sustain:if:able kiwi

one work week in

“What will you do today,” was the question asked at the Monday morning breakfast table. New job, empty desk, new possibilities …

So what did I do?

Firstly, teaching preparation. I’m teaching four courses in 2010.

• spirit of wonder – in March there is this wonderful block-course mix of art, worship and input, shaped around topics of creativity, leadership, spirituality and mission. People can come from around Australia and take it as Masters of Ministry unit.

• sociology of ministry – a weekly class that explores the impact of contemporary culture and context for ministry today

• church, ministry, sacraments – another weekly class, applying mission to the task of being church and ministry today.

• missional church leadership – encourages innovation (both inside and outside church walls) among leaders, providing Biblical frameworks, skills and capacities. Lots of support and time to focus on one’s own context.

So, especially with sociology of ministry and church/ministry/sacraments, there is a lot of work to do getting my head around new material, particularly the Australian context and Uniting church values.

Second, leadership stuff – this is a new role, that is keyed into a College that is on a journey of change. I read the following dream statement this week:

Our Uniting Churches are hubs for mission, safe places for spiritual reflection, homes for fresh expressions of faith, learning centres for discipleship and catalysts for growth.

Sounds like Opawa and I’m keen to see this become more and more a reality for all Uniting churches, esp the first (hubs for mission) and third (fresh expressions of faith). I have lots of ideas, but a priority in these days is listening. So the first weeks are about networking, setting up ways to be out and about, listening to people around their mission challenges.

Third, speaking – there have been lots of invitations to speak, including inter-state. If it’s preaching, I have a simple reply: “Love to, but not until we’ve found a church home.” There have been lots of other invites and I’m taking them on a case by case basis.

Fourth, research and writing – this is an important part/carrot of the role. So I’ve been squirrelling myself away in the library, reading and writing. This week it was producing an abstract for the Sarah Coakley symposium, Sydney, July.

So that’s “What I’m doing with my day/week”: In some ways a similar mix to a week in New Zealand – teaching, leading, speaking – but with fewer meetings, leaving more time to research and write. And the change focus is not a church, but a denominational system of churches.