More than a Feeling: The Influence of Emotions in Learning and Implications for Church Ministry

Historically, educators have taken a reticent and measured approach in engaging the affective domain in learning, particularly as it relates to human emotions. By default, the cognitive and psycho-motor domains have tended to receive a greater level of attention and care. The same imbalance, by and large, characterizes learning environments in church ministry, perhaps due to an overly cautious fear of crossing professional and ethical boundaries. Yet, emerging research and science on the brain reveal that the emotions play an essential role in the learning process. Through basic measures such as acknowledgment of the presence of emotions, the practice of empathy, and evoking emotion through story, educators in church ministry contexts can account for the vital contribution that emotions make to the process of learning and formation.