I’ve been invited to write a magazine article on artistic interpretations of biblical texts. I enthusiastically accepted the invitation from the editor. Given my lifelong interest in art in general, and religious art in particular, and the fact that I’ve never written (as well as I can recall) anything along these lines made the novelty attractive.
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My friend and colleague Marty and I have turned in our manuscript for the book on educational planning in the congregational context. This is the sit and wait stage before the next phase of editing. For me this is always a time of gratitude for the break from writing and anticipation toward finishing the work.
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I received this comment via an e-mail from a workshop participant some time ago:
Toward the end of the day you said something like, “certitude is the greatest obstacle to faith.” Since you saved it for last, I am thinking it is one of our take-home points, but I am having trouble getting my arms around this concept. I looked up certitude (it is not a word I am very familiar with) and Websters defines it as “Freedom from doubt, especially in matters of faith.” syn-certainty.
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A colleague is making a change in his church staff position. He’s struggling with coming up with a new ministry job title. He says, “While I realize the main thing is how one functions, job titles are suggestive and important.”
He’s moving from a generalist position as Minister of Christian Formation, to a more focused ministry with adults. Here are some titles he’s considering.
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I discovered the book, Becoming A Community of Salt and Light, by Peggy Prevoznik Heins (Ava Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana) while I was researching our (Galindo and Canaday) soon-to-be-published book, Organizing for Christian Education Formation: A Faith Community Approach. The author makes the point that leadership is an issue of skill development, and that leaders not only need to be able to address the functions they are called to, but must possess certain leadership qualities. She calls attention to eleven leadership qualities in a chart in her book. These eleven qualities are listed with slight modification below.
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I was a hospice chaplain for about five years. It was a great job, despite the obvious need to redefine professional competence and success that comes with the territory. Nothing I was able to do would help the patient “get better.” And every one of our patients died. Over six hundred patients died under my ministry. That’s not something I put on the resume.
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Every once in a while I get a chance to visit congregations with large Sunday School or Sunday morning Bible classes. Some of these classes have over 100 persons in regular attendance. While that may seem like a sign of success to some, others see those large classes as something to be wary of. Large Sunday School classes were, for a previous generation, both a goal and a measure of success. But even with the more contemporary emphasis on small groups (with 20 people in a group considered already too large) there remain pockets where bigger is better despite everything we know about how large teacher-focused classes are pedagogically ineffective.
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I recently heard a speaker say that “…everything and everywhere is a classroom and therefore an educational setting….” While the hyperbole makes its point, the use of the term “classroom” posits a danger for misunderstanding. My concern is that, while I agree with the sentiment, there is risk in using a classroom as a metaphor for anything other than . . . well, a classroom.
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If you have ever talked to someone about the Christian Year who isn’t familiar with it, then you may recognize the blank stare on their face that you get in return. Use the Seasons of the Spirit’s “The Seasons of the Church Year†poster, and you have a great starting point for this discussion.
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Once a month I try to take a reading day at the library, either at my local neighborhood library or the seminary library across campus. Most of my reading on that day consists of pulling journals and periodicals off the shelf to catch up on the most current writing and thinking on areas of interest.
Here are periodicals I’ve found worth consulting to keep up in the field of education:
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