Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Leading Congregations


This summer one of the classes I am taking at Luther Seminary is EL3517 – Media and Technology in Religious Education. While some of my classmates may be taking the class to meet the core requirements of two education classes, I have already completed my core requirements and I’m engaging this class wearing a different hat. I am one of the students in Luther’s CML Cohort, a group of MA and MDiv students focused on Congregational Mission and Leadership, and this is one of the classes where I can explore ideas for leading congregations in new ways.
Whenever we begin an education class we are asked to reflect on our “knowledge competencies” and assess where we are now. At the end of the course, we’ll reassess and see where we have grown and identify where are growing edges continue to be. Cognizant that I want to reflect on my learning in the context of congregational mission and leadership, I have chosen these two competencies as the foci for my work this course:
  • supporting theological and biblical reflection in a variety of contexts, and with a variety of people involved
  • supporting intergenerational learning
I chose these because I believe they are rooted in how we tell the story - how we can engage people so that they recognize themselves in the biblical story and provide opportunities for people to respond and participate in a faith community. One of the most valuable aspects of technology and particularly social media is its ability to forge connections across distance, both physical and generational. It provides opportunities for us to hear from more voices than our local sphere and learn from one another.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think those goals are great. It's so hard to have just one or two passions, and forget the rest of the people. I love that you want to learn to embrace intergenerational ministry. That's a real gift.
Kelsey