sustain:if:able kiwi

promoting practical and scholarly excellence: kicking 3 quick goals

At Uniting College, one of our 5 strategic signposts is promoting practical and scholarly excellence. We’re seeking a spiral of heart, head and hand.

So tomorrow we celebrate a book launch. Our missiologist, Dr Rosemary Dewerse launches Breaking Calabashes, Becoming an intercultural community. It takes her PhD, so it’s scholarly. In 140 pages, it applies it to local Christian living. So it’s practical – readable, woven with stories, poetry, questions and pictures. It’s a compelling mix of Biblical reflection, theological depth and compassionate vision. If you’re in Adelaide, join the party at 4:45 pm tomorrow, 34 Lipsett Tce.

Last week was the news that Dr Liz Boase earned a Gold Award at the Australian Religious Press Association for Best Theological Article for her writing in New Times. Mixing personal story with her PhD work on lament, here’s the commendation. “A thoughtful and reflective piece, well researched on the psalms and prayer. A much needed call to recover the literature and practice of lament in communal worship and private devotions … Its clarity and simplicity makes this article immediately accessible to a broader audience.” Scholarship, made practical. (To read the article – Learning in Lament – go here and scroll down to October 2012).

Today, I heard that my paper at the U2: TRANS conference has been accepted for publication, in a book in which academics will produce something readable by the non-expert, though college-educated, reader. Again, scholarship – analysis of performance gestures and lyrical adaptations – made practical.

Practical and scholarly excellence. Not either/or but both/and. Three quick goals from our Faculty team at Uniting College.

telling a story one year on

Today I’m planting seeds. First, early morning, in my garden, Van Gogh sunflowers, Wild Sweetie micro tomatoes, heirloom carrots and provencal salad mix. Second, later today, I’m hosting a one year on anniversary.

This is the invite I sent out (planted?) a few weeks ago …

Greetings,

A year ago, you gave us at Uniting College a gift.

You participated with us in a Capacity Builders process, giving your input, ideas and perspectives, as we at Uniting College worked toward a four year Strategic Planning process.

One year on, we want to report back.

On Tuesday, September 10, between 4:15-5:15 pm, in Uniting College Common Space, 34 Lipsett Tce, we want to thank and update you,

to share with you,

• the result – including the new tag line, sharpened mission statement, signposts, and 2014 objectives
• the home truths – some feedback we found hard to hear, but essential as we looked into the feedback mirror
• the road not travelled – some moments of learning, about ourselves and our mission, emerging from our 2013 objectives
• the road travelled – some highlights of God’s goodness in the last 12 months

There will be wine, cheese, stories and information, so for catering purposes, can you please RSVP to eloise dot scherer at flinders dot edu dot au.

It was in September a year ago that we as a theological College began a strategic planning process. While the idea of strategic planning in a theological college has a number of potential pitfalls, for us its been a breath of fresh air, providing clarity and allowing a depth of listening and community and team.

Today we’ll share some of that, and some of the stories of fresh life (planted seeds) that have sprouted among us.

Update: Feedback was very positive. We began with wine and cheese, which gave a relaxed, after work type of feel.

I then talked about the results, the feedback and the process. At various times I offered ways to engage. One idea that went really well, was giving out 5 hot dots to each person and asking them to vote on what they thought our 2014 goals should be. The goals had been placed up around the walls. I ran through them and then (3 days after the election here in Australia) people got to to vote (again), wandered around with the dots, choosing. It has been great for us as a team to have this outside input into what we as a team had initially thought was important.

Finally I finished with four highlights of the 2013 gone

• our first ever candidate indigenous immersion experience (see here and here)
• a just announced Gold award for “Best Theological Article” from the Australasian Religious Press Association for one of our lecturers
• our growth in the use of online learning, in both our under-graduate and post-graduate courses
• regional delivery, allowing us to engage many more lay people in our BMin

All in all, One Year On worked really well – an informal way for us to enjoy ourselves, while maintaining connections, giving and receiving feedback and telling stories

Blended Educational Design Coordinator: we’re hiring

We’re hiring – a very exciting movement for us here at Uniting College.

Blended education is important for three reasons. First, access. It allows folk who can’t make face to face at set times to still be able to learn and participate. Second community. It allows more ways to engage and connect. It gives introverts time to think, it allows conversations to go deeper and spiral over time. Third, inter-connection. Image learning not only with face to face classmates, but with people across Australia. And the opposite. Imagine being in Ceduna or Townsville, yet able to engage with others both in a face to face class and at distance. It is this vision, for a richer, deeper, more accessible education and formation, that is encouraging us.

Blended Educational Design Coordinator
0.5 – 0.7 of full time (Fixed two year contract)

Uniting College for Leadership & Theology is seeking a person to provide leadership in the embedding of blended learning as a key mode of delivery. This will include resourcing, developing and supporting both faculty and students in the transition to fully blended theological and ministry education at both VET and Higher Education levels. An expertise in relevant technologies, including Moodle, websearching and video conferencing will be essential.

Applications must be received by the close of business on September 30, 2013 with desired commencement as soon as convenient.

Inquiries to
Rev Dr Steve Taylor, Principal
Uniting College, 34 Lipsett Terrace, Brooklyn Park, SA 5032
or steve dot taylor at flinders dot edu dot au

a dynamic formation for ministry

Digital artist, Luca Agnani, takes Van Gogh’s paintings and brings them to digital life. He uses a mix of digital light and shadowing plus 3-d mapping, to provide a whole new way of viewing life.

It reminds me that life is dynamic rather than static.  It is easy to think of life, of faith, of theology, of Scripture, as a snapshot, a moment frozen in time.  The reality is that life is always about movement – the child running to the father, the sea a fluid wave movement, the streets full of people on the move.

Tomorrow, I am introducing a change to the candidate formation process at Uniting College. We will begin an exploration of practices, framed around a missional spirituality, and enhanced by storytelling – “the stories that you swap with other travellers” – about how these practices take shape in our lives.

So we’ve spent a lot of time as a team thinking about why we might do this.

Ministry formation could never prepare me for every situation I would find in life. Nor should it. Life is simply too fluid, too dynamic, to evolving, to ever make that possible.

Christian faith is dynamic – the practice of being sent, of prayer, of unforced rythyms of grace – are never static, but are always moving, shaped by those who walk toward us and away from us, those we welcome and those we let go, our experiences as we approach Scripture. Practices are our friends in this dynamic of life.

For those interested, the thirteen Van Gogh paintings are:

1. Fishing Boats on the Beach
2. Langlois Bridge at Arles, The
3. Farmhouse in Provence
4. White House at Night, The
5. Still Life
6. Evening The Watch (after Millet)
7. View of Saintes-Maries
8. Bedroom
9. Factories at Asnieres Seen
10. White House at Night, The
11. Restaurant
12. First Steps (after Millet)
13. Self-Portrait

how to pass theology

I kicked off Introduction to Christian Thought, a Semester 2 class today. Rather than the usual lecture mode, I suggested a more interactive, communal journey, in which I functioned not as the dispenser of knowledge, but as a guide in the communal doing of theology.

I offered them the following proposal:

• all content is online or in the library (alone we will read)
• theology is best done in community (together we will talk, laugh, disagree, grow over what we read)
• we will do theology not hear theology (together we will work on what concerns us and our world)

Or practically, in terms of our time (3 hours a week), a format as follows:

• 30 min catch up/ theological ‘show and tell’ from the week.
• 60 min ‘Doing Theology’ in-class project in small groups, with answer recorded on Moodle ‘wikispace’ for further interaction.
• coffee break
• 60 min Q&A based on the Moodle site readings/activities/resources. Students are expected to come to class having read the readings and study notes. The tutorial questions provided online will be used.

There was lots of energy at the end of the first week, so we’ll see how it goes. And how much reading gets done!

Leadership Formation as mission-shaped practices

This is a sign of some of our recent work at College – we’re shifting our formation day processes for candidates to focus around the practices of mission-shaped leadership. Here’s the email that went out yesterday to candidates and those in a Period of Discernment.

Our next Leadership Formation Day is August 5, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm. We will begin in S1.

As it is the start of a new semester, we will return to the vision for Uniting College. When Andrew Dutney introduced the new name of the College to Synod in 2009, he did it by reflecting on his experiences of backpacking around Europe. He described the backpacking habit of tearing out the chapter that related to the particular city you were in at the time. 

“It shocked me when I first saw it ….  I soon saw the good sense in what was going on. Why carry around 500 bound pages on the whole of Western Europe all day when you really only need the 20 pages on Antwerp? … It’s just extra weight on your shoulders.  In any case, the memories of the sights and experiences of a Belgian port city are carried more effectively in the stories that you swap with other travellers on the next train than in a few printed pages.”

Which he linked to the dominant image of Christian life in the Uniting Church of pilgrimage (full talk is here).

As a Uniting College team, we’ve sensed its time for another chapter in the pilgrimage of Leadership Formation Days. Prior to 2010, we met weekly on a Wednesday afternoon for chapel, community and colloquium input.

The chapter could be titled: Weekly and Wednesdays.

In the last few years we’ve met monthly on a Monday, all day. We’ve kept chapel and community and extended the colloquium input, with a range of topics – Spiritual gifts, Preamble, Conflict etc.

The chapter title could be titled: Monthly and topical.

As a team, we’ve discerned another chapter. On August 5, we will introduce this chapter. We will focus on 10 practices essential for mission-shaped spirituality. And ask each other what they mean for us as life-long learners and effective leaders in mission today. And swap stories as pilgrims on the way. (And we’ll keep chapel and community).

Perhaps with hindsight this chapter will be titled: Monthly and mission-shaped.

seeing formation: a theology of colour

Can we see formation?

In the Jesus Deck, the card for John 20:16 invites us to see the colours of formation. The risen Jesus appears to Mary. This, for Mary, is a life-changing moment. An encounter, a discovery, a recognition. It is a culmination of a number of years of discipleship, of questioning, following, pondering.

And this is visible. You hear it in her words “Master.”

But you also see it, in the Jesus Deck card, in the colours of the face of Mary. You see, around Jesus is a wheel of colour – hues of pinks, oranges, yellows. What is intriguing is that these same colours are in the face of Mary – she reflects, in hues of pinks, oranges, yellows, the colours of the Risen Jesus. This is deeply theological, a way of seeing the likeness of Christ.

But not Mary. Mary can’t see this. She can feel it. She can verbalise it. But we all know it is impossible to see our own faces. So only the viewer, the other, the outsider, can see the life change, can wonder at the colour.

This suggests a profoundly communal approach to formation. Mary needs us to see. Mary is blessed when we name back to her these colours, tell her what we are seeing. Alone we are limited. Together, all the senses are able to be appreciated.

This connects for me in two ways. First, personally, what are the colours currently in my face? Looking at the card, it struck me that I’ve worked too hard this week. Which directly effects the colours in my face. My being out of balance, my lack of formation, physically, becomes apparent. When I’m rested, when I’m relaxed, when I’ve laughed with friends, that shows – in colour, in my face. That’s interesting to ponder.

(Use of Skype for Formation Panels at Uniting College, to enable connection with remote candidates)

Second, this week at Uniting College has included formation panels. For our ministerial candidates, three times a year, for what amounts to a six year period, they meet with same panel of experienced ministers (for more here) Contemplating John 20:16, looking at the Jesus Deck, I realised that these processes are actually about seeing colour. The candidate can feel the impact of training for ministry. The candidate might verbalise this impact. But they can’t see it. It is the gift of the panel, however humanly, however falteringly, to try to name the colours back to the candidate. This is gift, to have what is happening in you and for you discerned and described.

This is deeply communal approach to formation. To reframe Martin Buber, this is not only the “I” of growth, or even the “I” to “I” of a person with a supervisor or mentor. It is an “I” to “we” encounter, a three way partnership between the Risen Jesus of John 20:16, the individual and some members of the body of Christ.

Third (thanks Lynne), this is missional. Anyone can look at the face of another, or in this case the face of Mary. Those inside and outside the community. The encounter with Christ is not only for Mary, not only for formation, it is part of the work of Christ made visible in our world.

Reframing Lindbeck, through time Christianity has developed a grammar for how the colours are described, named, affirmed. This introduces another layer of embodiment. The body in history has this grammar. Saints before (saints current, other candidates in formation, those in the formation panel, Christians and ministers in general) are also colour carriers. This is another dimension of mirroring. Mary can hear her colours described, Mary can also see colours in the lives of others.

(I realise as I write that this is all grist for the mill in preparation for my September presentation in Sydney – Living libraries: Embodiment and transformation in the context of e-learning)

For more on colours and formation see –
Last year I reflected on the colours of formation – to ask what colours are the processes of formation and the use of a colour wheel to capture the organic changes through life.

Let theory and practice kiss

The separation of theory from practice, the academy from the pulpit is, IMHO, a curse of modernity. Historically theology emerged from the church, from bishops, often in sermons. It grew out of the practice of ministry.

In recent centuries, theology has tended to shift into the university. It has been linked with words like ivory tower. It has tried to pretend in the importance of objectivity, that there is so neutral place by which an overview can be gained. It needs to be research active, supported by academic publishing. And so a dangerous set of either/ors have been set in play. Theory has been opposed to practice, academy to church, lecturers to ministers .. and so the story goes/

At Uniting College, one of our 5 strategic signposts is to promote scholarly and practical excellence in our living, teaching and writing. Is an attempt to get beyond the either/ors that divide us. We value both.

A conversation with a colleague yesterday resulted in the following advertisement being made:

Calling OT Preachers – Liz Boase would love to hear from ministers who regularly use the Old Testament in preaching and worship and would be interested in contributing to her Interpreting the Old Testament unit. Classes start Wednesday evenings in late July. If you have sermons and prayers or would like to find out more, please contact liz.boase at flinders dot edu dot au. This is an opportunity to help students make links between classroom and church.

A class, in which those who use the Bible regularly, are placed in conversation with students and with a PhD qualified. Which would be richer for student, for “practitioner” and for lecturer.

A moment, it seems to me, when theory and practice begin to kiss.

defining church, community, theology, formation and College

Just an advertisement for a car company. And yet –
if a picture says a 1,000 words, then this is a powerful visual question –
what type of church, community, theology, formation and College do we want to be part of?

And if so, how then should we act, what should we practice, what should we affirm?

Mission and leadership intensives

Two intensives begin at Uniting College tomorrow. Both provide a glimpse of our direction and focus.

On the Gold Coast, Craig Bailey, at the invitation of New Life Uniting, begins an intensive on leadership. It includes local folk from the church plus a number of folk from Adelaide, flying up to enjoy the input, and a warmer climate. So there will be real richness across Synods and States. In addition, this is one of four topics we are teaching this year in local churches, as part of our desire to build partnerships and connect with more folk and engage locally.

In Adelaide, Rosary Dewerse begins an intensive on mission, worship and leadership across cultures. This is her area of passion and chimes beautifully with the release of her book, Breaking Calabashes, which is an accessible introduction to the skills and practises essential to encounter across cultures. It is her PhD, made practical. It is such a crucial area for mission in Australia and its great to see both the book and the course.

Mission and leadership, partnering with local churches and across cultures. A snapshot of the College indeed.

Chaplaincy everywhere

I like the sound of Chaplaincy Everywhere. It is mentioned on a recent post on Sanctus 1, a fresh expression in the UK, in which they are placing chaplains in shopping centres.

So this is more than historic notions of chaplains as at hospital or prison. We need ways to empower people to see themselves as chaplains in their streets, communities and workplaces. It is what we worked toward at Opawa Baptist at one point, calling them community chaplains, and we appointed three into the local community.

I suspect it requires another understanding of ecclesiology, in which the local church commissions and nurtures, rather than the wider (synod).

One of our DMin students at Uniting College is exploring a theology of street chaplaincy, based on his experiences over years as a Main Street chaplain. Plus there is the fabulous chapter in Darren Cronshaws book on ministry models in Australia, including Michael Leunig as a chaplain to the culture.

All by way of saying, I wonder what a Chaplaincy Everywhere course at Uniting College would look like?

Living libraries: Embodiment and transformation in the context of e-learning (Conference paper abstract)

A few hours in the air between Adelaide and Sydney gave me time to put together a potential paper for the Learning and Teaching Theology Conference: The Way Ahead. It is being held in Sydney, September 27th- 28th, 2013. It looks a really worthwhile attempt to keep theological colleges thinking about theological education. Since I’ve been involved in a review of distance education here at Uniting College, which has caused me to think theologically about distance education, I scratched together the following abstract.

Living libraries: Embodiment and transformation in the context of e-learning

This paper, in considering the way ahead for Australian theological education, will apply the theological motif of transformation to the task of e-learning, using the notion of “living libraries” as a conceptual bridging strategy.

Recent research by the Transforming Theology project cited the Adelaide College of Divinity (ACD) Bachelor of Ministry as an example of good practice in curriculum design for transformative learning. “The innovative Bachelor of Ministry of Adelaide College of Divinity quite intentionally included a number of such independent and supervised Guided Studies in the final year … In these units an attempt is made to model the process of transformative integration.”

This paper will use a practical theology methodology. It will begin with a case study from recent ACD activity, the participation through video conferencing of a New Zealand church leader in a supervised Guided study “Church Re-think” class.

This moment will be brought into conversation with “living libraries,” an approach to learning that began in Denmark in 2000. Rather than produce a written resource, a youth movement provided people to libraries who had experienced violence. Rather than borrow a book, the community could book a person, and through conversation explore the perspective of another. An independent audit has recorded benefits including new learning and improved levels of community cohesion and engagement.

Returning to the case study, the potential of “living libraries” for new learning in theological education will be analysed under headings of context, lecturer and learner.

This will allow a three fold argument. First, that “living libraries” provide a fruitful way to understand selected pedagogical factors in transformation. Second that “living libraries” provide a way to foreground theologies of embodiment. Third that “living libraries” provide a way bring an explicit theology to bear in regard to pedagogy and digital technologies.

Rev Dr Steve Taylor
Principal, Uniting College for Leadership and Theology

pastoral studies suite: did “we” do this?

One of my learnings at the moment, is how to shift from I to we. In other words, how innovation and change can emerge from groups, rather than individuals – on how to create communities that can look at each other and go “we did this.”

Here’s a marker to reflect on:

It is a hospital bed that sits in the middle of what is becoming a pastoral training suite. With the advent of the new Diploma of Ministry in Chaplaincy (for more see here and here), here at Uniting College, along with other pastoral teaching and training courses, we thought it appropriate to establish a room suitably equipped for pastoral training purposes. The room is in the process of being equipped with various furnishings and healthcare equipment to create a variety of pastoral contexts relevant to contemporary chaplaincy and other pastoral ministries. The contexts being developed include a hospital bedroom, an aged care living room, a disability ramp and wheelchair, and a schoolroom setting and possibly a prison visiting room. These contexts will enable students to envision the lived pastoral context with significant clarity. Students will, for example, be filmed practising and reviewing their pastoral craft in one of the created contexts. In an small room next door we are creating a discrete worship space to symbolise the sense in which the chaplain / pastoral practitioner takes their liturgical and sacramental resources with them into their pastoral context.

So how did this happen?

This innovation began with our Old Testament lecturer, who having recently spoken to Chaplains in South Australia, wondered if we as a College could better resource then. This question was explored in a small group within our team, workshopping creative ways to respond to our funding challenges. (Sometimes challenges can generate creativity.) From that group emerged a creative solution – a Diploma of Ministry in (chaplaincy/leadership) that already existed within our course structures.

As I heard the group share the idea, I wondered if this innovation could be strengthened by resourcing. I took a funding proposal to our Board, as an entrepreneurial experiment. They agreed and a person, was appointed to be a chaplaincy Co–ordinator.

When the idea of the new Diploma of Ministry was promoted at Synod, a former lecturer of the college mentioned to me their dream of a “pastoral suite.”

I mentioned the dream to the new Chaplaincy co-ordinator and suggested he connect with our Campus manager about the logistics. She found a space and put a funding bid to the campus resources board for painting. I also suggested the new Chaplaincy co-ordinator seek to connect by asking agencies for furniture, as a way of decreasing our costs, but more importantly promoting our initiative and building connections. He did. As a result, we’ve been given hospital bed, wheelchair, walker. We are aiming for a public launch in a few months, in which we can invite these agencies to see the result!

In sum, within the space of some eight months, we have a pastoral suite, a new staff person, a clarified Diploma, a more diverse student body, increased connections with agencies, a marketing niche and a branding message that says we innovate not just for leaders in large churches, but also for chaplains in agencies.

Looking back, there are things I might have done differently. But it stands as an intriguing leadership marker. “We did this” – an OT lecturer, a small group, a new Chaplaincy co-ordinator, a “dreamer” lecturer, a Principal as connector, a Campus Manager. Very different gifts mixes and roles, each essential, to innovation.

PS This was a story I shared at the Innovation that Engages Upgrade, as a way of introducing the National Church Life Survey Lead with your strengths insights.

Walking on country: student participation

Walking on Country: an initiative of Uniting College for Leadership and Theology (UCLT), supported by Pilgrim Uniting Church and Ken Leaver Scholarship Fund (edited by Danica Patselis with contributions from other participants)

In February this year, a group from UCLT went to Camp Coorong for a ‘Walking on Country’ Indigenous Immersion experience, with the gracious Ngarrindjeri people. The group was guided by (Rev Dr) Tracey Spencer and Aunty Denise Champion and consisted of students, candidates, a business owner, farmer, community workers and faculty. The initiative is an important part of the college’s formation process for ministers, and is extended to family and members of the wider church. Steve Taylor, Principal of the College says “We hope it’s the start of an annual event and an ongoing partnership both with Pilgrim and local indigenous communities.”

As a group we came with various apprehensions, pre-conceived ideas and for some of us feelings of shame, growing up in a culture where we as a second people have not recognised the people of this nation. We haven’t been reconciled within our nation and we have not heard the stories of the first peoples of the land who have lived here for so long. With a gracious and loving smile, Aunty Denise, calmed our fears as she guided us over the weekend. Her warm welcome encouraged us, that we are “Walking on Country” with friends, who long to be in relationship and share with us.

Uncle Tom, welcomed us to Camp Coorong, and began our time by asking us why we had come and what we longed to learn from our time with the Ngarrindjeri people. Uncle Tom’s first response, to listen, spoke deeply to us. Over the following days we followed Uncle Tom out onto the land listening to his stories and the stories of his ancestors who had lived and thrived on this land for many years. A young farmer in the group reflected “[the Ngarrindjeri peoples’] cultural practices have been so well developed over the many years of learning…The indigenous culture is much more interested in co existing with the environment. I felt more and more of their pain from the irreversible damage second peoples have inflicted on their land in such a short amount of time.” Ngarrindjerri women also sat with us and taught us their traditional weaving of baskets, hats, bags and art with the reeds found by the River. In response to our thanks they looked into our eyes and said “We are Ngarrindjerri people, we want to share these things with you, that is what we do, we share.”

After listening to Uncle Tom’s stories of our nation’s sad history, we lamented at the slow and pitiful recognition of the Indigenous peoples, and their rights and dignity as custodians of this land in the constitution. We lamented at the horrific stories of displacement, abuse and stripping of cultural heritage. For many of us the experience of participating in the “racism game” one afternoon with Tracey Spencer, unveiled our eyes to the institutionalized racism within our society. We began crying out – not for a change to the rules of the game, but a doing away with the value and playing of the game, imagining a new future, without ‘teams’ and a society founded in love and reconciliation. Later that night, Aunty Denise, brought us together, lit a candle and playing her guitar she shared with us a song in the Adnyamathanha tongue of her people “The light of Christ has come into the world.” She reminded us that first and second peoples can be the light of Christ in the world, standing in reconciliation together and then also with God.

Returning home, we have all had much time to reflect on how we will follow the example of Aunty Denise and Uncle Tom, in listening, sharing and engaging with reconciliation. We are thankful for communities like Pilgrim who encourage all people to covenant with the UAICC. Many of us have taken steps to share our experiences in our own communities and begin new relationships with people in Congress and the wider indigenous community. For each of us we have realised that reconciliation begins with relationship and that continuing action, justice and change begins here.

This was a copy of what was recently shared by Danica Patselis, student at Uniting College, as part of Reconciliation Sunday, at Pilgrim Uniting.