What a full day! Conferences sure pack a lot into a very small window of time. I’m great-full. I’m grateful for the people I’ve become reintroduced to. I’m full to the brim with burgeoning ideas, thoughts and questions.
As I’ve listened and engaged in conversation today I’ve thought to myself, “Higher Education….I really think I'm going to love this.” I love being in a job in an environment where there is potential and hope for academia to interface with Christian formation and mission. And from what I’m hearing, the integration piece of Christian formation with the entire learning environment needs (possibly more) intentionality.
Lauren Winner--Morning Session:
I’ve wanted to read Lauren Winner’s books and didn’t realize I’d get to hear her speak today. She gave the morning devotion. She spoke about Lent. Good for her! She commented about how silly it is that we “fast” during a season meant for slowing down and paying attention. One year during lent she “fasted” from using monetary words to describe time--spend time, manage time, lose time, etc. Instead she used the term, “inhabit time”. I need to chew on this idea of “inhabiting time” a bit. I know we often treat time as a commodity rather than a home. Lent is a time when we “give ourselves to rest and fallowness.” Winner challenged us to think about the ways we inhabit time in our University settings. Is there a place for rest on our campuses? Or are we just an extension of the fast paced, overcommitted culture? Ouch. She talked about how we live and breath in a culture of insane productivity. Are we teaching our students anything different? Lent invites us to “dwell unproductively with God”. I wonder how it is that a college community inhabits time? What does it look like to choose to live and teach a rhythm of life that includes un-productivity, and rest? How can we help our students know a life that has any rhythm to it at all?
Francis Collins--Morning Session:
I must admit with a tinge of red in the face that I didn’t recognize at first who Francis Collins is. He is one of the fathers of the Human Genome Project. Now I remember…. I first learned of Francis Collins in my second semester of Biology at PLNU. My professor was Dr. Kerry Fulcher. It just so happened that I listened to Collins speak this morning with Dr. Fulcher.
Collins spoke about his journey to faith. What made his story so compelling is that he didn’t grow up in the church. He came to faith as a med student watching people dying. Those with faith died in peace and he knew that if he were dying he wouldn’t have that peace. He did such a good job of speaking to living with tensions—the tensions of science and faith. Collins talked about being a man of God’s works and God’s words. He supports the claims of Evolution because of the scientific evidence and he supports the mystery of God best known in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For me it was a treat to listen to a world-class scientist present the case for his science and for faith in Christ and each complemented each other. And I’m impressed that the CCCU risked having him speak! Collins was a part of starting the BioLogos Foundation.
Spiritual Formation Through Study Abroad--Break Out Session 1:
This was a fascinating session. Cindy Toms Smedley from Notre Dame presented some data about the nature of student transformation related to study abroad. The most interesting piece of data she presented is something I’ve had a hunch about after doing so much travel abroad. The percentage of campuses in the CCCU who are doing debriefing and significant work to help students integrate their experiences in real life is very low. Smedley used the word “sad” to talk about this. I agree! It sounds like a handful of people have figured it out. Notre Dame has a stellar program of preparation, summer service/mission, and then a course upon return to school to help integrate. Students can earn up to 8 credits for the yearlong experience. This is serious commitment to spiritual formation and missional education!
John Skillen shared Gordon-in-Orvieto(Italy) program. Students live in a monastery for a semester. They worship with the community, eat together, attend classes, and have leisure time. They are encouraged to get involved in the town of Orvieto. If there was ever a time today that I found myself drooling with envy it was now. Yet I wonder what could be dreamed up at NNU one day. You don’t have to go to Italy to find a monastic setting where intentional spiritual formation and academia meet, right? We have two settings in our state!
At the end of the session a man from University in Uganda asked a difficult question. He said something like: The students are learning but what about the people on the ground? Is study abroad just about what the students and their institutions are getting out of the program? Ouch....
Someone mentioned, “Communities are tired of being projects.” Isn’t this true…. And how easy it is to treat people this way.... There is a tension here…we want to empower the places we go to learn and serve. Listening and learning is a great place to begin our relationships of mission. But if all we do is listen and learn, don't we take too much? I’m curious what mutually benefiting missional relationships look like within the University world.
I’m interested in what it means to prepare and debrief our students for mission. Yet the mans questions from Uganda makes me wonder how those who host the mission/study abroad are prepared and debriefed too.
The man I sat next to at this session works at Spring Arbor University and is taking a group of students to Korea in May. (Small world....) It is a class where they will be learning about the culture and religions in Korea. I told him about the Benedictine Sisters in Busan (of course...can't hardly talk about Korea without a mention) and his face lit up. He’d love to get connected with the sisters because the trip is missing a catholic component. I’m going to try and connect him with some of my favorite people in the world. I’d be so happy if that could work out for both sides!!
Spiritual Formation Across the Campus--Break Out Session 2:
We heard from several people at John Brown University speak about how Spiritual Formation is addressed on campus through chapels, the hiring process, the training of faculty, athletics, and campus staff. I was most impressed with their initiatives which help foster spiritual formation among the staff. They have what is called 4by4—4 staff/faculty meet for 4 weeks at lunch to share their stories with each other. They offer group spiritual direction (interesting...we are hoping and on our way to doing this). Brown has a pretty extensive program related to training faculty in how to integrate faith and teaching.
IBOE Dinner:
It was just great to be with many of our Nazarene leaders from across the country and Canada! I sat with the folks from Olivet(Illinois) and Ambrose(Calgary, Canada). Thanks Dr. Fairbanks for hosting us!
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