Competent? Getting there.

I've been asked to review a set of "educational leadership competencies" that I was first introduced to in the fall of 2008, my first semester at Luther. The competencies are divided into three categories: knowledge, attitude and skill. Each category then is comprised of six defined statements that attempt to articulate how the desired competencies are experienced. Go here if you'd lie to see the full list. Rather than go through the entire list here, I thought I might share a few of the more interesting reflections I have.

Given my context as an intern with Jacob's Well, a faith community I've been a part of for over two years, I've been challenged in ways I could not have imagined when first addressing these competencies. This community tends to be highly educated yet unfamiliar with the historical and literary traditions of the church. In addition, they are skeptical about much of the language and classic approaches to Christian education. This puts a lot of pressure on the leadership in preparation for preaching and small group curriculum development. As a result, I'm thankful that my own familiarity with the scriptural witness has given me the confidence to engage this community theologically in entirely new arenas. Where I struggle is not being too bound by the traditions I'm familiar with in order to see other learning methods as opportunity for this community. These are my current experiences with the knowledge competencies.

As for the attitude, back in 2008 I assessed each aspect of this competencies as "relatively strong." I don't think anything has necessarily changed here as I continue to be deeply interested in the ways in which to engage the world, find God at its center and frame the challenges of the day in that respect. As for skill, I still have lots of growing and learning to do here, but as I recognized in 2008, this is something that will always be in front of me. I've been enjoying my current context but I'm also curious to see how these skills will continue to develop in alternate settings.