...through a glass, darkly...
...through a glass, darkly...
ROM Update – Day 3. We have made it through three days of ROM and I have a renewed appreciation for the saying: Time flies when you are having fun. We have about 65 young adults here – about 50 of them for the first time. They come from Croatia, Serbia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Northern Ireland, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Romania, Armenia, Germany, England, and the USA. Folks we are talking about diversity. They are from different ethnicities and different religious groups (Muslims, all brands of Christian and I suspect agnostics and atheists). And they have so much in common. They have enormous leadership potential. They are well educated. (Most speak better English than I do.) They all want to be part of and even help build a better world.
I did not arrive until late afternoon the first day. I missed the first presentation by my good friend Burnet Thompson, titled: Do You Know What You Believe In. Burnet is about 80 years of age and every body’s favorite grandpa. He is also a great logician and thinker. He is the first person I heard say that Jesus does not equal Christianity. In fact, he thinks it is not particularly biblical to call ourselves Christians. The word Christian, he says, was transliterated (look it up on www.Dictionary.com) and not translated from the Greek. If, in 1 Peter (or was it 2 Peter?) it had been translated it would read “follower of Jesus.” That’s what he told me about 11 p.m. last night at my favorite bar in Fuzine.
Monday afternoon everybody received their small group assignments and then made introductions. Monday night we played a get acquainted game in which we had to find the people who matched certain statements about their backgrounds, things like climbed a mountain over 2500 meters (I had to get a metric conversion for that one) touched a real live snake. Then we did some team building exercises.
On Tuesday morning we went to a mountain park and in our small groups went through a series of challenging teambuilding games. In each one, we quickly realized that trusting each other and working together were absolutely essential to complete the challenges successfully. On the first exercise, my team, as it had been the night before, found it difficult to come together. Everyone had his or her own idea about how to overcome the obstacle. Members of the group broke off into pairs or maybe groups of three and competed for airspace stating their opinions. When the group finally stood in a circle and spoke to the middle of the group we began to make progress. Successfully completing the first task was a real boost to the group’s morale. Each task we undertook after brought us closer and closer together.
We had a couple of members who were deathly afraid of heights. The team members really encouraged them but did not press too hard when they opted out of particularly frightful challenges. The respect between members grew and grew as the day wore on and we completed the tasks. Remember that each group is entirely diverse. Each member comes from a different country or ethnic background. By the end of the day, we were no longer American or Serbian or whatever. We were teammates, maybe even brother and sister. Many of us had faced fears due to the encouragement of our teammates. It was beautiful.
Today we had to interactive presentations. The first, by the director of ROM and my good friend, Tihomir Kukolja, was about role models for leadership. Tihomir began by asking participants to share the names of great leaders that they really respected. We heard the names of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jimmy Carter, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and one or two names that I cannot pronounce or spell. I found it interesting that eastern Europeans offered all the names. Then Tihomir observed that all of the great leaders shared in common things like commitment to the poor, sacrificial leadership, and service to others. He also observed that each one considered Jesus of Nazareth to be a role model.
Later in the morning we began to explore the principles and practices of generative dialogue. I was very gratified by the response to the initial presentation. Later in the day I heard the different groups began to talk about their mental models. I am so glad that the participants are immediately able to practice what we explore about dialogue.
How do I sum up the last three days? Developing friendships. Real determination to renew their minds. Very serious engagement in the action learning activities. Smiles and laughter.
I finished the evening listening to several Bosnians, Kosovars, a Serbian, an American and a German telling jokes at our favorite local bar. The young people are doing their best to build community among former enemies. Keep praying for us as we cross boundaries, face our fears of each other, and seek transcendent identity as human beings created in the image of God.
ROM Update – Day 3. We have made it through three days of ROM and I have a renewed appreciation for the saying: Time flies when you are having fun. We have about 65 young adults here – about 50 of them for the first time. They come from Croatia, Serbia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Northern Ireland, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Romania, Armenia, Germany, England, and the USA. Folks we are talking about diversity. They are from different ethnicities and different religious groups (Muslims, all brands of Christian and I suspect agnostics and atheists). And they have so much in common. They have enormous leadership potential. They are well educated. (Most speak better English than I do.) They all want to be part of and even help build a better world.
I did not arrive until late afternoon the first day. I missed the first presentation by my good friend Burnet Thompson, titled: Do You Know What You Believe In. Burnet is about 80 years of age and every body’s favorite grandpa. He is also a great logician and thinker. He is the first person I heard say that Jesus does not equal Christianity. In fact, he thinks it is not particularly biblical to call ourselves Christians. The word Christian, he says, was transliterated (look it up on www.Dictionary.com) and not translated from the Greek. If, in 1 Peter (or was it 2 Peter?) it had been translated it would read “follower of Jesus.” That’s what he told me about 11 p.m. last night at my favorite bar in Fuzine.
Monday afternoon everybody received their small group assignments and then made introductions. Monday night we played a get acquainted game in which we had to find the people who matched certain statements about their backgrounds, things like climbed a mountain over 2500 meters (I had to get a metric conversion for that one) touched a real live snake. Then we did some team building exercises.
On Tuesday morning we went to a mountain park and in our small groups went through a series of challenging teambuilding games. In each one, we quickly realized that trusting each other and working together were absolutely essential to complete the challenges successfully. On the first exercise, my team, as it had been the night before, found it difficult to come together. Everyone had his or her own idea about how to overcome the obstacle. Members of the group broke off into pairs or maybe groups of three and competed for airspace stating their opinions. When the group finally stood in a circle and spoke to the middle of the group we began to make progress. Successfully completing the first task was a real boost to the group’s morale. Each task we undertook after brought us closer and closer together.
We had a couple of members who were deathly afraid of heights. The team members really encouraged them but did not press too hard when they opted out of particularly frightful challenges. The respect between members grew and grew as the day wore on and we completed the tasks. Remember that each group is entirely diverse. Each member comes from a different country or ethnic background. By the end of the day, we were no longer American or Serbian or whatever. We were teammates, maybe even brother and sister. Many of us had faced fears due to the encouragement of our teammates. It was beautiful.
Today we had to interactive presentations. The first, by the director of ROM and my good friend, Tihomir Kukolja, was about role models for leadership. Tihomir began by asking participants to share the names of great leaders that they really respected. We heard the names of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jimmy Carter, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and one or two names that I cannot pronounce or spell. I found it interesting that eastern Europeans offered all the names. Then Tihomir observed that all of the great leaders shared in common things like commitment to the poor, sacrificial leadership, and service to others. He also observed that each one considered Jesus of Nazareth to be a role model.
Later in the morning we began to explore the principles and practices of generative dialogue. I was very gratified by the response to the initial presentation. Later in the day I heard the different groups began to talk about their mental models. I am so glad that the participants are immediately able to practice what we explore about dialogue.
How do I sum up the last three days? Developing friendships. Real determination to renew their minds. Very serious engagement in the action learning activities. Smiles and laughter.
I finished the evening listening to several Bosnians, Kosovars, a Serbian, an American and a German telling jokes at our favorite local bar. The young people are doing their best to build community among former enemies. Keep praying for us as we cross boundaries, face our fears of each other, and seek transcendent identity as human beings created in the image of God.
posted by Randall E. Butler at 3:31 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home