I recently returned from the 2013 Forma Tapestry Conference held outside of Albuquerque, NM. It was a great chance to learn about some new people and resources, take in some local cuisine with friends from Milwaukee, and do my best to promote the Center for the Ministry of Teaching and our upcoming e-Formation conference. I also, quite unfortunately, picked up this awful 2013 flu (today is Day 8 of the quarantine).
See here and here for my presentation (which we streamed via Google+ Hangouts on Air) and my “handout” (via Storify). Or see below. Enjoy!
CMT 2.0: Taking a resource center online
The story of a faith formation resource center at a large Episcopal seminary and its adventures in learning to serve a church being reborn. First told at the 2013 Forma Tapestry Conference in Albuquerque, NM, on February 1, 2013.
Storified by Kyle Matthew Oliver· Fri, Feb 01 2013 09:34:44
Setting the Scene
Like a lot of resource centers, and a lot of churches, the Center for the Ministry of Teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary has seen a major reduction in our foot traffic over the last five or ten years. If we were solely dependent on this walk-in business, we’d probably be closed. Thanks be to God, though, we are embedded in a seminary of considerable means and great faith that it is in the best interest of our institution to help parishes, schools, and other church groups to thrive.
Thus, we have the luxury of some time to think strategically about how to be a faith formation resource center for the church being born in our connected, digital world. We’d like to share our story with you, because (a) we hope it might be a helpful model for your own strategic planning in your context, and (b) more importantly, we hope something we share strikes a chord and could lead to further conversation about how we can be a resource for you.
We’re telling this story with Storify as a way of modeling our usual practice: We strive to be a center where we and others learn primarily by doing and reflecting. So in the telling of the story (and with a relatively new tool, to boot), we engage in the very action-reflection process we advocate for good ministry in any context. This tool is particularly suitable to our work because it allows us to collect the digital artifacts we create as we do it.
Come hear our story at #episcoforma! CMT 2.0: Taking a Resource Center Online. Handout: http://bit.ly/CMTstorify Hangout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oY4vDxiQA2g#!CMT@VTS
<div>Hear our story at the <a href="/groups/194501327325205/?group_id=0" class="">Forma</a> Tapestry Conference (or via YouTube): <br> CMT 2.0: Taking a Resource Center Online<br> <br> "Handout": <a href="http://storify.com/KyleOliver/cmt-2-0-taking-a-resource-center-online" class="">http://storify.com/KyleOliver/cmt-2-0-taking-a-resource-center-online</a><br> <br> Hangout: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oY4vDxiQA2g" class="">https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oY4vDxiQA2g</a># …! — with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/missymorain" class="">Missy Morain</a> and <a href="/browse/participants/?q=AeIWMaIjRGcNJ3v4Nx1tas0N6rkq6RiGaPVXfpR5CQj65CUGLeRVIUZl_qpr9gCDo_XrPq6H0YQ4L9AhNvMQxscH17wlLJNRPj5yeqZGKBoehuNUIEYofZ_9OqnZ58DME-aomXfovsT80iyHwN6xVfZPM71XTjF7VWiHIl5JLVmJ07xef9zzDfmj0pYbD84OR_rRASPWisudNBAPPQSWwIDYZkYziBoyGJENRktc5WL3SA" class="">2 others</a> at <a href="/events/424296167584240/" class="">2013 Forma Tapestry Conference</a>.</div>Kyle Oliver
The Process
A series of increasingly intentional events has focused our discernment of where and how the Spirit is calling our center to serve:
(1) Early CMT forays into digital content included IntoAllTheWWWorld.org, an Evangelical Education Society-sponsored site for posting formation resources created by seminarians, which was launched in the summer of 2011. This project was a collaboration between the CMT and grant recipient Kyle Oliver (now a CMT employee and the person telling this story).
intoallthewwworld.org
(2) Strategic planning conversations surrounding the departure of a CMT staff member led to the creation of a new staff position, a digital missioner and learning lab coordinator who began working July 2, 2012 (that’s me).
Virginia Theological Seminary ~ Tuesday, July 3, 2012Tuesday, July 3, 2012 7/3/2012The Center for the Ministry of Teaching (CMT) is one of the most influential sources of information for tho…
What does a digital missioner do? Part 1: ConnectMy name is Kyle Matthew Oliver, and I’m the new Digital Missioner and Learning Lab Coordinator in the Center for the Ministry of Teaching…
Digital Missioner ( @kmoliver) + incoming class of @VTS_Seminary = future of theological education (see @VTS_CMT)! #chsocmLisa Kimball
(3) On August 27, 2012, CMT staff and volunteers past and present gathered to discuss where we’ve been and where we’re going. Founder Locke Bowman encouraged us to continue our mission of training teachers first and curating resources second. The event refocuses our energy on development of laboratory for teaching and learning.
Around VTSPinterest
"We ought to do some demonstrating of what in the world we mean by teaching." Locke Bowman on his thought process forming CMT & predecessorsCMT@VTS
Final brainstorming. Thanks for a rich day and many ideas! St. Francis would approve. #cmtvision http://pic.twitter.com/jj09ZXY9CMT@VTS
New Directions in Curation: From one-stop shop to network hub
The movement of curriculum materials online and decreased demand for looking at samples of paper curriculum has removed some of the pressure for us to have everything. We focus instead on knowing where to send people to look for what they need and participating in conversations about the best materials:
(1) It sometimes feels like we make our living learning from and pointing to materials from Sharon Ely Pearson, especially on her excellent blog, Building Faith. If you’re not following Sharon online, you should be!
Lenten StudiesLenten Studies by Sharon Ely Pearson Although Epiphany has just begun, in 2013 it will be a relatively short season. Ash Wednesday is Feb…
Faith at HomeI am the Christian Formation Specialist for Church Publishing Incorporated, offering assistance and consulting to The Episcopal Church. I…
(2) We’re working with Robbin Whittington at the Center for Spiritual Resources to build and populate a searchable, browsable curated site for faith formation resources. This effort has grown to include many other stakeholders in the Episcopal Church, who are currently seeking funding to facilitate development.
Church Life & Ministry | Center for Spiritual ResourcesA resource for understanding old age, written from the perspective of an older adult (he’s 87). Older readers have reviewed it and said, …
CSR Portal Submission Trainingkylematthewoliver
(3) We regularly refer Christian formation people to the 21st Century Faith Formation workshops put on by John Roberto and Vibrant Faith Ministries. John’s special gift is in teaching educators to become faith formation curators themselves, sending church families the best free resources and building networks of parishioners who want to learn together. We now partner with the Faith Formation Learning Exchange, which John also coordinates and for which Kyle begins contributing young adult and digital & online media content in February, 2013.
Curating 21st Century Faith FormationWe live surrounded by an abundance of content. Just imagine how many blogs are written and published daily (there over 150 million blogs)…
Putting People in the Center through NetworksFrom the Winter 2013 issue of Episcopal Teacher: The first half-hour or so of The Social Network, the 2010 film about Mark Zuckerberg and…
Young AdultsDiscover the most significant trends and issues in our society and culture that are influencing young adults (20s-30s). Discover the late…
(4) We add our own two cents about strong resources and where to find them, especially in our areas of interest and expertise (developmental styles and demographics, teaching and learning theory, formation of formation leaders, mentor network development, the intersection of formation and evangelism). You can find our take on Tumblr (VTS-CMT), on Twitter (VTS_CMT), in our print publication (Episcopal Teacher), on Pinterest (CMT@VTS), and on our soon-to-be-relaunched pages on the VTS website.
Forma 2013, Day 1: Cool stuff we learned aboutI’m in New Mexico representing the CMT at the 2013 Forma Tapestry Conference.
The only thing you can lose by dying is your false self. #Rohr #episcoformaCMT@VTS
Teaching & LearningPinterest
Virginia Theological Seminary ~ Center for the Ministry of Teaching, Christian Education DevelopmentThe Center for the Ministry of Teaching supports and enriches christian education development in the Episcopal Church. The CMT is part of…
New Directions in Consultation: From high-expertise courses to mid-expertise conversation and learning
The CMT has traditionally done a lot of formal training and courses (think “how to run a vacation bible school” or “how to train your Sunday school teachers”). We were “Sunday school experts” and passed on our knowledge to “Sunday school clients.” While we continue to do some of this work, it seems to us that the nature of consultation and training for faith formation has to become more conversational, more exploratory, more rooted in opportunities to be immersed in diverse contexts and respond to them. In short, we believe the old models are working less and less well, so we need to become more collaborative to identify and implement new models:
(1) We talk. A lot. With folks all over the country. Usually by telephone or video conference. We’re finding that our reaching out in this manner helps us put similarly tasked practitioners in touch with each other. What has emerged for us is essentially a model of asset-based community organizing within the faith formation world, mostly via conversations online.
Building Organizational CapacityGreg Troxell
Learning about Twitter best practices for congregations from @anna_r of @vibrantfaith at #21centFF.CMT@VTS
Tip #2: Create a Sermon Series as a Tool for Faith Formationrevleo: Structure a sermon series that draw not only from the lectionary but also from the liturgical practices and worship space. This w…
(2) Tools like Adobe Presenter are allowing us to shorten our training cycles, so we can learn new skills and immediately pass them on to others. We’ve had considerable demand for a web tools video training series and are making preparations to launch it soon.
A brief welcome and tutorial from your CTS 450 TAkylematthewoliver
Introduction to Using the ATLAReligion Database
Impromptu VTS email smartphone integration workshop starts as soon as students arrive! 🙂 #techtacticsCMT@VTS
(3) An increasingly respectable information and educational technology infrastructure, and a growing collection of digital media creation hardware in our learning lab, is helping our center and VTS more broadly to convene conversations about using new technology for faith formation. We’re hosting conferences, teaching seminary classes (“The Teaching Church” and “Spiritual or Religious”), gathering students for practice and training, participating in research projects (including a Lilly Grant entitled “Christian Youth: Learning and Living Faith Project”) and even learning how to develop mobile apps for faith formation. We’re also hoping to participate in Forma’s efforts to launch a denominational Christian formation certification effort.
Announcing e-Formation 2013: May 31-June 2 – e-FormationMore and more, the work of Christian faith formation and discipleship is happening online, or at least with help from social media and ot…
With dear colleagues (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/randall.curtis?group_id=0" class="">Randall Curtis</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/robbin.b.whittington?group_id=0" class="">Robbin Brent Whittington</a>, John Roberto of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LifelongFaithAssociates?group_id=0" class="">LifelongFaith Associates</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lisa.kimball.589?group_id=0" class="">Lisa Kimball</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/julie.lytle.39?group_id=0" class="">Julie Lytle</a>) planning e-Formation 2.0, a conference at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaTheologicalSeminary?group_id=0" class="">Virginia Theological Seminary</a> that I am now transcendentally excited about: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FXIRJB2&h=MAQHU3dJl&s=1" class="">http://bit.ly/XIRJB2</a>
Amber Carswell and Lisa Kimball train students in a VTS practical ministry class to use the Mahara e-portfolio tool at foliofor.me to reflect on their work in this course and beyond.vts-cmt.tumblr.com
Ranting About How We Poorly Share Our FaithThursday I took part in a web-conference facilitated by my dear friend Lisa Kimball for her course on the teaching church. My role was to…
Excited about the collaborative possibilities in this emerging area of ministry. Lots of talent in that room!
@VTS_Seminary-ians practicing #chsocm: A year in reviewThe increasingly tech-engaged students of Virginia Theological Seminary are learning to use social media to tell the story of how they’ve…
App Development: Day 6 – Contraria Sunt ComplementaIt’s been a short but gratifying day here. Got some good feedback from members of the community and am looking forward to finishing the f…
kyleoliver.net
Final Reflections
In making our way forward, we’ve learned a lot about how to proceed in the future, and how not to. We’ve learned the value of reading very widely and seeking out as much cross-fertilization as possible (non-Episcopal circles, non-Christian circles, etc.). We’ve learned to alternate between periods of dreaming big (“ooh, we could try this”) and focusing on the immediate and practical (“let’s finish that training video by Thursday”). And we’ve learned to produce a prototype before trying to drum up support for a bigger effort.
An interesting thought that we’ve been left with is a bigger point about making a major transition—in this case, from being a physical resource room to an online resource center. We’ve learned to think like J.R.R. Tolkien rather than C.S. Lewis. Lewis, as you probably know, wrote a fair bit of allegory, where a character in a story corresponded directly to a character in another story (Aslan = Jesus). Tolkien avoided this approach in favor of what he called analogy, a looser approach that avoids overly direct thinking (Gandalf is analogous to Jesus, but so is Aragorn).
Shadow and Light: Analogy vs. AllegoryJ.R.R Tolkien’s literary writings, especially Lord of the Rings, were influenced by his experience in World War I. Tolkien served in the …
We believe our future life as a resource center needs to be analogous to our past life rather than an allegory of it. Some of our tasks as a drop-in center with circulating collection and curriculum samples will be very similar to our tasks as curators at an online hub. The same goes for our changing roles as Christian formation consultants. As we move ahead, we expect that a spirit of flexibility, adventure, and collaboration will help us carry on our past mission in ways that will be relevant to the church’s future and always rooted in the Good News of God among us.