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May 2013
One year ago I began in my role as the Principal of NTC – it was daunting and exciting – full of new challenges and I knew from before I began that I would be stretched and challenged in whole new ways. As someone who loves change, loves thinking creatively and innovatively, I wondered how well my being and person would within an institution! Of course, I also bear a deep love for the college and the church and so I also began with great hope – that it is possible for an institution to serve, to minister, to be expansive in its vision, to cherish people and work in and to their best interests, to be creative in supporting the margins, the people who may not otherwise be able to study or work. I believe/d too that it is possible to be a research-led, theory-into-practice-into-theory, community of learners who shape and influence the world through those who come here and leave again into their roles around the world - our graduates…
Alongside my hopes, I also suspected that being in this role would teach me more than ever about the ways of God and God’s people – or at least deepen my understanding in a lot of ways [that’s the nature of change I think!] particularly in relation to what it means to love God and one’s neighbour.
So – on reflection, what have I learned? … I’ve learned that…
So – I’m sure I’ve learned (and relearned) more than I’ve recounted here – but that’s a flavour of the way the college has shaped one of its inhabitants this year…
I look forward to what lies ahead!
Grace and Peace, Deirdre March 2013
March is an intense time in the life of the college. We have our Governors, our denominational Assembly meetings, a visit coming up by the Quality Assurance Agency and final documentation due for National Youth Agency revalidation visits! Did I mention it was a big month?
We have also had thought-provoking discussions about a range of issues – including what the life of Christ looks like in practice and in community. Partly provoked by emphases we’ve been wrestling with as we develop new courses, new ways of enabling people to access education, and how we continually support our students to be incredibly engaged in Scripture, theology and the world around us as it is, and (dare I say it) as it will be. We’ve been thinking about how we engage with training, equipping and sharing in the formation of Christian leaders who are themselves (or will be) engaged in negotiating the complexities of business, media, the Arts, culture, economics, politics, religious life and a changing world. How do we connect with the challenges that emerge as we scan the environment around us and foresee some of the trends that will touch and shape lives in Britain and beyond?
For example, we know already that the city we are placed in, our beloved Manchester, alongside the wider UK, will see increased poverty and stresses in coming days. We know too that there are enormous forces at work around the world that demand our attentiveness and a response of Grace. The poverty reports brought out recently: Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Scotalnd 2013 - (http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/monitoring-poverty-scotland-2013) and The lies we tell ourselves, give food for thought (written by the shared brains of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church http://www.jointpublicissues.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Truth-And-Lies-Report-smaller.pdf). These issues are not alien to the global church - poverty is where we are found. The realities of the issues effecting the globe, our world, our earth, demand profound reflection and creative practices as a form of response. So… for us, thinking about training, education, teaching and learning, and how all that we do relates to this world God loves and all the people in it, all those who He yearns to embrace, compells us to wrestle again and again with the shape of our teaching and learning communities and (for those of us who teach) our own research. This is a good thing! For renewal is part and parcel of the life of a college and the people within it!
So, this week in our chapel we paused to think about how Christians engage in discourse about public theology & the issues we face. The subtitle was ‘talking without shouting’! Based on Colossians 4: 5-6, ‘Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.’ We reflected in a dialogical way about ways to talk about important – and often contentious issues. We talked about how to respect, love, listen to Scripture, in the light of tradition, with reason and passion, experientially, mindful of the future, engaged in community, thinking personally and corporately, including practices of justice… and with a great deal of prayer and humility. We yearn to live in Christ-like ways. That is our prayer and our hope.
Grace and Peace, Deirdre
The Blog Spot: Musings of the Principal February 2013Learning. Hoping. Passion.
I was trying to think of words that have lingered on our lips over the last months. The first word that leapt to mind was ‘Learning’. The importance of learning how to be a community of grace and learning together how to hold tight to hope and faith in spite of the struggles, temptations, pains, and death that have come into our midst. Learning together to linger over coffee and attend to the details of one another’s lives, seeking to hear what each other is suffering and be present to one another – in good and difficult times. The death of one of our former students – only in his forties – was a reminder to all of us of the preciousness of life. But, more than that, Don (for that was his name), was a Christ-like gift to our community throughout his time here, and to all those who he encountered. He was a gifted student and yet he was someone who encouraged each and every person he met, he always supported his fellow students in their learning and showed real interest in their lives. He was a wonderful man. His learning was remarkable, but more, he taught us greatly about what it means to live a life of integrity – and love learning, demonstrating Christ to those he met. We have learned through his example - in life and death - of the significance of faithful responses to God’s call and leading. A further word that springs to mind is the importance we’ve placed on ‘hoping’. We have been hoping for a season of delight, a sense of God’s presence, God’s goodness; hoping for classroom experiences that stretch and shape us, forming our characters. We have been hoping for faithful experiences of worship and prayer, and hoping for experiences of depth of love in community. Hoping for healing, for funding, for building permission, for dramatic and ordinary ways God reveals God’s self – hoping always for God’s presence to be revealed. I think perhaps it’s unfair to call it ‘hoping’ for that implies uncertainty – instead, our hopes have been realised – we are a messy, learning, lively, life-bringing community – facing all of the challenges of life together can bring, from suffering in our midst to facing disappointment, to hope being realised and funding being secured - God is faithful to our hope – enabling us to be His people. As we wind our way through the Lenten season – from Shrove Tuesday and Pancakes, to Ash Wednesday and the reminder of our mortality, to all that lies ahead of Christ’s Passion, we reflect too on the ‘passion’ that is at our heart. A passion for God: for communicating God’s love to a watching world, a passion to be his people, to reflect Christ-likeness and to engage in mission. A passion for finding creative and innovative ways of thinking theologically that is true to the faith we’ve inherited and passionately believe in. A passion for serving the community that we’re located in as we make plans for community service to local schools and streets. A passion for serving the church together as we make plans for teams to travel around the British Isles. We have a passion to engage in practices of Justice, Peace and Reconciliation demonstrated as we send teams of students and leaders to reflect together in Jerusalem. A passion to enable people to study in ways that reflect on their practice – our new PhD in Missions – for practitioners, a new MA in Urban Mission again, for those dwelling in urban centres, a new MA in Theological Reflection, a series of contemporary issues classes that help people in churches think about the range of needs they encounter… Our passion for Christ, community, and holiness has been ever before us in the last month – and effects our practices as educators, as a place of education – we are learning together, in great hope, to be Christ’s.
The Blog Spot: Musings of the Principal December 2012
I love the Christina Rosseti hymn: Love came down at Christmas and can think of no better one to express the hopes we have for this season in the life of the Church… Love came down at Christmas,
Worship we the
Godhead,
Love shall be
our token,
That we celebrate and revel in the love and riskiness of the unexpected advent of Jesus - God become flesh – is a wonderful part of our faith!
In the kids club (‘Ready, Steady, Church!’) in my church the other night I told a story with a ‘wonder box’ – I wonder… I wonder… trying to help the children think about Jesus & Christmas and its meaning. I’d hidden the baby from the nativity in my pocket and when we’d built the whole nativity I asked them: who is missing? The kids all said ‘Jesus!’ and then I asked one little boy what Jesus meant…? He said ‘Jesus loves me’. I found myself so moved and delighted – a highlight moment of the year! Love as our token… His love as ours… His love for all the world.. His love a plea, a gift, a sign…
The college at this time of year begins to empty out – of students, of faculty, of staff… We are closed – but the run up to today, the 21st, has been replete with blessings. A service of ‘light’, a neighbours open house complete with a fire in the hearth and hot apple & cinnamon, a number of festive meals… and now the buildings will sort of go to sleep for a week-and-a-bit, and we’ll all return in the New Year to … who knows what?! Almost certainly reflection, thinking, praying, worshipping, learning, sharing, community-living, loving…
In the meantime, I pray that for all of you this Christmas is FULL of grace, mercy and peace – the kind of peace that passes all understanding, and the kind of love that Christ shows in coming amongst us, ‘love all lovely, love divine.’
Deirdre
The Blog Spot: Musings of the Principal November 2012
November has flown by! A month of thinking, praying, hoping, sharing, being graced with good conversations and careful contemplations…. At least in part that’s because this month our Governors met and I was able to meet with them for the first time as Principal. All kind of things were on the table for discussion – from the mission, vision and values of the college, to the academic and research life, HR and Operations questions, to the more pragmatic issues of finance and audit reports. It was a wonderful time of meeting, getting to know one another, discovering the various and truly wondrous ways different people think and learn. I think that the future is quite exciting – though with an enormous number of challenges and risks! I loved being able to share some of the stories of our students – we’ve got an incredible group! From those physically present ~ a mix of nations, backgrounds, genders, first languages, hopes, dreams and callings ~ to those that we teach by Vidyo from a distance – in Nairobi and Beirut… ~ it is really quite amazing to learn of the variety of callings and to be involved in helping people fulfil their vocations through our ministry here. And it is a ministry! It’s funny, as someone who’s shifted this direction from being the Pastor of a church (albeit in an unconventional church, with a creative and engaged pastoral team), it’s been amazing to me how this place and its people are as: quirky, messy, challenging, beautiful, open, prayerful and as much a community for exercising grace. I think I’ve been discovering that in new ways. Last month, I said that one of the aspects of the college that has stood out to me is the creative gift of Wesleyan thinking and theology – good news for all people. A further aspect of the college that has powerfully resonated with me has been an understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in calling and equipping people. All people, any people, male and female who respond to God are able to be His servants, and representatives. For me, that is a wide understanding – any Christian is called to minister, but it is also a more specific understanding – some Christians are called to preach, teach, serve, be set aside in unique ways – and I’ve been very thankful that the Nazarene tradition is one that has – by its emphasis on experience, the capacity of God to do what God wants, the notion that Scripture reveals that the Holy Spirit is poured on all flesh, and in its tradition within the Methodist and holiness streams (and what others are calling the ‘evangelical stream’) – always enabled women to experience their calling and express it within the church - both as Elders and Deacons (and therefore preachers, teachers, leaders). This is a profoundly important matter for the church – highlighted in recent days by the Church of England and its decisions on women as bishops. The crisis this has created, and the sorrow (for many, on many levels) that has resulted has also led to a series of reflections, some generous & measured http://steverholmes.org.uk/blog/?p=6755 some much less so. I’m not going to enter the argument here (per se), but merely say that I am grateful for the tradition I’m within, and privileged to work with people who have heartily enabled, empowered, supported, cared for, nurtured and affirmed calling in men and women through the years. Significantly, the first woman ordained in the UK from a Christian church was Olive Winchester (http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/celebration-of-first-woman-minister.17546859) – she went on to be a lecturer and philanthropist in a range of settings. Her example as a woman willing to risk all for Christ, be shaped by education, instil a deep love for holiness in hundreds through her teaching and preaching is inspiring.
The Blog Spot: Musings of the Principal October 2012
October has flown by. Students entering into classes and wrestling with ideas that stretch, challenge and shape them. Learning alongside each other how to live in community, how to pray when your rhythms are disrupted, how to form friendships and be someone who loves and is loved.
The month has been marked by a series of events for our life – from the Work Day where all the college community who are able roll up their sleeves and do manual labour – a hold over from the original daily labour of the college of planting vegetables and tending the buildings, our current work days give the place a spit and polish before Graduation.
Graduation itself draws people together. Students return to NTC with all the feelings of having moved on and yet somehow realising that this place has become theirs somehow: their family, their friends, their community, their home. The bonds that begin with such fragility twine around us and help us become one – we laugh together, cry together, wrestle with deep truth together, discover mystery and communion, hope and fear, and somehow, as we spend time together in community we become one. The communion service was short and sweet, drawing us around Scripture and the Table of Christ – and as we gathered in the chapel it’s hard not to hear the echoes of the years – voices over time who speak of God and God’s love. The graduation banquet was a wonderful time of celebrating all of that: you can even watch the song (careful, it’s to a Simon and Garfunkel tune and so can become an earworm!) on facebook: Nazarene theological College, http://www.facebook.com/groups/447876475241112/.
Graduation day itself was an almost to order day – clear, crisp, and bright. The service of celebration for our graduations is always set in a worship setting – we want it to be known that God is at the centre of all that we do. General Linda Bond of the Salvation Army challenged all of us gathered together to realise that we need our ambition to be Christ. Taken from Philippians, it was a message that rang true, I know, for many. This year the service was also one of inauguration, formally charging me with the role of Principal. As it was occurring I could not stop myself from thinking of one of my favourite sermons by the master story teller Tony Campolo, who talks about ‘Pharaoh had the title, but MOSES had the testimony’ and I felt challenged as I was charged by our church leaders to serve with humility and Christ-likeness, to be a leader of testimony and good character. I also felt humbled, I realise that I stand in the line of five Godly men, many of whom I’ve known and admired greatly – as their successor, and yet as the first woman that I am different, perhaps because of that I was especially mindful that there are challenges that we face that are new, deep, real and yet, that God who calls us is able…faithful... and at work in and through us by his mercy.
Because the Nazarene Church is like a family, (of over a million!), I also was humbled and staggered by the others who had come especially for the day – from all over the UK and all around the world. I felt loved and honoured, and more than a little overwhelmed at times at how God’s love draws people together. I felt like family to so many – and I know that for many of our students that is an element of NTC that they say they love…
Then, on the Sunday following I had the chance to join with two different church congregations in worship and it helped me (re)discover that THIS is what we, the college, exist for. To support, equip, enable, grace, leaders and pastors, preachers and teachers to serve the world through the church. To minister through learning, shaping, forming women and men for service that the world may know…that God’s grace can be revealed through his church to all people.
Dr. Tom
Noble then gave The Didsbury Lectures. He is a pre-eminent systematic
theological in the Church of the Nazarene and the Wesleyan world, and through
his lectures on Christian Holiness and the Trinity (which you can watch on line
until mid November and then buy in book form from Wipf and Stock
Several people these last months have asked what has stood out to me, and that is it really. That I am a Wesleyan and that NTC is a college that emphasises that God is for all, that good news is for all, that the atonement is for all, that our cooperation in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is enabled by the Spirit. That the Spirit compels us, goes before us, works within us so that we can be men and women, people, who love to such an extent that God is our hope, our centre, our aim. The optimism of grace, of God’s love for the world, of creative and dynamic hope that refuses to accept that God is limited or prevented from truly transforming us is part of NTC’s sense of being…And I feel so privileged to be a part of that.
Then, last night, on a COLD and FROSTY night, NTC partnered with Retrak, http://www.retrak.org/ and students, scouts, police officers and young people all slept outside all night in a sponsored big sleep. My observation would be that they didn’t sleep much! But… I know that at least 4k was raised which will be matched by Difid…so what a wonderful labour of love.
So…it’s been a BIG month!
May God be with you,
Deirdre The Blog Spot:Musings of the Principal
SEPTEMBER 2012
It feels like the air changes - students arrive and there's a quiver of anticipation... The books are eager to be picked up, leafed through, cherished and read. The classrooms sense that soon there will be conversations, debate, rigorous learning, new information, new awareness and minds stretching-aching-growing... The cafe braces itself for NOISE, encounters of grace, forgiveness, laughter, jokes, joy. The chapel opens its pores to facilitate the worship-rising, prayer-saturated, deep-thinking-hope-bringing-Word-engaging services -
It's a new term!
This time of year sees the efforts of the summer coming to fruition - all hands are on deck! Everything is prepared - from bedrooms to handbooks, staircases to placements. The Academic and finance offices have registered nearly all our students, arrangements for fees have been made, faculty has met, syllabi are ready, reading is done... and college life's about to begin in a whole new way. The skeleton that we’ve been strengthening over the summer is going to have flesh, and breath, and new life! What will happen? What new things will enter? What traditions will be cherished and recalled, brought to mind for a new generation? What practices of mercy, generosity, kindness, grace, forgiveness, justice and reconciliation will become woven into people’s lives?
Students have arrived from all over the world - thanks to the hard work of the team here, we are highly trusted sponsors, and the QAA is satisfied that our regulations, our intimate community is a place where we know and nurture students. And so we have students from Argentina, India, South Korea (to name but a few) studying alongside students from across the UK and Europe. It’s an exciting blending of thinking and cultures, graces and gifts. And the stories they can tell! I am always fascinated and delighted by the ways God has drawn people into his Kingdom.
Of course, there’s also the faculty – over the course of the summer people have been in Jordan, Australia, Spain, Greece, Canada, the USA, Belgium, Russia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Greece, India ~ some on holiday, some working, teaching and learning… Wherever we’ve been it’s good to come HOME and refresh ourselves for a new semester of cherishing the opportunity to teach and learn. We’re also buzzing with ideas – new ways of being, becoming better than we currently are – always seeking to stretch ourselves to be a place of excellence in service for the kingdom.
And, I know I’ve mentioned this before but we have new people on the NTC team – Joseph Wood our registrar (who passed his PhD viva on Monday and is working on revisions!), Graham Meiklejohn our PR and Marketing strategist, Sheila Strong our finance manager, Rachel Varguhese our receptionist and bookings officer, Michelle Robinson our Alumni development officer – fresh and new ideas flowing into our life together. We also said 'goodbye' to Robin Smith who's embroiled (?) in a PGCE course to train as a teacher for RE in Secondary Schools - although we'll really miss him, he will be a wonderful teacher!
Over the summer we’ve had plenty to pray about, to discover in whole new ways how to depend on God – from the carpark (sounds mundane, but it’s not in a good state!! Hopefully it will be soon….) to visas for students, from our finances & fundraising, to health needs within the community. We have had a lot of laughter and some tears. But here we are. September. Thankful for God’s faithfulness, grace and mercy poured into our community.
In big picture terms – there’s a lot afoot –
First there is Graduation, where we celebrate the acheivement of our students - this is always a joy-creating-sorrow: we will miss the students who have left us! But, we celebrate with them all that graduation symbolises - of perseverance, grace, strenght of character, growth in learning, capacity to think in new ways about the world and God's presence, alongside their development as their character has been shaped in new ways by God.
This year is also a celebration of new things, and (it feels a bit odd to write this), people will pray for me as I formally am given over to the role of Principal - I'm hugely aware of the honour and the challenge - and feel increibly humbled to have been trusted to serve the college I love like this.
The Whitworth Hall is the venue, 11.00 am (much earlier than usual!), followed by a light lunch where we have the opportunity to talk to each other over delicious scones & clotted cream.
Other big things for us - a new learning centre collaboratively developed by NTC and EUNC, new MA streams coming into being, an off-site course in Christian Holiness taught in Glasgow, a new series in the spring on Theology & contemporary issues for thinking Christians – including Theology and Special Educational needs and Theology and multicultural churches…A lot is happening - so watch this space… !
Grace and Peace to you all,
Deirdre
AUGUST 2012
The whirlwind of the summer continues, with pauses here and there where we hear the still, small Voice.
People from NTC continue to be all around the world - either working, or speaking, or in meetings that set direction for theological educaion in the Church of the Nazarene.
So - people have been (or are) in:
We also said goodbye to our second work and witness team -once again they did an incredible job - along with refurbishing things, they also introduced many of us to the delights of Cinnamon Buns to die for, and various cookies that demand to be eaten in groups of three... :-)
By September, for returning students and visitors, you won't recognise the place! If you're coming into the buildings - the ground floor and second floor of the White House Administration Building has a new look... Beech Wing is completely finished, there's new shelving in the library Manchester Wesley Research Centre....
We also have a new face of reception - alongside Rita Stuart (one of our longest serving members of staff, whose voice many people associate with NTC) we have Rachel Varughese, who is a wonderful part of the team.
The background work of the college continues - applications processed, interviews for students (what a great group!), arranging of placements, writing handbooks and classes. Thinking about our future as we move towards teaching more and more in video conferencing, e-learning and using other forms of creative delivery.... And as we move off-site this year - for classes in Christian Holiness in the Autumn term up in Glasgow.
Reading too is a part of the summer for faculty members, here are some of the books on my desk:
Square Peg: Why Wesleyans aren't Fundamentalists, edited by Al Truesdale.
small faith GREAT GOD, Tom Wright.
To Change the World, James Davison Hunter.
Teaching and Christian Practices, David I Smith & James K.A. Smith.
What Money Can't Buy, Michael Sandel.
We're also planning for Chapel, for Pastoral Care groups and for life-together in community. It's hard to describe how anticipation builds at this time of year - We begin to think, what will we face together? What will come upon us that is a gift of grace that we couldn't have dreamt of, asked for or imagined? What minsitry will emerge into someone's sphere? What will stretch someone into more Christlikeness? How will this year further transform us into agents of God's grace.
So, Grace and Peace to you all -
Deirdre
ps. Don't forget Graduation - the 20th of October, 2012, at 11.00am at the Whitworth Hall... JULY 2012
A lot of people imagine the College to be like a ghost-town over the summer, empty of all life and breath! Long holidays in the sun for all the faculty and staff... not much to do... So, I'm going to give you a snapshot of REAL life over the summer!
First, as the MA students leave, PhD students begin to arrive, all anticipating one-to-one supervision with their main supervisors, long hours in the library here or at the John Rylands University library. The Dean and Registrar and their team begin the laborious processes of creating draft timetables, schedules for the teaching loads, appointing any guest lecturers and making sure that all is in order for the start of the new term. They are also planning and preparing for our Graduation ceremonies - one of the highlights of the college year, taking place on October 20th 2012. We also, this year, are planning for that to be my inauguration ceremony - a point of prayer for the college leadership and our future. The detail of that, from ordering gowns, photographs, food and making sure that all the details are communicated falls heavily on the shoulders of Rita and Sarah Dunbar, our academic support staff.
In addition to that, we have people all over the country on our behalf, raising our visibility, and helping students to hear our name as a place God might be calling them to in order to prepare for ministry and their life's mission. They are camping (lucky them in the British weather!), or visiting, pouring their lives into conversations that sometimes change lives as God uses them to minister to others.
Faculty members are teaching abroad (Kent Brower in Australia, Trevor Hutton in Jordan), and involved in Sabbatical projects of writing books (Geordan Hammond). We are hiring for replacements (so creating job descriptions, interviewing, appointing, and inducting), and the regular faculty are all preparing for classes - including reading, learning, thinking, engaging at the forefront of our disciplines so our teaching is fresh and yet deep and rich.
Hugely significant for us over the summer though, is the behind-the-scenes-nuts-and-bolts work of our maintenance team (headed up by Alan Kenyon and over the summer our builder Rob McElroy), and hosts of Work and Witness people....
We've just waved goodbye to our first work and witness team. Amongst other things they: painted walls, floors and ceilings, polished, moved/lugged storage as we have a mass clear out, moved offices, put in windows and finished off windows, walls and the cupola on the Beech Wing space - they've demolished some areas in order to begin the process of from the walls-out refurbishment... all with exquisite craftsmanship and great grace. They also cleared out the loft of the stash of old computers from (ahem) the decades! Harvesting them for anything usable, and taking out hard drives for wiping and recycling. They also rendered several old computers new... The team also helped in outdoor gardening (when the rain stopped), and generally their many hands made heavy work for us possible. It's hard to describe how wonderful it was to have them here - they enabled us to approach the new term with many, many things done that we could not otherwise have done!
I'm sure that you know that unleaking roofs, empty gutters, tidy and clean classrooms, spaces that are fresh and light, rooms that are comfortable and a premises that looks cared for are all the things that we take for granted far too easily... Well, thanks to the Work and Witness team from Oregon and Idaho, our hearts are full.... We don't take it for granted that people sacrifice their time, energy, money and lives to help us, our students and our mission thrive... We are deeply grateful, both to them and to God for calling them to serve in this way. I am always staggered at the generosity of grace.
Also over the last month we've been thinking together about our Mission, our vision and our Values - in renewing our thinking we've been able to remind ourselves of the things that are important to us. So... Just to remind you...
Our Mission:We are a Christian college in the evangelical Wesleyan Holiness tradition committed to the mission of God through providing theological education that is academically robust and practically relevant.
Our Vision:As God’s holy people we aspire to be a learning community reflecting the love of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Dedicated to excellence in theological education, we intentionally foster character formation within contexts that are both practical and reflective.
Our Values:
RELATIONSHIPS
We commit ourselves to loving relationships with God, one another and the world. Expressed in a communal life of worship, learning and ministry, we foster good communication and healthy relationships characterised by compassion, grace, justice, mercy and mutual accountability. The community is global and diverse, encompassing people of many nations, cultures and denominations. In Christ-Likeness we are servant-hearted, transformed by the Spirit who empowers us to live out our faith wherever we are found.
EXCELLENCE
We strive for excellence in all aspects of our college life: our worship and service, our academic teaching, scholarship and research, our governance, communication and administration and our practice of ministry and mission. Our hope is to enable every person within our community to realise their potential and become the women and men they are created to be.
LEARNING
We are committed to acquire godly wisdom, knowledge and experience as we creatively research, reflect, and develop together. We strive to be creative in our modes and methods of delivering education and learning, professional in our research and practice and passionate about nurturing a desire for life-long learning and professional development.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As you see we've been busy - not so much a ghost-town as a vibrant community preparing together for the future, not only this year, but the years to come. Please do keep praying for us -
In particular, please pray for our new and returning student intake, please pray too for our funding efforts as we consider new strategies in funding. Please pray for our processes of hiring in the Youth Work and Ministry department (we are replacing a member of our team who is moving onto further training), and please pray for our next Work and Witness team who arrive tomorrow...
Grace and Peace, Deirdre
June 2012
Well, the whirlwind continues! Towards the end of May I had the chance to be in Canada for a little while. I was speaking at a Nazarene District Ladies Event, and the group that I met with were absolutely delightful. They were from all walks of life, all ages. As I so often find, whenever you're in a setting like that the STORIES of people's lives are incredible, with a weaving together of grace and tragedy, triumph and hope. Many of the women were inspiring! Amongst them my former ministers' wife - she and her husband were very influential on my teenage years, so it was lovely to meet her/them as an adult!
From there I travelled to a sister college in Boston (Eastern Nazarene College) to meet with its President, Dr. Corlis McGee ~ she was incredibly helpful and is supporting me as a mentor in this learning time... (actually, I'm a lifelong learner, so perhaps she'll be supporting me forever!). She enabled me to ask some deep questions about identity and helped me find new ways of thinking about the nature of a college and the Kingdom.
Since my return it's felt like there's been a lot to grapple with - the Senior Leadership Team have met to think about our dreams and visions, and in a series of meetings many of us on the NTC team have been reviewing systems, structures, and how they relate to who we are. Our values are very much centred on who the Triune God is, on how we relate to one-another in community, and how we relate to the world around us. It is in this area that we are most expressly Wesleyan (I think). We have a profound emphasis on the optimism of grace. On what God can do, and yearns to do, and how human response to God means we can join in God's mission of love for the world. All of our team here wants to be part of expressing that to everyone we encounter... students, each other, the wider community, and the congregations we are a part of. It's not without challenge though!
In these coming weeks we are continuing to work together to set our direction for the coming year/s. It is an exciting time to be part of our team. Over the last months we've welcomed some new members: Sheila Strong as our finanical manager, Joseph Wood as our registrar and Graham Meiklejohn as our Publicity and Recruitment director. They are all people who live out the character of Christ and it's wonderful that they've joined us.
As a college community we've had the joy of the Pastor's Summer School, where each year Minister's from the Church of the Nazarene come together to conference, think and learn... fellowship, pray and sing, listen and talk. It's such a great time... We've also had a one day Conference in Theology, hearing from a range of speakers: Rev. Dr. David McEwan, Mr. Joseph Wood, Professor Philip Alexander and Rev. Dr. David McCulloch. This evening is the Manchester Wesley Research Centre (http://www.mwrc.ac.uk/) lecture by Dr. David Ceri Jones.
Of course, the summer time is often perceived to be a time of 'pause' for colleges ~ for us, that's only partially true. Certainly the rhythms of our lives change. On the other hand, we have PhD students, Research Felllows, two Work and Witness Teams, organising and writing of lectures, setting up and arranging of placements, and myriad other details that help us prepare for a wonderful year of learning as a community.
In all that we do, we continue to wrestle with our identity as a vibrant learning community. We are thinking about what it means to be creative in our worship and practice as a community of Christians. We search for ways of continuing to train and equip men and women to serve Christ wherever they find themselves.
As I think about some of the challenges of ministry I've faced as a pastor, I realise that one of the greatest gifts I received as a student was the encouragment to think and reflect theologically on the various situations I encountered - what does GRACE look like in practice? What does forgiveness look like? How do we, the church, offer unconditional love and yet support people as God transforms their lives? How can the church practice justice? Those are real challenges, and I am so glad that as a college we continue to provoke people to thing deeply about their faith in practice.
If you are a pray-er ~ please pray for us as we prepare for our new intake of students and receive on-going applications, and as we move towards our financial year end please pray for Sheila Strong and Margret Duncombe, our finance office team as they work to draw things together. Please too pray for our leadership team,
Grace and Peace to all, Deirdre |
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) we were
reminded of what it means to be those in the Wesleyan tradition that emphasises
holiness.