Continuing Education Friday Night Topics and Presenters:
LSM 2013-14 Faculty and Dates and Friday Night Topics
2013
September 13-14 Terri Elton Luther Seminary
October 11-12 Rozella White (program director for young adult ministry the ELCA)
November 8-9 Colleen Windham-Hughes California Lutheran U.
December 13-14 Susan Engh Director for Congregation-based Organizing for the ELCA
2014
January 10-11 Jeremy Meyers Ausburg College
February 7-8 Nate Frambach Wartburg Seminary
March 7-8 Hans Wiersma Augsburg College
April 11-12 David Fredrickson Luther Seminary
May 9-10 David Fredrickson Luther Seminary
2013-14 Friday Night Topics:
September 13-14 Terri Elton Luther Seminary
Adaptive Leadership: Leading Change
Being church in the 21st century requires leading adaptively. Adaptive leadership has its own posture. It acknowledges that the church is in new territory, territory that is discontinuous from the past, therefore demanding discovery and new learnings in order to find our way forward. It means acquiring new skills and learn new ways of being church, as it also invites us to deconstruct some of our paradigm and unlearn habits. In this session, “Adaptive Leadership: Leading Change,” Terri Martinson Elton will introduce participants to core elements of adaptive leadership and help congregational leaders think about these ideas with an eye toward their own particular ministry setting.
October 11-12 Rozella White ELCA Staff Young Adults
Towards a Theology of Accompaniment: Young Adult Ministry in the 21st Century
Before you ask how to get young adults in your church, how about spending some time reflecting on who they are, where young adults spend their time and why young adults are NOT in the church. Many individuals and congregations are disconnected from the cultural reality of young adults, which leads to a misunderstanding of how young adults view faith and life. Let's take some time to explore the sociocultural landscape and engage in theological discourse about what it means to be in authentic relationship with a segment of the population that has much to offer our congregations and our world.
November 8-9 Colleen Windham-Hughes California Lutheran U.
"Mash-up Mission: faithfulness across generations"
Being church sends us to connect in creative ways with our neighbors and each other. We find our way to faithfulness by putting together our emerging experience with wisdom from the ages, mashing up lyrics, rhythms, practices, and melodies that reach up, out, and in, directing human energies toward God in praise and the world in service.
December 13-14 Susan Engh Director for Congregation-based Organizing for the ELCA
"The Church in its Public Expression: A Continuum of Responses"
Explore the various ways that people and communities of faith respond to issues and opportunities in the public arena. What are the characteristics, benefits and shortcomings of each approach? How might we broaden our repertoire so that we have the greatest positive impact, and faithfully represent God's mercy and justice toward the world?
2014
January 10-11 Jeremy Meyers Augsburg College
Hearing the Call to the Public Square
Swedish theologian, Gustaf Wingren said a congregation’s call is the need of the neighbor who is knocking at its door at that moment. How do we become communities of faith deeply engaged in listening to our neighbor not only as an act of service but as as our primary method of faith formation & discipleship? Saturday’s session will lay out some hands-on ways of leading your congregation into the public square as a method of forming faith while serving your community. But before we jump in, it would be good to spend some time on Friday digging into the theological claims and the biblical narratives that compel us to form faith in the public square as well as theories from education and the social sciences that inform this movement.
February 7-8 Nate Frambach Wartburg Seminary
Living and Leading in Systems
This Friday evening we will focus on systems thinking and some basic concepts in family systems theory to help us better understand human beings--both individually and collectively. We will consider the emotional and interpersonal dynamics between persons as a way of understanding congregations as systems. The focus on systems thinking will be oriented primarily to pastoral ministry and congregational leadership. Each spring, when our graduates return to Wartburg Seminary for their three year reunion, one of the questions that we ask them is: "What elements from the curriculum have been most helpful to you as a pastoral leader?" A better understanding of family systems concepts as it relates to congregations is consistently at the top of their lists. A working understanding of basic systems concepts will prove to be very useful as you serve as a leader in your congregation and community.
March 7-8 Hans Wiersma Augsburg College
Remembering The Wittenberg Door and More: Getting Ready for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation
The 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther Posting the 95 Theses is just around the bend (on October 31, 2017, to be precise). In light of this, the Lay School of Ministry’s continuing education theme will be Luther-and-the-Reformation for the 2015-2016 year. This session will provide a preview of sorts by way of offering (1) an overview of the events that kicked off the Reformation 500 years ago, (2) reasons why Lutheran congregations (especially!) should begin planning now to observe this important event, (3) guidance for how to observe this important event, and (4) resources already available to help congregations in their planning for the 2017 observation.
April 11-12 David Fredrickson Luther Seminary
Paul and Poetry
The self-emptying of Christ (kenosis) in Philippians 2 has long been the focus of attention by Christian theologians and interpreters of Paul's christology. Our own Dr. David Anderson, did his doctoral work on this topic! In our last two sessions of the year, Dr. Fredrickson will share with the class his ground breaking work connecting Paul’s theology with Sappho and Paulus Silentarius. Who are they you might ask? Sappho (of the 7th century BCE) and Paulus Silentiarius (of the 6th century CE) wrote about longing for communion. Sappho originated a number of love motifs that Paulus Silentiarius incorporates. We will be amazed to discover that Paul the Apostle utilized the poetic language of Sappho as he tried to describe the saving work of Christ! We will ask what difference poetic imagination makes for Christian theology then and now. What does it mean to be a disciple of a savior who emptied himself and took on the form of a servant?
May 9-10 David Fredrickson Luther Seminary
Paul and Poetry (continued)
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