I’ve been enjoying reviewing Unitarian Universalist Association numbers and now ones I’d especially like to see related to ordained and fellowshipped ministers. Some of these numbers, admittedly, may not exist. How many ministers are there?  (That one should be easy.) How many are retired or have long-term disabilities? How many can we expect in the next… Continue reading Next numbers I’d like to see: ordained and fellowshipped ministers
Category: Ministerial formation
A good resource for supervising ministry students?
If anyone is serious about local ordination, licensed ministry, or finding new alternatives for ministry — say, as Episcopal bishop Pierre Whalon suggested in 2000 for expanding the cultural and ethnic base of his denomination — then we’ll need strong, alternative models for ministerial formation. I have Regina Coll’s Supervision of Ministry Students, a Catholic… Continue reading A good resource for supervising ministry students?
Thoughts on local ordination
Peter Bowden (UUGrowth.com) is musing about local ordination, following some buzz on a UUA mailing list. (Which, I wonder?) I responded at length; see below. Since I know some of my readers have an interest in polity I’m repeating my answer here, and invite you to participate in the conversation on his site. (Unless you… Continue reading Thoughts on local ordination
Recommended Reformation Day reading
Greetings, readers — My husband, Jonathan Padget and I are back from a deeply restful and energizing vacation in southern New England. Expect much of the blogging in the days to come to reflect this. But today, among other observances, is Reformation Day. Ours is a reformation faith; indeed when examined perhaps Protestant if not… Continue reading Recommended Reformation Day reading
Hot (blog) summer in Britain
The British Unitarians and Free Christian bloggers seem to be countering the mid-summer slump that’s withering the bloggers on this side of the Atlantic. And they have an energy that its worthy of emulation: they use blogs, in a loosely-coordinated (or perhaps not so loosely, but that’s how it appears) way, to provide services. Â Unofficial… Continue reading Hot (blog) summer in Britain
My Universalism in June post
UU Salon‘s appeal to discuss Universalism as “the other U” and review of a graduate-level Universalist class curriculum at Transient and Permanent — to be put plainly — pushes my buttons. For the last two decades or so, I’ve seen Universalism viewed normatively through a Unitarian lens, though this process is actually more than a… Continue reading My Universalism in June post
Books to recommend?
Good readers: I’ve been working on my 2010 resolutions for about three weeks now — it’s a lot easier to accomplish your goals in thirteen and a half months than twelve. And besides: I can hardly remember what I intended for 2009 at this point. I’m a slow reader, but even so I would like… Continue reading Books to recommend?
PolityWonk on ministerial formation
I agree with Elizabeth (of “Elizabeth’s Little Blog”) that you should read PolityWonk’s “How UU Ministry Got to Be So Expensive” — and especially the little-told parts of the story from point #7 onwards. In a related note, my own choice of seminary was conditioned on the full tuition I got from Brite Divinity School (M.Div.… Continue reading PolityWonk on ministerial formation
Meadville Lombard open thread
Today we hear the not-so-stunning news that Meadville Lombard plans to sell its Chicago property. The next step would be to relocate to metro-Boston to participate in some kind of educational situation with the UUCF-affiliated Andover Newton Theological School (which itself has a large Unitarian Universalist student base) and the ailing Episcopalian Colgate Rochester Crozer… Continue reading Meadville Lombard open thread
“From Jesus to Christ” online
If I had to develop a DIY training plan for ministry leaders — especially Unitarian and Universalist Christian ones — I would surely include the PBS Frontline series “From Jesus to Christ” (1998) as a resource. I had just finished my seminary education the year before, and was quite impressed in watching it. So when… Continue reading “From Jesus to Christ” online