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In This Issue
Doing Scripture through the Prayer Book
Apply to the 2014 Leadership Institute
Professor Zscheile in Chicago June 2-6
Community Organizing in Chicago
A Pilgrimage to Sarum
The Leader as Potter
Fall 2014 at Bexley Seabury
Learning from London
National Worship Conference 2014
Alumni News
Doing Scripture through the Prayer Book
President Ferlo introduces a video course with ChurchNext

 

In the next several weeks, the entire Bexley Seabury faculty will be showcased in an eight-part video series introducing online audiences to the spiritual practices of the Book of Common Prayer. We are working with the Rev. Chris Yaw, founder of ChurchNext, a start-up non-profit dedicated to exploring new platforms for Christian formation in dioceses and congregations throughout the world.

 

I filmed my four-part segment--on Scripture and the Prayer Book--yesterday in my Chicago office, with Chris behind the camera and my former parishioner Simon Carr's beautiful painting of the Transfiguration forming the backdrop. I like to think of this project as an excellent example of what we are calling our "seminary beyond walls." Chris and I hope that our series will have widespread use in parishes and congregations around the country, as well as among individuals sitting in front of their laptops and connected to the Internet. My gifted colleagues--Tom Ferguson, Jason Fout, Karl Ruttan, Ellen Wondra, John Dally, Suzann Holding, Milner Seifert--and I are proud of what we have accomplished, and grateful to be working for an Episcopal seminary where such innovative projects constitute our very reason for being.

 

To find out more about ChurchNext and the Bexley Seabury Prayer Book Series, visit the ChurchNext blog. And encourage your colleagues, friends and parishioners to consider subscribing to the series. The first four-part segment--featuring Dean Tom Ferguson on global Anglicanism and the Prayer Book tradition--is scheduled to be aired online beginning May 11. To give you a sense of what we are up to, here's a preview of the script I wrote for yesterday's filming. It's a five-minute segment (one of four) focusing on "doing" Scripture through the Prayer Book. Let me know what you think.

 

Happy Eastertide to all.

 
2014 Leadership Institute Filling Up
Register now for June program with Kellogg School
 
The Leadership Institute, a three-day program with the Center for Nonprofit Management, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, is tailored to meet the distinctive needs of lay and clergy leaders. The 2014 session is filling up, but some spaces still remain. Apply online.

This year's program includes seminars titled Leadership Today, Branding Your Congregation, Understanding Changing Generations, Social Media Strategy, Major Gift Strategies and Donor Relations, and Leading and Following, with discussion regarding the opportunities and challenges of context and culture. Learn more and apply online. Questions? Talk with Suzann Holding. 

 




KyungJa (KJ) Oh (Seabury '00), rector of Church of the Advent in Cincinnati, Ohio:

"I was just blown away by it. The entire course was brilliant, with top-notch, engaged faculty; the cross-disciplinary approach was stunning."
 

 

Professor Zscheile in Chicago, June 2-6
Explore leading local congregations deeper into mission
 
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Congregations in the 21st Century: June 2-6

This summer, Professor Dwight Zscheile teaches a weeklong intensive course that explores the inherited assumptions, structures, and patterns of Christian congregational life in light of today's new apostolic environment. Students will consider organizational, leadership, and innovation theory with an eye toward leading local churches deeper into mission. Learn more and register online.

 

Last year, Zscheile gave the keynote address, "Joining God in the Neighborhood," at the Episcopal Diocese of Washington's annual convention. 

"Jesus Christ circulated around the neighborhood of Galilee," he said. "He didn't build a temple. He gave them the word of God by sharing others' lives, on their turf and their terms. This giving and receiving is integral to our calling to represent the new human community in Christ, to finding our identity in experimenting in ways of the spirit."

 

To learn more about Professor Zscheile's work, watch the address online.

Community Organizing in Chicago June 8-14
Weeklong intensive class with Industrial Areas Foundation

 

Community Organizing for Missional Living

Michael Gecan of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) and other IAF organizers will lead this course in relationship building and community change through community organizing. Students will consider the biblical groundings of organizing and its practical application to congregational renewal. Learn more and register online.

 

Last year, the Rev. Morgan Ibe, a DMin student, said this about the community organizing class:

 

"The last class I took was in community organizing and to be honest, at the end of the class, I said this is what every seminary should be doing. And I wondered why it took me so long to come across such a class. It was such an eye opener."

 

Read more about how community organizing has transformed Ibe's ministry in Oklahoma. 
A Pilgrimage to Sarum
August 31-September 5, 2014
 
George Herbert on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral

Join President Ferlo and the Rev. Gwynne Wright, member of the Bexley Seabury Federation Board, for a pilgrimage to the heartland of our Anglican heritage. Explore the sacred ruins of Old Sarum, the magnificence of Salisbury and Winchester Cathedrals, and the humble beauty of Bemerton parish church, where the poet George Herbert shaped the Anglican cure of souls for generations to come.

The pilgrimage will include opportunities to study George Herbert with Ferlo and the founder of the George Herbert in Bremerton Group and conversation with the bishop of Salisbury, the Rt. Rev. Nicolas Holtam, whose vision for pastoral care and social justice transformed St. Martin in the Fields in London and now marks the life and ministry of this thriving community.

Learn more, download a brochure, or visit MTS Travel online to reserve a spot.
The Leader as Potter: Shaping Congregational Culture
Coming soon in October

This fall course will offer participants the opportunity to engage in a hands-on pottery workshop, and use that experience to reflect on leadership principles regarding congregational culture.

Participants will meet for four 3-hour sessions in a local [Chicagoland] potter's studio. Three sessions will involve directly working with clay and periodic reflection and one will be a facilitated conversation to integrate and connect the dots between congregational leadership and the art of the potter.

Contact Suzann Holding to learn more.
Fall 2014 at Bexley Seabury
Weekend intensives, semester-long courses
 
Chicago

September 19-20, October 24-25, November 14-15

Tom Ferguson offers an introduction to and overview of history and development of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion, with particular attention given to Anglicanism as a diverse, globalized communion.

  

Anglican Spirituality and Ethos

September 26-27, October 31-November 1, December 5-6 

Roger Ferlo will introduce students to Anglican spirituality and the Anglican ethos in theology, liturgy, music, poetry and the visual arts. Students will consider baptismal and Eucharistic theology for spiritual life; the roots of Anglican Christianity in the Benedictine tradition; Anglican social witness and the life of prayer; and new expressions of Anglican community.  

  

Atheism 101

October 10-11, November 7-8, December 12-13
The premise of this course with John Dally is that Christians in general and seminary-trained leaders in particular ought to know why people who have heard the gospel and understand it choose not to be a part of the Christian community.  

  

Columbus

Anglican Liturgy and Music: Development and Theology

Fall semester weekly course 

This course with Jason Fout is an introduction to the principles and practices of Anglican worship with particular focus on the Episcopal Church. The course will cover the nature of worship and the history of its evolution; and the theology and use of music in worship. 

  

Online

Episcopal Canon Law and Polity

August 25 - December 13  

This online-only course covers the basics of the canon law and polity of The Episcopal Church. This is a not-for-credit course that meets ordination requirements in The Episcopal Church. 

  

Current Bexley Seabury MDiv students can also register for an Anglican Formation course and field education seminar.

  
Download a flyer or learn more on our website. All classes offer graduate credit and are also available, at significantly reduced rates, for continuing education or simply for the love of learning. Registration for Fall 2014 opens in early May.
Learning from London:  A Travel Course
Study with Professor Jason Fout in London, January 2015
 
In the Church of England's Diocese of London, average weekly attendance has increased by 48% since 2000 and giving has grown by 50%. Now the diocese has pledged to start or renew 100 worshipping communities by 2020.
 
What are they doing right, and what can Episcopalians learn from it?
 
 
From January 17-24, 2015, Dr. Jason Fout will lead an in-depth introduction to the mission and evangelism taking place in the Diocese of London. Students will learn best practices from seasoned practitioners and come away energized to tell a different story about the possibilities present to the church in America.
 

MDiv and DMin students can take this course for academic credit, and other church leaders can participate for lifelong learning and enrichment. Details about the course, including schedule, cost, and answers to frequently asked questions, are now available online. Questions? Please talk with Professor Fout via email.

National Worship Conference 2014
July 20-23, 2014 in Edmonton, Alberta
 
 
From July 20-23, 2014 in Edmonton, Alberta, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada will host the 2014 National Worship Conference in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This year's theme is "Weaving Strands - Liturgy for Living."
 
The conference will include presenters and participants from across North America, including Bexley Seabury President Roger Ferlo. Learn more and register online before June 15 for the early bird rate, and check out student and group discounts.
Alumni News
 

The Rev. Mark Juchter (Seabury '03) (Chaplain, Captain USAF) will begin working on a Master of Science in Counseling with a focus on marriage and family at Texas A&M University in July. He will also be a student of the highly competitive Army Family Life School at Fort Hood and counseling at the Family Life Center on the base.

 

(l-r) the Rev. Ethan Jewett, diaconal intern Jihan Murray-Smith. Br. Will Harpest, BSG, and the Rev. Kate Guistolise 

Palms on the Way, based on Ashes to Go, is the brainchild of the Rev. Robert Cristobal (Seabury '05), who assists at Church of the Atonement in Chicago and is supply priest at St. George & Matthias in Chicago. On Palm Sunday, the Rev. Kate Guistolise (Seabury '03) and the Rev. Ethan Jewett (Seabury '12) handed out palm crosses blessed at the liturgy and blessed pedestrians.

 

   

  

  

 

News to share with your fellow Bexley and Seabury alums? Email Debbie Frantz in Columbus or Ron Fox in Chicago. 
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