10/21/2005

last saturday i attended a wels ministry conference thingy. jess and i stayed for about half of it, since she wanted to take a nap and we were going up to milwaukee that evening (which turned out horribly wrong - through no fault of anyone's). there was only one class that i really got anything out of; most of it was geared towards pastors, teachers, and staff ministers - in other words, called workers. since i only teach teen Bible study, i don't fall into that category. the only class that pertained to me was the so-called "teen Bible study curriculum exchange," which was an hour long. i expected to see and hear many versatile suggestions for teaching teens, but saw only a few. it was mostly advice:



and so on and so forth. gee, i never guessed any of that stuff. (sarcasm.) the only good thing i really got out of it is a website, nooma, which makes video Bible studies. i expected to see more posturing crap, like most the other video studies i've seen are, but this series is very good. and it doesn't lay everything out in the open - the students are forced to think on it. so they lead the class, and they learn at their own pace. i will push them a bit, but i want their faith to mature at a comfortable rate.

i talked to my pastor, who is fairly young and still familiar with the politics involved in the wels, about how i didn't get much out of what was supposed to be a curriculum exchange. ah, politics! it's the same everywhere, even - or maybe especially - in the church. no one wants to share how they may have been successful, for fear of someone else stealing their ideas. but the whole premise of the church is to share the gospel!

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