Intergral Life, Integral Teacher – interview with Parker Palmer
Change the word “Teacher” to “Pastor” and “Education” to “Church” … it speaks to me.
“I am a teacher at heart, and I am not naturally drawn to political activism. But I’ve found that there is no essential conflict between loving to teach and working to reform education. An authentic movement is not a play for power – it is teaching and learning writ large. Now the world becomes our classroom, and the potential to teach and learn is found everywhere. We need only be in the world as our true selves, with open hearts and minds.”
Blogging in the name of the Lord: Ben Myers
Read this slowly:
“…there can be a danger that we forget, in our discussions, that we’re talking to real people — it’s amazing how nasty some people can be online, even though they’d be polite and friendly if you met them face-to-face. So I guess the important thing is to remember that an online conversation is still a conversation — it’s a discussion between friends.”
Brian McLaren: The Need for a New Rhetoric
I confess I usually don’t read the comments unless it’s really engaging and helpful.
Mater Ecclesia: An Ecclesiology for the 21st Century
I don’t think I will be going back to Rome anytime soon but I have also been thinking about “Mother Church” lately.
“… while keeping in mind the manifold ways in which the Church expresses itself, I believe that the recovery of the classical formulation of Church as Mater Ecclesia will have enormous theological importance for the 21st century. The heart of the importance lies in four ways in which we understand the role of motherhood, namely, childbearing, teaching, protecting and correcting.”
A Malaysian’s contemporary view: Law of Apostasy and Freedom of Religion in Malaysia’
It’s not over yet … other voices emerge.
The Best Blogs for Church Leaders to Read
The 5 criteria is relevant:
“1. They help me improve my church leadership.
2. They write thoughtfully. Emotion and rants are great but they should take into account the different sides of an issue. You shouldn’t be mean-angry unless serious injustice is taking place.
3. They keep their writing about personal things to 20% or less. I don’t want to read about what they had for breakfast or see their vacation photos. But personal reflection on the material is great!
4. Often they are proven writers with published books.
5. These blogs have not been eliminated from my blogroll for some other reason. Admittedly, I often just skim post titles of these blogs and don’t read all that they write.
6. The design of the blog is sufficiently attractive. “