Below are introductory comments for my D.Min. sudents entering our new program on contextual leadership:

Last week the director of a consortium of theological schools visited me for a consultation. In the course of our conversation I shared with him my “rant” on formation related to the under appreciated significance of context. My rant typically goes something like this:

“Formation is one of those concepts people in seminaries fall in love with, but rarely understand or know how to apply. My challenge to seminaries that fret overmuch over the matter of “formation of clergy” is to stop worrying and cease trying to do what they cannot accomplish. Seminaries are good about the formation of seminarians, churches form clergy.”

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Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (www.btsr.edu) will offer four online course during fall of 2011:

M3811 Music and Worship (Loftis)
M3730 Educating in Faith (Galindo)
M3321 Christian Ministry I (supervised ministry practicum) (Hartman)
M3211 Introduction to Spirituality (Ford).

Visit the seminary website (www.btsr.edu) for more information and for course schedules. Contact the Registrar for enrollment information.

by Israel Galindo

A colleague invited some of us to a discussion on the phenomenon of BFST orthodoxy. This is the tendency we’ve seen among some “Bowenians” to guard the orthodoxy of the theory. At times it manifests itself as:

* A focus on the exclusively “correct” use of terms, concepts, and vocabulary
* The creation of a list of verbotem words, phrases, or references
* A dismissal of certain concepts that are considered “outside” the original theory’s schema
* The identification of “camps” (e.g., Bowen vs. Friedman) and the self-identification with the original conceptualizer with an accompanying dismissal of those not deemed disciples of direct succession.
* The manifestation of the affects of hubris and exclusivity.

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I received an emal from a pastor asking about children’s sermons. He just accepted a call to a church at which he’ll need to deliver a children’s sermon as part of the worship service pastoral duties. I think that’s a great thing. And I appreciate his seeking counsel on how to do it well.

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In a recent conversation with a group of folks in theological education who were pondering the relationship between the academy and the Church I was asked what I thought the future of congregations would look like. My response was that I have no crystal ball and would be suspect of anyone who offered a definitive answer to that question. But apparently there is a robust cottage industry in prophetic proclamations, futurists, tarot card readers, fortune tellers and latter day channelers of Nostrodamus. So, I ventured that if I had a guess about the future of the church I could risk a prediction.

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At a recent conference on congregational leadership I was again struck by how the level of energy (anxiety?) in the room increased when the topic focused on change. This is natural, of course, since one of the critical functions of the leader in any system is bring about positive change on several levels. In fact, it is likely that the new leader in any system will enter with a mandate to make changes in the system–notwithstanding that any attempts of consequence to do so on the part of the leader will likely meet with resistence if not outright sabotage.

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Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (BTSR) will offer the following courses online during spring 2011 term:

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A student in my online class asked a great question:

< <... How do I encourage members to reflect and think theologically?.... I'm having a hard time coming up with an example of what that would even look like in a church setting. I know it's important, and I use the practice myself at times, but I can't figure out how to transfer it to a congregation or group setting. Could anyone offer me some insight?....>>

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I’ve been developing a presentation on practical leadership tactics from a systems perspectives. I’m calling it “Systems Ju-jitsu.” You can read a series of blog entries on the topic on the Perspectives on Congregational Leadership blog.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard from Rick, who always asks interesting “systems questions.” Today he asked: “I was just wondering what steps people can take to not be guided by the emotional programming they have acquired from their family of
origin. How does one learn to separate oneself from this programming?”

That’s a tall order, but then, it describes well the work of differentiation, doesn’t it?

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