[MUSIC PLAYING]
A self-reliance group
meeting works like a council and is different from most
church classes, lessons, or workshops. There are no teachers,
trainers, or experts. Instead, a facilitator
helps members as they counsel together, learn
together, mentor each other, commit to act on what
they are learning, and hold each other accountable
for those commitments. As a facilitator you
may be a great teacher, have a good education,
or be good at business, but that is not why
you have been called. Your primary role is to help the
group mentoring process work. That is best done by helping
the group follow the materials as they are written,
and by letting the group and the
process be the teacher. Your goal is to
help the group learn how to rely on themselves,
their group members, and most importantly, on the Savior. An effective group
provides mentoring through encouragement and
support, accountability for making and keeping
commitments that lead to self-reliance,
helping members solve their own problems, and through
increased faith in the Savior. The materials are
designed to help create this among group members. And it is important that
they not come from you as the facilitator. Let's listen to the
experience of a facilitator in the Dominican
Republic as she learned the difference between
teaching and facilitating. [SPEAKING SPANISH]
This group mentoring
and counseling process, together with the
workbooks and videos, creates a dynamic
learning environment that strengthens each
member in their development of a self-reliant life. You will fulfill your
role as a facilitator as you focus on
facilitating this process, rather than on teaching. As you do so, you
will be helping each member of the group
become more self-reliant. [MUSIC PLAYING]