Thoughts about community in the Post-Modern Congregationalist church

While discussing how to solve all the problems of the world with Jason Shaver, a discussion arose as to the development of individuality in our modern churches. We discussed several "rights" to which Christians feel they are entitled in our current environment.

The first was the right to have one's opinion be heard. In our democratically run churches, we focus on everyone having the right to speak their mind on decisions at hand. However, is this really reflective of New Testament teachings of younger people looking to the elders (the pastors, thus shepherds) of the local body for direction? I feel like I myself have a sense of individualism that at time I should "boldly go where no Baptist tradition has gone before." While young people are told not be looked down on for their age, there is a sense of dependence on the wisdom and guidance of others that may be missing from our churches.

The second was the right to live for the good of one's self rather than the good of the local community or church. Today we base our decisions so much on how we can do the best for ourselves with what we are given. We may look out for the best of those dependent upon us by blood or close friendship ties, but do we really sacrifice our goals and aspirations for the good of the person who sits at the other end of the pew whose name we do not even know. What ever happened to "Love your neighbor as yourself....?"

The third was the right to be dependent only on our self-dependence rather than upon God and others. This ties closely into the right to live for the good of one's self. In the US, we are dictated from a young age that we must prove that we can do things on our own. God never asks us to do things on own but rather asks us to be willing instruments of His peace. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," not through my sheer will power or brash determination. We are all part of one body. The eye can't tell the hand, "I don't need you." We do need every part of the body to do our best for the good of the church and the community.

The fourth was the right to privacy. This right is held dearly by Christians. Many Christians know they are hypocrites, in that their integrity is not pure. They hold out on a personal sin life for which they are not held accountable. When Christians allow themselves to be humble (or humbled), strongholds can be broken, not on their own strength but through God's strength working through fellow Christians around them.

These four concepts are very hard to swallow in light of the ego-centrism that permeates even our churches today. We often come to church saying, "What will I get out of being here today?" How often do we come to church saying, "God, how can you use me to work for the good of those around me today who love You and are called according to Your purpose?" Even worse, how often do we come to church saying, "God, how can I be humble enough to let those around me into my personal life enough that you can use them to make me a better person for Your glory, not mine?"

We talked about the fad of book studies in Baptist and Christian churches right now and our fear of a focus on programs, especially commercialized ones. We were in a Bible study in college that went through Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. We felt that it was a good study, but again it was a program, not an end unto itself. I mentioned the idea that, given the fact that we accept that there must be a crisis of belief before change happens, we must go the step further in these Bible studies. We must ask, "OK, what is your crisis of belief right now?" and then be able to answer that question honestly. If the answer is "My crisis of belief is not understanding how to act around and interact with other Christians to develop positive relationships," we must be humble enough to be able to say that to the Christian around us, so that God can use them to help us with this problem. Given the fact that we need to meet God where He is working and join Him rather than doing our own thing and hoping He blesses it, we need to ask, "Where is God working around you? What evidence do you see of His interaction of your current situations?" If the answer is "I need to change my leisure activities so that I can maintain the integrity God asks of me," we need to be able to voice that in the Bible study setting. We have to have enough trust in Christians around us to let them be part of what we depend on.

All of these issues revolve around one central theme: choosing to sacrifice "me, myself, and I" for the betterment of myself in the community and the church. This must be a voluntary, heart-driven choice rather than a forced, programmatic response. Soviet communism did not work because there was not heart in the work. People were paid equally regardless of the amount they worked, so eventually they quit trying to be better. Christian community is focussed on choosing to give up one's own perceived rights, so that each part of the body can work to their best ability for the good of the whole.

My Weekly Insanity

I have this problem.....it only involves using two little phonemes, side by side, that would make a huge difference in the way my life worked. You guessed it "nnnn" and "oooo." That's right boys and girls: "nnn" "ooo" "nn" "oo" "no." It is possible; you can say it. I just can't!

My weekly schedule:

Sunday:
8:15-8:45 Worship warm-up
9:00-10:15 Worship service
10:30-11:30 Sunday School

Monday:
7:25-2:11 School
2:20-3:20 Tutoring
4:30-7:30 Master's Classes at North Kansas City

Tuesday:
7:25-2:11 School
2:30-3:30 Best Practices (Tech. and Prof. Devel.) Committee Meeting once a month
4:00-4:30 Voice Lesson
7:30-8:30 Worship band practice (at least twice a month)

Wednesday:
7:25-2:11 School
2:30-4:00 Scholars' Bowl Practice
4:20-5:20 Voice lessons
6:30-6:45 All church worship
6:45-8:00 Contemporary Choir Practice

Thursday:
5:45-6:45 Teacher's Bible Study for Men
7:05-8:00 Collaboration
8:10-2:11 School
2:30-3:30 French Club once a month
4:30-6:00 Scholars' Bowl Practice
7:30-9:30 College/Career Bible Study

Friday:
7:25-2:11 School
4:30-5:00 Voice lesson

Saturday:
catch up on sleep all day--LOL

I had a teacher ask me last week if I could start giving her daughter piano lessons. My response was, "Well, uh, I'm really not sure..... Let's talk more later." I figure I could squeeze her in on Thursdays between Scholars' Bowl Practice and College/Career Bible Study.....

At some point, I do have to do that testy little thing called being a teacher.....you knowing, grading the mounds of papers, calling the dear little darlings' parents, lesson planning, etc. Never mind getting the master's work done. At some point, something will give.

Update on Masters Work

After a second meeting with my practicum professor, I am going forward with the original survey. The only stipulation she had was that she wanted me to try to get more data through paper/pencil or face-to-face interviews. She also suggested that I look at technology integration into curriculum as a whole. I'm thinking this is a bit much to cover in a 50 page thesis. I'm hoping to stick to my guns with a focus on online research.

I've spoken with several teachers in my building about adopting MLA as the accepted style sheet for the whole building. So far, I've only received positive response. I probably need to do some research as to which journals/disciplines expect which style sheets, but regardless of my findings, I think having a single style sheet to use as students are learning about research in general is a better practice.

Thoughts about the Honors Program

The Honors program was incredible for me. From sitting on the Lanny Ackiss Memorial couch (it's probably not there any more) talking with one of the secretaries, students workers, or Dr. Kluthe/Dr. Ackiss/Dr. Schmidt to preparing the ominous thing known as the Senior Thesis, I learned so much about myself and the world around me. I have always been naturally curious...yes, I was one of those who actually read the encyclopedia and dictionary for fun—you know who the rest of you are that do it too...I enjoy sponging up information, evaluating that information for new opportunities and consequences, and taking action on those evaluations. As I was endlessly searching for my thesis topic I came across three that were way beyond the scope of what I was ready to do. The first was the idea of convergence of dialect through internet chat. I often chatted online in French or English, sometimes with people around the world. In a world of communication where language divergence has been the norm for centuries (look at the chart of an Indo-European language family tree—the branches all go out; outside of some loan words, languages generally do not merge back together), what happens when people groups from various dialects begin chatting together? As they interact, will they begin to question each other when vocabulary overlapping occurs? If so, will the more efficient word or the more "proper" word, or another word altogether, become the preferred choice while the remaining words become antiquated or obsolete? A second idea came from the need to understand the ideas that voice majors were singing in foreign languages. If a voice major were to take coursework that examined not only the diction of a language but also the grammar and nuances of the language, would he or she be able to emote the text better? I studied French and German in courses, so I could easily understand the language I was singing. However, I never have studied Italian outside of lyric translation. Often, I did not know how to translate the text accurately because I did not understand the dynamics of the Italian language. Did this filter impede my performance in Italian? My hypothesis is yes; I would love to see the research completed. The third discarded idea involved language's influence on cultural dynamics. What would be the effects of making English the official language of the United States? Currently the US has no official language. Immigrants may go through the naturalization process in at least five to seven languages. Does this impede their integration into the American culture? If English became the official language, what would become of our ESL students and our bilingual education programs? Would immigrants be less willing to move to the US if they knew that they would have to learn another language in order to drive and work legally? Could a dichotomy of cultures exist, with English serving as the lingua franca while the individual languages continue at home to support the immigrants' customs? How would these immigrant parents view the English learned by their children in school differently? In the Honors Program, I learned to question, even if an answer was not to be found. Honors Forums provided a "forum" (no pun intended) to hypothesize, theorize, philosophize, etc. in an academic environment. I did MIDS 398 Truth, Knowledge, and Modes of Inquiry with Dr. Kluthe as an independent study since I could not fit it into my schedule. I really enjoyed those weekly discussions of the articles, even if they were nigh impossible to work through. I still remember to this day talking about the Social Constructivist model. I came up with a visual of different groups seeing different faces of a diamond. The central Truth remained the same, regardless of which principal face and few peripheral faces one person could see at the time. It was a good discussion that will not soon be forgotten. I will forever be grateful to the Honors process and the challenge it presents.

Online Research and Possibilities

I sent this note to Dr. Kluthe and Dr. Pulliam about my master's degree research topic. My honor's thesis was about the motivational benefits of chat in the high school foreign language classroom. I am still very interested in this area of research, but currently I only teach first year French students who are not really capable of individualized discourse and filtering software in almost every school blocks chat software. (This was a problem during my research as well.) My master's degree is in Educational Technology from MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, KS. Therefore, I am centering my research on staff development. Dr. Kluthe asked me to post this e-mail to my blog for you all to enjoy. . . LOL

Anyway, any responses would be appreciated.

___________________________________________________________________

Hi Dr. Kluthe and Dr. Pulliam,

Just thought I'd drop a quick note to tell you what's going on up north. I'm getting into the 2nd semester of my Master's degree. In this semester's practicum, we were supposed to submit a draft of questions for approval, coordinate them to the NETS, and then submit them to the faculty. Well, you know me, I kind of pushed the envelope already....I might possibly have submitted my survey to my principal in June to be administered in August; I have my results already. My professor was OK with this; she said it would be "ludicrous" (her word) to survey the faculty again just to meet the process. I will see. From my first survey, I found a significant portion of the faculty that were not using online research, that were not asking students to validate sources, and were not asking students to reference the sources to avoid plagiarism.
I may further survey a smaller sample of teachers about the area of online research. It seems odd to me that more teachers are not already discussing the validity of sources and crediting sources. This may be do to the curriculum that various teachers teach, or it may be due to a lack of knowledge of how to teach these two concepts. Research has changed significantly since most teachers entered the classroom. Before, the acceptable sources were books and magazine articles (at the high school level) and scholarly journal articles. Now, students must decide if online journals (such as Language Learning and Technology, my favorite), online books, or individual websites are credible sources.

There is an evaluation step that, at least when I was doing high school research, was never a real part of the research process. It was just assumed that books and magazines are edited works that have been through the publishing process, so the content must be valid. (Even if bias was involved, the content was deemed valid by some educated readers.) Now, an individual can publish their own opinions, founded and researched or not, at will. Technology teachers have been discussing this for years, but I do not think it has made a real impact in many classrooms outside of the tech fields.

My last point is that as technology has advanced, teachers have not necessarily kept up with how to cite and reference those sources. For example, how does one reference a blog in a paper? (Should one be using a blog as a source in a paper in the first place?) Teachers need to learn more about the new MLA (and maybe APA) formats so students are learning basically the same referencing styles that they will use in college. I do not think that students necessarily need to learn more than one style, but the style they do learn and use should be a standard style, not a hodge podge of what teachers think they remember.

I am hoping that through some well-developed Professional Development sessions (which our district offers 8 days of each year--not a problem to get PD in for our teachers) teachers can finesse a few things about their research assignments that will make the students better researchers and better prepared for college papers.

Our school has just received two grants: 1) High Schools That Work and 2) Small Learning Communities. The HSTW grant expects within five years all core areas (math, communication arts, science, social studies) classes to include a research component. We have a lot of work to do to be ready to implement that idea. I hope this can help.

Well anyway, here is my current rant. I probably will have to narrow my focus some (I knew you were already thinking that Dr. Kluthe), but I will see.

Any remarks, constructive criticisms, etc. would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Lynn