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Letting the Conversation be the Content

September 1, 2010 by | No comments

At  $5 Training in Chicago,  one of the participants responded to the question, “What are some common challenges to healthy small groups?”, by describing the problem of balancing personal stories with the content of the small group curriculum.  Chris Folmsbee responded with the suggestion, “Maybe we let conversation be the content.”  This statement was radical and even scary for some people to hear.

What does “let the conversation be the content” mean to you?


Listen to the Pragmatists

Matt Price wrote a paper for Didache: Faithful Teaching in 2003 titled, “Why Experience Matters: What Pragmatists Teach Wesleyans About Educational Experience.“  In the paper, Matt engages the works of William James and John Dewey on the topic of educational experience.  Matt describes Dewey’s analysis of experience as:

Dewey explains purposeful experience as a “trying [that] involves change, but change is meaningless transition unless it consciously connect[s] with the return wave of consequences which flow from it.”… “when the change made by action [or active trying] is reflected back into the change made in us [by passive undergoing], the mere flux is loaded with significance.” Outward activity always results in something new with each experience. It is in this experience of flux between trying and undergoing , says Dewey, that “we learn something.”

It is this purposeful experience that Chris was pointing to in his comment.  When a person in a small group connects with the content through a personal story then they engage the content through their imagination of reality.  An indication that the person is in the “flux between trying and undergoing.”  It is at this point that learning can take place.  This learning encounter (i.e. educational experience) expressed in the form of conversation should be encouraged by the small group facilitator.  In fact, letting the educational experience (read conversation) be the focus (read content) may not be a challenge as much as it is a possibility for shared learning or transformation.

Wondering is Good

The question remains, “How do youth workers practice letting the conversation be the content?”  The use of wondering or open ended questions in small group is a good practice.  Wondering questions open people and the group up to alternative ways of engaging the content.  A great resource to learn how to develop this practice is Jerome Berryman, “The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume One: How to Lead Godly Play Lessons” and Michael Novelli, “Shaped by the Story: Helping Students Encounter God in a New Way“

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Wednesday Night: Coming Soon….

June 30, 2010 by | No comments

We presented the changes that God is leading us to make during our first Family Night.  A huge thanks needs to be extended to Jay, Emily and Jenna for making this night happen.  They all did a lot of work planning, promoting, cooking and praying for the teens and their families.

The table below indicates the list of teenager specific ministry activities we do as a church.

From Discipleship

Wednesday Night changes:
Time change from 6:30 – 7:30 to 7:00 – 8:15

From Discipleship

We are going to change the weekly program in order to come in line with the discipleship blueprint outlined by our church.  We have chosen to name each of these elements something different than what they are called in the church’s discipleship blueprint.  However, they carry the same concept.  The following table outlines the language change:

From Discipleship

As you can see from the table above, we also believe that these elements are not just something that our church knows to be true about discipleship.  We believe that this form of discipleship is rooted in the early church.  Therefore, we believe that we are trying to keep in step with the way that God has formed the church and continues to form the church.

Finally, we have also charted a scope and sequence for content over the next two years for our Wednesday night meeting.  In short, we will be teaching on (1) the story of God (2) Basic Christian beliefs (3) Questions of Identity.  The chart below gives the content in terms of themes for each of the months. (Note: * indicates a month with a 5th Wed. Night which will be a Family Night)

From Discipleship

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The Stuff of Faith 1

September 21, 2009 by | No comments

Regula Fidei or Rule of Faith is a brief summary of Christian faith.  You might have come across these during a baptism service or a church membership ceremony.  Essentially these statements function as a guideline for how we are to understand the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.  Also, they are a way for the Church to affirm right teaching concern the faith from the apostles to the present.  Finally, they stand as a witness to the world about the reality of God revealed in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

What follows is a comparing and contrasting of the Rule of Faith cited by Justin Martyr and Ireneaus, Bishop of Lyon.  These two Christian leaders lived during the 2nd Century.  Therefore their articulations of the Rule of Faith represent what the Early Church and Christian would believe concerning God, Jesus, salvation and Christian living.

Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chapter 13; Irenaeus: Against Heresies, 1.10.1

1. The role of the Trinity
Justin: God the Father is first among the Trinity and is Creator and Maker of all things.  The Son of God is Jesus Christ who has revealed who God is to man and how man should live before God.  The Spirit is third member of the Trinity and is described as “prophetic” potentially meaning the one who delivers the word of the Lord.
Irenaeus:  One God, the Father Almighty, Creator.  The Son of God is Christ Jesus who has been given the power to execute justice for his life and work in obedience to God the Father.  The Holy Spirit is described as “proclaiming” through the prophets all that God had in mind to do through Jesus.

2.  The Specific work and roles of Jesus
Justin:
Work – He was born for the purpose of teaching humanity about how God would want them to live.  He deserves worship because he was crucified.
Roles – teacher of humanity, Son of God
Irenaeus:
Work – He was incarnate for humanities salvation.  He was born of a virgin, suffered the “passion”, resurrected, ascended into heaven and will come again.  All things will be subject to him in the end and he will judge all humanity.
Role – Christ, Son of God, Judge of all Humanity

3. The Means of Salvation
Justin: Eternal life through faith in the “Maker of this universe” which has been taught to us by Jesus Christ who was born and crucified for this purpose.
Irenaeus: Through the apostles and their disciples, we have received the faith by which we know that Jesus was incarnate for our salvation.  And that Jesus accomplished the work of salvation through his life, death, resurrection and glorification.

4. The Life and Proper Response of Faith.
Justin: The life of the faithful is marked by using that which God has created not for sacrifice to Him but for the nurture of ourselves and the needy.  We are also called to lift to Him prayers and hymns of gratitude and petition Him for eternal life through faith in Him (i.e. be continually penitent).
Irenaeus: The life of the faithful is marked by keeping God’s commandments and persevering in His love.

How does this match up against what you believe about God, Jesus, salvation and Christian living?  Is there anthing that surprises you regarding their articulations of the Rule of Faith?

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