Palm Sunday - March 2013

On Palm Sunday I visited once again another church in SLC as I have done many times during my sabbatical. I am trying to get a sense of why such a large percentage of 18-22 years leave this church. The church I attended this morning was composed primarily of 18 to mid-thirty young adults. The service is what I expected, a couple of songs that were hard to sing and a message that lacked a clear crystalizing point. Perhaps my biggest frustration was that the significance of Palm Sunday was briefly mentioned and there were no Palm Froms. 

I do not mean to be grumpy, though I am deeply concerned about the lack of history many of the churches I have visited manifest. Without at least a few connections to the Church, her history and the whoop and warf of the church year, all one can do is connect their faith to their immediate experience. It seems to me that at a minimum the contemporary church needs reconnect with Advent and Lent, including Holy Week. 

In struck me this morning that perhaps Robert Weber's Ancient-Future approach to worship deserves a second look. 

Character and qualities of a mentoring relationship

Mentoring relationships strive to engage the mentee holistically – as a relational, intellectual, emotional and spiritual being. Mentoring relationships (herein MR) are intentional in nature and in light of their formative potential ought to possess the following characteristics.

§  A MR values all participants as learners; each participant must be authentic, open and willing to learn from the other(s).

§  MRs involve learning to converse with each other. Adults learning to talk with young people, young people learning to talk with adults.

§  MRs are marked by mutual respect.

§  MRs respect boundaries; they do not force their way into areas of life where one is not comfortable going.

§  In MRs a mentor does not tell someone what to do; they ask questions and tell stories that challenge the mentee's perspective and frame of reference.

§  MRs seek to assist one in thinking through issues by asking questions, challenging assumptions, exploring options, identifying the possible intended and unintended consequences of one's attitudes, decisions and actions.

§  A MR challenges the mentee to consider and process perspectives that they may not normally consider.

Instructional Reflections

Over the last several months I have been reflecting on pedagogy or more precisely andragogy - the teaching of adults. Having taught for over twenty years at the undergraduate and graduate level I find myself increasing frustrated by the learning-teaching process. As an educator, this is okay. What I find frustrating is how both the understanding of teaching and learning are changing.

Sadly, when I began teaching the focus was on conveying data to students so that they could accurately recall it on an exercise. Yes, the students were to develop their reading skills, ability to communicate and critical thinking skills. Those things were generally "caught".

Over the years my understanding of teaching morphed to where I saw myself as mentoring students into a field of study. This shift in focus to mentoring was accompanied by a renewed interest in the learning process. Mentoring students into the field of biblical studies is different than teaching General Education survey courses. How do you assist students to develop a knowledge base so that they learn to evaluate, think, engage and make decisions as an educator?

• Define what it means to be competent - what is a sufficient knowledge base so that our understanding of the educational process is clear and one is able to clearly communicate?
• Learn how to ask the right types of questions - What are good questions and how ought they be framed? (Challenge: students are socialized into asking certain kinds of questions in a certain contexts?)
• Diagnosis a situation is accurately - What is taking place?
• Develop a biblically and theologically consistent instructional strategy - Will the approach build up the body of Christ and foster unity in the faith?

Teaching for data transfer, in the early years, was much easier. Mentoring students into a field of study is much more difficult and challenging.