FTE Day 2
June 18, 2004
I’m typing this from my hotel room, hoping that a little moblogging tonight might work out. I have been told my numerous people (incl. Anna Aven) that Fuller’s library had wireless internet, so I tried to find it tonight to no avail. I finally was directed to a note on a whiteboard on the 4th floor of the library in a little room that said that Fuller’s Wireless Internet was a “pilot project” and after that project, they’ve decided to stop offering it. Well, that’s great. Thanks Fuller.
Today was a good but full day. We had seminars first thing after morning worship, and I attended one led by Phyllis Anderson from Seattle University, titled “That They May Be One: Unity and Division in the Church.” It was pretty interesting, talking about ecumenism. I think my heart is really in the ecumenical movement, but one thing she kept stressing was the importance and the resurgence of denominationalism in our postmodern era. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like more people don’t so much *care* about denominations…am I way off there?
Dr. Miroslav Volf spoke with us on “Dancing for God” in the morning, and the importance of theology to be focused solely on God, and done for God, and not to please others, academies, constituents, etc. Our goal in theology should be to know and love God more, and to be dancing and living “for an audience of One.” After Volf’s talk, I met Anna Aven for lunch at Barney’s Pub in Old Towne Pasadena - a nice place. I survived her wonderful driving in downtown Pasadena and had a fun time making more face-to-face blogging contacts.
In the afternoon we learned about our fellowship. I am amazed. I have $5000 to do WHATEVER and do that WHEREVER I want next summer. This will definitely be something I am going to be processing, thinking about, and hopefully doing it collectively with all of you who read this blog. I’m very excited about the many possibilities of travel, research, ministry and new opportunities and connections. We’ll talk more about this later. But what freedom and creativity…!
After some roundtable discussions this afternoon with fellow “fellows” we met and worshipped and listened to Dr. Volf share a homily on “Passing the Faith,” in which he described what it is like for him as a son (a preacher’s kid), and as a father now of two sons, to think about how to pass on the faith. Incredible to hear him share just a small portion of his life story with us.
Then we were off to some dessert and fellowship and now…I’m tired. Feeling like I can’t shake this cold, so 2 Tylenol PMs and I’m off to sleep like a log. I’m definitely going to become a huge proponent of the FTE. There are amazing people putting this conference on. Also, there are 110 absolutely wonderful Undergraduate & Ministry Fellows here. People are all wonderfully creative, have had diverse
multicultural experiences, share a deep hope for unity, are passionate about peace & justice and making a difference. It’s a very exciting group to be a part of this week. And for the most part…we are mainliners. I’m sure there are some Evangelicals here, but for the most part, we’re United Methodists, Presbyterians, United Church of Christ (which I’m very interested in) and Episcopals (I think those are the largest denominations represented). We’ve had some interesting conversations about denominations, and about terms like “mainline” and “evangelical” (and the difference between evangelical (which is probably a good thing) and Evangelical (which…well, yah, I don’t need to go there)).
I’m very excited to be here, and glad that I took the time to fill out this application. Off to bed.
Tags: Church, FTE, Liberal, Lilly-Endowment, Lilly-Grant, Mainline, Worship
Posted in General, Ministry ShareThis
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Adam Walker Cleaveland: 
June 19th, 2004 at 12:27 pm
Agree with you on the ecumenical side. I think people don’t care as much, or at least many are questioning why the divisions exist instead of taking them for granted. The tough part moving forward is going to be leaving behind some (all?) of the mindsets and prejudices that created the divisions in the first place. The more dogmatic the background, the harder it will be, but we all have our own logs to contend with.
However, people aren’t all the same, and so some variation is bound to show up in how people think and express their belief and worship. Hopefully it won’t be just a nouveau denominationalism (if that’s even a word…)
dave
June 19th, 2004 at 12:40 pm
Woo-hoo! The Episcopalians are in the house. But seriously, as an unchurched person for most of my life it’s really hard for me to even understand denominations. I think that it’s similar to the type of brand loyalty that consumer products used to enjoy, but today most shoppers happily switch brands if the price is cheaper or they’ve seen a new advertisement, etc. I think that the challenge for denominational churches (and yes, “non-denominational” are denominations too) to be true to who they are and not try to woo new “customers” by selling out on their theology, worship practices, whatever.
Sounds like you’re having a great time Adam. Blog on.
Karen H.+
June 19th, 2004 at 4:12 pm
I just noticed that you’re reading “Conjectures.” Good! Much food for thought in that one.
Denominations are strange animals. I think that many people are unclear (I know I am) about the distinctions, so we make assumptions and judgments instead of learning about each other as followers of Christ rather than as adherents to various denominations. It does seem strange that denominationalism is being stressed as important. I thought the whole thrust of postmodernism was bridging those denominational barriers. Hmm.