How Equipped to Serve Training Came to Be
I (Cyndi Philkill) was Executive Director of the Greater Baltimore Crisis Pregnancy Center (GBCPC) for 13 years from 1982 through 1995. The GBCPC was the first Pregnancy Center that was founded under an organization called the Christian Action Council which is now known as CareNet.
In the early days of Pregnancy Centers, most of what and how we learned was trial by error and flying by the seat of our pants as most start-ups are forced to do. There was no business model to follow and no training manuals at our disposal. The first training I attended as a volunteer, the training material consisted of about 25 sheets of paper, most of which was teaching the concept of the biblical basis for the sanctity of human life and explanations of the abortion procedures that were prevalent at that time (the early 80s).
The counseling model used in Pregnancy Centers in the early days was, "information based." The focus was mainly on the unborn child and educating women about abortion procedures. As I began to spend time with women faced with the decisions of an unplanned pregnancy I realized that information alone was not sufficient to care for women faced with such monumental decisions. I saw that the focus needed to shift from unborn children to the women carrying those unborn children. This is no longer a radical idea but at the time it was very radical. I began to see that the training available at the time was very information-based rather than skill-based. I also realized that there needed to be a new focus to the training to envision volunteers as to the ultimate goals and purposes of the Pregnancy Center. For that vision, I turned to the New Testament and studied how Jesus ministered to women. This study became the turning point for me and the source of the passion I now have for training lay volunteers to care for women faced with the decisions of an unplanned pregnancy.
During my tenure as Director of the GBCPC I attended Johns Hopkins University and received my Master of Science Degree in Organization Development and Training. I focused my study on teaching and training adults. After graduation I felt it was time to try and write the manual I had been preparing to write for so many years. I finally had my ideas of what I believed ministry to women faced with the decisions of an unplanned pregnancy should look like (based on Jesus' ministry) AND the means to construct those theories into a new training program for adults.
The Seven Fundamentals & What DID Jesus do
I realized that most of the volunteer counselor training that was available at the time was filled with great information but did not have a central theme or vision around which the training was built. The main focus of the Equipped to Serve Training program that is different from most other training programs are the Seven Fundamentals which are based on how Jesus actually ministered to women. The intent of these skills is to focus on the client and her needs rather than our agendas and desires. The Seven Fundamentals are the backbone of the training. They articulate the purpose of the ministry, the goals of the training and the necessary skills that will enable a volunteer to . . .
Ministry not Manipulation
This is the heartbeat of the Equipped to Serve training - to care for women faced with the decisions of an unplanned pregnancy as Christ loved and cared for women. It is radical, surprising, and life-changing for both the client and counselor. Read more about ministry versus manipulation in this article.
From One Center to Many Centers
Initially, when Cyndi Philkill and Suzanne Walsh were writing the Equipped to Serve volunteer training manual, we thought that we were only writing it for our own Center in Baltimore. When we started sharing our ideas for the manual amongst the Pregnancy Center community, many Center Directors started showing an interest in the project. Soon after the training manual was completed, I sent preview copies out to many of my fellow directors.
From that point on God seemed to have plans for the manual that would exceed all that we had planned or imagined. The initial printing of the manual was in 1994. Since then it has gone through a number of revisions and thousands of manuals have been printed to serve hundreds of Pregnancy Centers across the United States.
From One Country to Many Countries
Since the initial printing of the Equipped to Serve Volunteer Training Manual, the manual has been used in a variety of countries around the globe. In 2001 Equipped to Serve took it's first trip to the continent of Africa. The manual is now being used in Pregnancy Centers in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Cyndi has made seven trips to Africa to help various Pregnancy Centers train their volunteers and equip Pregnancy Center staff to train their volunteers on an ongoing basis. You can view some photos and videos from Cyndi's trips to Africa on the Photographs & Video page on the Equipped to Serve website.
Other Pregnancy Center directors and trainers have used the Equipped to Serve Training to train lay counselors and volunteers in England, The Soviet Union, the Ukraine, Canada, and China.
In 1997 the manual was translated into Spanish and is used by many Centers who minister to Spanish-speaking clients. It has been tremendously helpful in recruiting and training Spanish-speaking volunteers as well.
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