Feb 12, 2007 On Personality and
Developmental TheoryAnthony Foster - Feb 10, 2007 11:11 pm
Encountering Truth- Critical Reading as a Spiritual Discipline
Reading is not usually considered a spiritual discipline unless it is
the Bible, but I would contend that reading done as unto the Lord can
be as pleasing to God as an act of worship. I sometimes have to remind
myself (or be reminded) of this when the mountain of reading on my desk
looks insurmountable.
Anthony Foster - Feb 11, 2007 9:59 pm
Spiritual is as Spiritual does
Oops, let me clarify further, lest i be misunderstood; I am saying that
while most Christians might not look at reading at large as a form of
spiritual discipline, I am not one who thinks that way... I think it
actually is.
I think we can read just about anything and if we filter it through
the biblical grid, we are in effect, parsing the culture in the light
of the Scriptures, a spiritual discipline where the Church is sorely
lacking in praxis. We cannot take every thought captive if we are not
reading what the world is writing; but we do have to be sure of our
terms of engagement, I think. I am sure some will not agree
with me.
Anthony Foster - Feb 14, 2007 4:43 pm
Developing Leaders
There is often a false dichotomy between nature and nurture. We see
developmental aspects of how human giftedness can be nurtured and maximized
all along the developmental stages of life. It seems to me that the
prescription for developing leaders is multifaceted, but one way to
start is to focus on building Christian leaders in the areas of social
cognition, understanding others, empathy, and altruism from an early
age.
Self-esteem plays a role in the world's leadership models, but in our
environment developing servant hearts is something to be esteemed- much
like esteeming others to be better than yourself. This too is developmental
in nature- learning that the last shall be first and the first last
is an exercise in post-formal thinking. The art of listening is both
intentionally developed and discerningly applied. The way of wisdom
is a living way and developmental by its very nature.
From a creation-fall-redemption paradigm, we see developmental aspects
as frail children of dust learn that Chriat is their sufficiency and
that we can stand boldly before the throne of grace. What is impossible
for us in and of ourselves is possible in Christ. When I look back upon
the great leaders of a couple of generations ago, people I grew up admiring
were those who had turned poverty, failure, weakness and even war and
death into a platform for developing greatness by putting one foot in
front of the other by faith.
They developed spiritual muscles I can only hope by grace to attain.
Through their faith they saw redemptive activity arise from the ashes
of the conflagrations that just about destroyed their world in two world
wars be turned around to attain great things for God in their hearts,
homes, and communities. I sometimes wonder at how crisis times played
a redemptively developmental role in raising up an Churchill or a Lincoln.
We have a great hope in the fact that God created us to develop into
the likeness of Christ; we can hope to redeem the time we are allotted
and to also see the days the locusts ate be restored. Thanks be to God!
Anthony Foster - Feb 15, 2007 5:49 pm Ministers of Education
A church I was associated with (I was mentoring one of its associate
pastors) for about five years saw a battle between the Senior Pastor
and the Minister of Education up until a time when the pastor had a
character lapse. The church struggled to come to a biblical stance,
and the Minister of Education left for a senior pastorate of a major
church, and the church languished for three years without a ME.
That church suffered in many ways- it grew wider during those early
years but not deeper, and eventually the wideness receded as the slight
roots that were being nurtured could not stand over time.
I do think the ME has to be rightly trained and the church itself has
to see the value for it to work out. As Bama Bill and I have agreed,
the Training Union is another thing that needs to be resurrected in
Baptist life. I have a collection of TU courses from the 1940's thru
the 1960's and am amazed at the quality and depth of some of the content
in these.
Anthony Foster - Feb 16, 2007 11:41 pm (5.13)
Andragogy's shortfalls
A key problem with adult learning theories is how they define adults.
Whether a learner does or does not thrive in a self directed learning
model relates more to personal preference and learning style than whether
they are adults. Some children fit Knowles' description of adult learners
more than some adults ever will, and even where adults do pursue self
directed learning, they may be successful when undertaking learning
in a particular discipline yet not in another. Some of the theories
related to andragogy may still attain, but as I have said, I believe
how adults interact with them is dependent upon their level of deleopment
in terms of personal agency and practical experience. Not every full-
fledged adult, for instance, will thrive in a self directed online environment.
One size does not fit all. Neither should we throw the adult out with
the bathwater
