Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Unbounding learning communities in Practical Theology

Practical Theology acceptance ..

Unbounding learning communities: Ako-empowered research in life-long ministerial formation

Steve Taylor and Rosemary Dewerse

Abstract: While formation is an essential practice of local church communities, the formation of ministers for ordination, along with continued professional education, is generally located in the context of higher education. ‘Ako’, describing a teaching and learning relationship grounded in reciprocity, and employed as an approach to researching life-long learning needs among ordained ministers in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, challenged this separation. The results of interviews and workshops with 285 lay and ordained leaders challenged the location of postgraduate provision in the context of higher education. The request was to teach leaders with their people in community in practices for living differently, with a focus on educating educators in relationally embodied ways. Educational experiments clarified ways of unbounding learning for local communities. These praxis-derived discoveries are clarified by conversation with the life of Jesus and Irenaeus’ theological anthropology of recapitulation. This brings clarity regarding the nature of ako as reciprocity in communities of practice and a reimagining of theological colleges as facilitators of unbounded local learning communities.

Keywords: ako, communities of practice, formation, Irenaueus, life-long learning, theological education

More fruit from the Thornton Blair Research project into life-long ministerial formation.

Posted by steve at 09:41 AM

Sunday, June 21, 2020

intercession prayers with John Holt on Windrush

I was asked by the Church of Scotland to offer some worship resources (on Weekly Worship) that might connect with Windrush day. My favourite bit was reworking John Holt’s, Stick by me from The Tide is High, Anthology 1962-79 (Trojan Records) and imagining God singing to Hagar and Ishmael.

Lullaby God,
We hear You soothe in the desert
Singing to a crying child – Ishmael, Isaac climbing Mt Moriah and the Exodus children facing the Red Sea
We hear Your comfort, Don’t be afraid, When you cry, I cry too
Stick by me, I’ll stick by you

Lamenting God,
We hear You sing in the wildernessHope for a grieving mother – Hagar, Hannah, Elizabeth
We hear Your peace,
Don’t be afraid, When you cry, I cry too
Stick by me, I’ll stick by you

Serenading God of the Blues,
who mourns in the wilderness
For all families torn apart by bitterness, envy and strife
When you cry, I cry too
Remember my heart and my love belong to you,
We hear Your heart, Don’t be afraid, No one can tear us apart
Stick by me, I’ll stick by you

Harmonizing God
For all churches facing a hospitality crisis
Help us hear Your melody, harmonize with Your desert lullaby,
May we open our arms To all those estranged in our community
You’ve got a place in our heart, oh yeah
Stick by us, as we stick by You Amen.

“Stick by me, I’ll stick by you
When you cry, I cry, too, oh oh Stick by me and I’ll stick by you
Remember my heart and my love belong to you, oh oh
Stick by me, I’ll stick by you.”

It was back in December when I did the work and it is interesting to sit with the work I did on Windrush Day now – 6 months later – in light of COVID and of BLM. I think part have aged really well – for example this paragraph I wrote:

“New Zealand biblical scholar, Judith McKinley … argues that the wilderness and ethnic dimensions of the [Genesis 21:8-21] text resonate strongly with our world today. Hence this text allows us to have sensitive conversations with people today who experience marginalisation, including through gender and ethnicity.”

Posted by steve at 11:24 AM

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Imagining a New Normal

During lockdown one of the projects and communities, I’ve been involved in is Imagining a New Normal.

Within each Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand there are Mission Catalysts. Some are employed, some volunteer with a passion for God’s mission. During lockdown, these Mission Catalysts have gathered online, brought together by PressGo. The group is becoming a learning community, providing support, encouragement and sharing resources and ideas. As long-held assumptions about church services have been confronted and challenged, there are opportunities to talk about the possibilities of igniting a missional imagination, asking “what if?” questions and taking some risks.

Generally, the future unfolds in small steps. Change involves experiments, from which learnings are gleaned. This enables discernment toward the future. Mission Catalysts know the power of the story. Stories can ignite the imagination, evoke curiosity and help people to think differently.

SO … the Mission Catalysts set themselves the task of telling “what if” stories. We started from “what is” and then told forward where that might lead. Each story was then submitted to peer review. What are the mission practices embedded in each “imagining”. The stories have been collated and a first edition is here. I’ve got one, imagining local church wanting to simplify and seek to stay online. I also did some work, peer reviewing some of the peer reviewing, a way of me offering my missiology skills to the ongoing life of this important learning community.

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The aim is to give permission, offer grounded mission and so to spark more stories – for local communities to “out tell” us with their real life “what if” …

The next stories are yours. We want to hear from parishes, faith communities and small groups about the things that God has been stirring up. About the things you have tried that worked and the ones that didn’t. Stories that start with the seed of an idea, ask “what if” and then, with a playful demeanour, give it a go.

Posted by steve at 03:24 PM

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Building community and increasing participation online: international

I taught in Western Australia on Tuesday without leaving my home in Ōtepoti (Dunedin), New Zealand. What would be a 12 hour trip – one way – took about 1 second. Such is the power of online technology.

A few weeks ago, as part of my role with the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, I offered online a short evening course – Building community and increasing participation online. Given the way that COVID was forcing so much of life online – with churches unable to meet and work from home being enforced – I sort to resource church leaders.

I’ve been working in the online space in a whole variety of ways for decades – building my own website back last century, blogging since 2002, having a social media presence (twitter since 2008), encouraging theological colleagues online while Principal at Uniting College, making short educative video since 2011, developing the learning management system while Principal at KCML. So a short course on Building community and increasing participation online, as part of the recent KCML Bubble courses, made sense.

The Building community and increasing participation online short course began with theology. What type of images of God might help us understand being online? I then offered some recent research into use of social media. Who are humans in online spaces? I then offered some practical resources to enhance wellbeing and engagement. This included case studies, reflection on experience and examples of different uses of technology platforms.

The course was focused on Presbyterians in New Zealand and gained excellent feedback. However, because it was online, it also gained international participation. One was a Presbytery minister from Western Australia. Who afterward mentioned the value of Building community and increasing participation online to their team.

Why not do it again for them? Online, this is possible internationally even with lockdown.

international

So on Tuesday, I taught 15 church leaders in Western Australia without leaving my home! Again, I worked alongside co-host Tash McGill. This is an intentional part of the design, an essential way of building community online. As part of the short course, Tash explained the role of co-host and talked about the range of ways to educate online. This began a practical exercise, as the church leaders were invited to design their own “short course” to suit their online context. Practical and participatory.

If it can be done once, in New Zealand and twice, in Australia, it can be done anywhere. So, if you want 2 hours of theology, research and practical resourcing, that is interactive, timely and engaging, drop me a line – steve at emergentkiwi dot org dot nz

Posted by steve at 09:00 PM

Tuesday, June 09, 2020

Is that your Bible?

An opinion piece I wrote – Is that your Bible? – has been accepted by ABC Religion and Ethics and is up on their online portal. It’s an analysis of a moment in popular culture and some reflection on what it means to use and abuse religious symbols. It’s always been a bucket list to pitch an idea to a national news organisation and try to connect theology with current events.

So I looked at other pieces on the portal to get an idea of word length (scope). Then I did a quick google to find out what else had been written (unique) and pitched the concept on Wednesday, using a short acronym from Sam Dylan Fitch (here)

P – Purpose. What’s the point of your piece?
A – Audience. Who are you talking to?
U – Unique. What’s new about your take?
S – Scope. Is it “too big” or just right?
E – Editor. Did you spell their name correctly and review their guidelines/pub? Does your pitch reflect that?

and with 4 edits over the next 4 days, had it published on Monday.

Posted by steve at 09:12 PM