, all you need to do when hosting a study is moderate the discussion using the provided discussion questions. If you are doing this in a secular workplace, we encourage you to use our values-based course unless all of those involved prefer the faith-based version.

Finally, if you want to introduce even more people to relational wisdom, you could become an RW Instructor. This requires the completion of an online training program in relational wisdom, emotional intelligence, educational methodology and promotion/marketing (details here). Once certified, you can use all of RW360’s training resources (study guides, PowerPoint, videos, promotional materials, etc.) to take relational wisdom training into a wide variety of Christian and secular settings (see RW and Evangelism).

2. Training Your Staff in a Business, Firm, School or Other Organization

During a seminar in southern California, a business owner volunteered that he was “successfully failing in his business.” He explained that he employed over a hundred people in a thriving company, which enabled him to provide his employees with excellent wages, benefits and opportunities for career advancement. Even so, he felt that he was failing the people who work for him. Worse yet, he felt like he was failing the Lord. Why? Because he knew that many of his employees did not yet know Jesus as their Savior, and he had not found an appropriate way to introduce them to the gospel. He closed his testimony by saying, “One of my greatest fears is that I’ll stand before the Lord someday, and he’ll say, ‘I placed a hundred people under your care; why did you not share the good news of the eternal life with them?’”

There is now an easy solution to this problem. If you lead a business, school or other secular organization, you can use RW360’s values-based (secular) training materials to improve the relational skills of your entire workforce while also giving each person the opportunity to click on optional links that lead to gospel-based versions of key RW concepts. Even if some employees choose not to explore the gospel at this time, RW360’s professional development training can dramatically improve your organization’s impact and profitability by enabling your managers and employees to upgrade their relational abilities. As detailed in Employers Reap a Double Benefit with RW Training,

Studies prove that when organizations invest in the relational skills of their workers, returns on investment can range between $1.50 and $6.85 for every dollar spent on these types of programs.

The following articles describe many of the benefits of teaching applying RW in an employment setting:

Some companies begin an RW training process by having a few employees pilot test one of RW360’s online courses (either the faith-based or values-based) or by providing their managers or a particular division with live training, ranging from a 1-3 hour presentation to a full-day staff retreat. In secular settings, this training typically involves RW360’s “values-based” materials with occasional references to the availability of the faith-based version. Another approach is to have a management team go through our online course over a 4-8 week period and then have a Certified RW Instructor/Coach meet with the team in person to discuss the application of relational wisdom to specific organizational issues. This is sometimes followed by monthly or bimonthly video conferencing with managers who desire coaching to accelerate the development of specific relational skills.

A company or organization will experience even greater benefits by offering all of its staff access to online training in relational wisdom for professional and personal development, giving each person the freedom to choose whether to use the values-based or faith-based course. This training may be provided through a variety of arrangements, including:

  • The employer negotiates a reduced price for the online course by guaranteeing a minimum number of sales, and then encourages its staff to pursue the training on their own time and at their own expense.
  • The employer purchases registration coupons at group discount rates* and offers them to employees with one these expectations:
    1. Employees are encouraged but not required to complete the course on their own time.
    2. Employees are encouraged but not required to complete the course on company time.
    3. Employees are required to complete the course on company time (typically being allowed 1 to 1.5 hours a week for eight weeks).

To magnify the benefits of RW training, employers who pay for this training are automatically provided with registration coupons that allow employees’ spouses or partners to register for the training at a special “50% spouse” discount, with payment made by the spouse/partner rather than employer.

Some employers go even further by offering to pay for the spouse/partner’s training (in which case RW360 provides a special 50% spouse registration coupon, paid for by the employer). * Group discounts range from: 5% for 10 or more people, 10% for 25+, 15% for 50+, 20% for 100+ and 25% for 200+ people.

Since some employees may decide not to take the training, we recommend that employers initially purchase coupons for only a quarter to a half of their total workforce. For example, an employer with 50 employees could purchase 25 coupons for employees at the 10% discount rate (25 x $44.10=$1102), letting RW360 know that as many as 50 employees may eventually take the course. RW360 tracks registrations and if more than 25 people use that employer’s particular discount code, we bill the employer for the additional registrations each month at the $44.10 rate.

For example, if 35 employees end up registering for the training, the employer’s total cost is $1102 (for the original 25) + $441 (for the additional 10) = $1,543.50. To ensure the ongoing application of RW in your business, you could establish a team that is dedicated to teaching and promoting relational wisdom on a regular basis. You could further strengthen your in-house capacity for training and coaching RW by designating one or more people to become RW Instructors or Coaches.

3. Professional & Continuing Ed (Nurses, Teachers, Lawyers, Counselors, etc.)

If you work as a professional, we encourage you to take advantage of the sharing options described above for You As an Example and Training Your Staff, thus encouraging your entire team to improve their relational skills through RW training. Many professionals, including nurses, teachers, attorneys, counselors and social workers, can receive continuing education credit for RW training. While fulfilling your own CE requirements, you could encourage coworkers to do the same, giving them the opportunity to improve their relational skills while being introduced to the gospel.  To learn how to apply for continuing education approval for your profession in your state go to this page.

4. Counselor or Social Worker

If you work as a counselor or social worker, we encourage you to take advantage of the sharing options described above for You As an Example and Training Your Staff, as well as opportunities to receive continuing education credit for our training. You can also use our training resources with counselees who are struggling with relational challenges. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use RW360’s online course as homework, requiring your counselee to register for the course, complete one lesson a week and make copies of his or her Personal Study Notes to share with you. You can further enhance the benefit of RW training by creating discussion questions or case studies that help the counselee apply specific principles of relational wisdom to specific relational situations. When counseling a child from a family with poor relational skills, it is often helpful to have parents and older siblings go through RW training as well, so that the entire family can being growing together.

5. Pastor or Church Leader

Christian ministry is far more enjoyable and productive when the leaders and members of a church have developed the relational skills commended in Scripture. In the absence of these skills, conflict abounds, often leading to forced pastoral exits. But when these skills are taught and practice, relationships flourish, revealing the transforming power of the gospel. If you serve as a pastor or church leader, there are many ways for you to apply and share RW training resources in your ministry. For example:

6. Witnessing and Evangelism

RW resources are specifically designed to make it easy for Christians to begin conversations about relationships, whether with friends, coworkers or people they meet in daily life, and to use those conversations to introduce others to the gospel of Christ. The You as an Example section above describes ways that you can use our online training, RW360 Smartphone App and DVD-based small group materials to engage unchurched friends and coworkers in conversations or studies that lead to the gospel. All of these resources are available in both “faith-based” (Christian) and “values-based” (secular) versions, which makes it easy to take them into virtually any setting. One of the most effective ways to use RW resources for evangelism is through deliberate community engagement. This typically involves training someone in your church as an RW Training Representative or Certified RW Instructor who can go out into businesses, schools, nonprofits, police or fire departments, military bases, sports camps and other secular venues to provide short workshops or all day seminars on relational wisdom. For more information on the marvelous kingdom fruit that can come from this kind of ministry, see Using RW for Witnessing and Evangelism.

7. Elected Official or Public Employee

The value of practicing and teaching relational wisdom in political settings and public office is illustrated by the following materials:

If you would like to bring relational wisdom into a political setting or public office, please take advantage of the teaching options described above for You As an Example and Training Your Staff, thus encouraging your entire team to improve their relational skills through RW training.

8. Military Service

The stress of serving in the military often overflows in relational problems with fellow service members or superiors, as well as with spouses and children. These problems are often aggravated by the fact that many people have never learned how to read and manage their own emotions, much less those of the people around them. As a result, they are oblivious to the way that emotions are clouding their judgment, aggravating misunderstandings, and triggering decisions that reduce unit effectiveness and destroy family bonds. When military personnel and their dependents improve their relational skills, they will find it easier to avoid conflict and to experience stronger and more productive relationships, both personally and militarily. These skills include empathy, communication, team building, problem-solving, vision casting, conflict resolution and negotiation. The value of practicing and teaching relational wisdom in a military setting is illustrated by the following materials:

If you are in the military, we encourage you to make use of the teaching options described above for You As an Example and Training Your Staff, thus encouraging your entire unit to improve their relational skills through RW training. If you are a military chaplain, being trained as an RW instructor or Coach would further enhance your ability to teach RW within the units you serve.

9. Law Enforcement, Fire Department, First Responder

Individuals who serve in law enforcement, fire departments and other first responder roles are constantly dealing with other people, often in stressful and emotionally charged situations. Therefore, it is essential that they develop the ability to read and manage their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others, quickly and effectively. The importance of these skills is borne out by the growing emphasis on emotional intelligence training in all of these professions (see articles on emotional intelligence in law enforcement, firefighting and first responders). If you serve in one of these areas and would like to strengthen your relational skills and help those you work with to do the same, we encourage you to take advantage of the sharing options described above for You As an Example and Training Your Staff. (As a first responder, you automatically receive a 50% scholarship for our online training.)

10. School Administrator, Teacher or Coach

Education is all about relationship. Whether you’re a school administrator, teacher or coach, your professional performance and personal fulfillment will depend not only on your “hard skills” (academic expertise) but also on your “soft skills” (relational expertise). Therefore, the more you cultivate your relational skills, the more success and enjoyment you will find in your work, as illustrated by the growing number of articles on emotional intelligence and social emotional learning in education. The following resources describe several practical ways that you can use RW360 resources to practice and promote relational wisdom in your school:

11. Parents/Families/Homeschooling

The most important task of every parent is to teach their children to love God with all their hearts and to love their neighbors as themselves. RW360’s educational resources are designed with these exact goals in mind, and will enable both parents and children to “get upstream of conflict” and enjoy a more a peaceful and productive family life. This training has been promoted by many family and school oriented organizations, including Focus on the Family, the Association for Christian Schools International, Veritas Press, Classical Conversations and the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. Normally priced at $49/person, it is available to students at an automatic 50% discount (use coupon “student50“). Preparing Children for Life provides a comprehensive overview of the benefits of teaching relational wisdom to your children.  As your family develops these skills, you can experience several major benefits:

These additional blog posts on parenting highlight other ways that you can equip your children with the relational skills that lead to durable friendships, strong marriages, successful careers and, most importantly, a compelling witness for Christ. Discovering Relational Wisdom 3.0 is an interactive online course that parents and children can take together. Although this course is rigorous enough to be used by adults, the key principles and demonstration videos are simple enough for ten-year-olds to understand. Even so, we suggest that parents register themselves for the course and go through a couple of lessons to decide which of their children are mature enough to benefit from this training. The most productive way to take the course if for each parent and child to register for the course so they can work through the videos, quizzes and web-based exercises themselves so that rather than simply listening to the information they actually work it into their lives. Each person needs to register with his or her own email address. Students can receive a 50% discount by using coupon “student50“ when they register. Children who are too young to work through the course on their own can instead sit and observe with one of their parents or siblings as they work through the videos and application exercises. For more information, email mail@rw360.org or call 406-294-6806.

12. Seminary, College or University

As important as it is to master the academic subjects taught in a seminary, college or university, the fact is that students’ relational skills will have a far greater influence on their professional and personal success throughout the rest of their lives (see RW and Emotional Intelligence). Post secondary schools used to safely assume that their students had acquired solid relational skills before they left their homes. That is no longer an accurate assumption. Therefore, one of the most valuable things schools can do for their students today is to strengthen their relational skills. As more and more schools recognize this fact, RW360’s training resources are being used in a growing number of ways in seminary, college and university settings, including:

  • Administrators and faculty modeling relational wisdom and leading small study groups in their departments (see You As an Example).
  • Providing the staff of entire departments with access to online training in relational wisdom (see Training Your Staff).
  • Adding an online training in relational wisdom as recommended or required study for courses in counseling, pastoral care, communications, education or leadership.
  • Training resident directors and advisers in dormitories in relational wisdom, so they can turn around and use RW360 resources for study groups on their floors.
  • Recommending online training in relational wisdom to freshmen (preferably a few months before they enter college) to prepare them for the challenges of college life (see Overcoming Artificial Maturity with Relational Wisdom.
  • Using online course or DVDs for campus Bible studies and fellowship groups.
  • Encouraging a faculty member to be trained as an RW Instructor and serve the entire school through live training and individual coaching.

13. Nonprofit Leader, Employee, Board Member or Volunteer

One of the best ways to increase the unity, public image and productivity of a nonprofit organization or parachurch ministry is to give every leader, employee, board member and volunteer the opportunity to upgrade their relational skills. Such training can provide multiple benefits, including: improved team creativity and cohesiveness, better balance between work and family life, less conflict, less staff and volunteer turnover, and increased productivity, growth and impact (see EI in the Workplace). For several ideas on how to bring these benefits into your organization, see You as an Example and Training Your Staff.

14. Missionary or Church Planter

Missionaries and church planters face a wide range of relational challenges in their daily work, many of which can undermine their effectiveness and in some cases cause their work to collapse altogether. As they improve their relational skills, however, and those of the people on their teams, they can experience many ministry-enhancing benefits, including:

  • RW helps to protect their families from stress and conflict
  • RW helps to preserve team unity and fruitfulness
  • RW can be used to serve communities and engage new friends
  • RW is useful in discipling new believers and reducing conflict
  • RW can give church members a more appealing Christian witness

For information on how to experience these benefits, see Five Ways RW Benefits Church Planters as well as these articles on emotional intelligence and missionaries and emotional intelligence and church planters. To bring these benefits into your mission or church plant, see the teaching options set forth in You as an Example and Training Your Staff.

15. Jail or Prison Ministry

Many if not most of the people who end up in jail or prison do so because of deficits in their relational skills, which can include a lack of empathy for other people, the inability to read one’s own emotions and control intense anger, or having never learned how to receive God’s grace and walk in his love. Each of these deficits can be significantly improved by providing teaching that enables jail and prison inmates to improve their emotional and relations skills, as these articles indicate. This teaching process can include the steps set forth in the You as an Example section above, which include setting an example of relational wisdom in interactions with inmates, leading small group studies using RW360 DVDs and study guides, and then helping inmates apply RW to the relational challenges of their daily lives (see these case studies provided by inmates in a state prison during a course on relational wisdom). In addition to improving their lives while incarcerated, this type of training can play a key role in preparing inmates for success when they complete their sentences and seek to rejoin their families and begin new jobs in their communities, as illustrated in Changing a Murderer into a Minister.

16. RW Coaching and Conciliation

RW360’s new generation of training resources integrates the principles of relational wisdom (RW), peacemaking, coaching and Christian conciliation into a discipleship program that equips individuals with skills that enable them to build relationships that prevent conflict and reflect the transforming power of the gospel.

These resources may be used by churches, ministries, businesses, schools and other organizations to develop in-house Peace Sower Teams™ that include RW instructors, coaches and conciliators who equip and assist others to live out the gospel by applying the principles of relational wisdom and biblical peacemaking. . For more details, click here.

Training