An Introduction to Christian Education
EL1515 / Fall 2008
Online beginning the second half of fall term
Each week keyed to assignments starting on Wednesday
Overview . Personal/Group Learning . Schedule . Goals . Requirements . FeAutor . Portfolio . Info . Texts . Resources . Expectations . Etiquette . Absences . Evaluation/Grading . Tech Requirements
Group Summaries
Focus on Introductions . Sunday school mornings . I love to tell the story . Praying by heart . Our daily bread . For Thine is the kingdom .
Cluster questions . Bible . Ritual . History . Learning . Assessment
3 December 2008 / Our daily bread
Looking backward on our conversation last week.
My presentation/video for this week
This week we're going to be working with what Maria Harris calls the curriculum of diakonia. I'm especially pleased to be able to offer you a special element for this focus situation. It is a video meditation done by a friend (Adán Medrano) who is a filmmaker. He has given us permission to make copies and mail this DVD to you. By this time in the term you should have received one in the mail (if you live in St. Paul, it was probably in your campus mailbox).
I have several ideas in mind for what you might glean from this focus situation, but more generally I want you to take note of the increasing number of migrant workers in our midst. Many of you will find yourselves serving in rural parishes, and in the rural context more and more of our churches (irregardless of denomination) are needing to learn what it means to be an inter-cultural community. Any of you who have heard Bishop Stephen Ullestad speak recently (he was on campus, as well as in several other ELCA meetings) will be aware of the challenges ELCA churches are facing in northern Iowa with the ICE raids. But northern Iowa is not alone, or even particularly unique.
In thinking about "diakoinia" I want us to think this week about hospitality and service, and about what that might mean, could mean, in the context of immigration issues. That should lead us directly into the challenges of "boundary leadership" (to use Gunderson's term), as well as to thinking about religious education as an adaptive challenge, rather than a technical one.
Individual work
Read Boundary Leaders: Leadership Skills for People of Faith by Gary Gunderson and take the book quiz
By Tuesday, comment on one of the group summaries (in a way that is more than simply a "verbal bouquet") or post to the full class discussion thread for the week at MyLutherNet.
On Tuesday, fill out a CIQ for the past week
Cluster question assignments
Group one : History
Group two : Learning
Group three : Assessment
Group four : Bible
Group five : Ritual
Your small group summary is due on Saturday, posted to the course blog.