Shaping leaders then and now by Paul Timothy Roberts, Sr.
Questions:
- Are you familiar or unfamiliar with the brief historical perspective the author outlines? If familiar, what are
some observations you would add? If unfamiliar, what more would you like to know? - What relationship do you see between education and justice?
- Reread the quote of Hunter Farrell and the author’s reflection on that quote. To what extent do you agree
or disagree with Hunter and/or Roberts?
Adaptive leadership by Tod Bolsinger
Questions:
- What do you think about the contrast the author makes between management and leadership?
- Bolsinger states that leaders seeking change usually encounters resistance but to become effective leaders
they need to develop resilience. What do you think about that statement? - Forging steel into useful implements and hewing hope from a stone are images used to describe how leaders develop resilience. What are some of your thoughts about this concluding section of the article?
Sailing with the spirit by Joan Gray
Questions:
- Joan Gray uses metaphors of rowboats and sailboats as contrasting ways to describe churches. How effective do you think those images are for describing churches as you know them?
- What are some examples you can think of when a church moved more like a rowboat than a sailboat? Or more like
a sailboat than a rowboat? - The author identifies four characteristics of leaders of a sailboat church. Which of the characteristics is most present in your church? And which characteristic is most needed?
- Reread the last paragraph of the article that begins, “The church was created to sail …” What are some comments you would offer or questions you would ask the author?
Leading at the borders by José R. Irizarry
Questions:
- Reread the paragraph that begins, “We are certainly living a borderland existence …” What follows is naming four different borderlands. What are some experiences or observations you have related to these borderlands?
- To what extent do you think “living at the borderlands”is an appropriate metaphor for describing where the church finds itself today?
- In what ways do you think theological education can equip leaders to guide congregations that are ministering at the borderlands?
- Reflect on the final paragraph of the article that begins, “We have clearly arrived at our end-of-time.” What thoughts, emotions, or questions does that paragraph evoke for you?
What’s the matter with theological education? by Barbara Wheeler
Questions:
- Barbara Wheeler presents a brief historical overview of theological education from the 18th century to the present. What are some thoughts, reflections or questions you have about that summary?
- In Ted Smith’s The End of Theological Education, he uses the term “imaginaries” “… to describe clusters of concepts, institutional forms and values that define a society.” Reread the paragraphs in which Wheeler reflects on Smith’s theories. What are some new ideas and questions that come to mind?
- Reread the paragraph that begins, “I would argue that the new imaginary requires strenuous efforts …” What are some ways you can think of or imagine for churches and seminaries to rebuild and reorient themselves?
