The Outside World
This past week I was given the opportunity to go to Indiana University. Now this wasn't to go visit my dad's old school or to just goof off, we were asked to come for the IU Mentoring Confrence. This was the first annual confrence that IU put on, and there were many school from around the state present at this confrence. IWU was the only Christian School there and we were asked to be on some of the discussion panels. During the first discussion panel, Julia Hurlow (who is the grad. assistant for mentoring) and myself realized how much different we were. It was like we were looking into the outside world! Our view of mentoring was so different from the worlds view. Mentoring here at IWU has been discribed as a wholelistic life style. Which means that mentoring isn't just fixing a problem it is living life together. Walking a journey together as one. Well as Julia and I presented this idea, everyone else seemed really confused by the idea. A man named Nigel from New Zealand said "so you're bascially you're saying that was should call for a cultural revolution...that life shouldn't be lived as individuals but together? I like it, you're right, but can it ever happen?" The more I thought about it the more it made sense, we are living a life that is different from the rest of the World. As we look through the window of the Church we must realize that they don't think like we do. So how do we connect to them? How do we make our lifestyle make sense to the rest of the World? Invite them in! And the end of the confrence this week, i was talking to a man named Frank (who was the man who made the whole confrence possible) and he said "I don't know how we here at IU could make happen what you are saying about this wholistic mentoring, but i would sure like to see it happen, keep up your enthusiasim. " My resonse was I hope that you and I can continue to work on this together. He was more than willing to stay incontact and work together at making something schools could use to set up and train a mentoring department. Now i know it wasn't much but it did open the window up so that he could see in with what i was doing and why i was doing it. How do we get the world to see inside the window? Any thing that you all have seen that works well with bringing non-christians in? How do we build those relationships?
posted by Micah Dormann @ 10:27 PM
2 Comments:
Ah Yes, the lovely Btown. It is quite a difference indeed. You were there for a weekend conference. Imagine being there for 2 years of different thinking and then coming to IWU...crazy huh?
The secular world is so focused on function and solutions that it can often overlook the personal connections that truly form and make our existences meaningful. Sounds like you saw the other sides view this weekend and opened some eyes and ears (as well as possible doors in the future).
One of the things I feel the community and education at IWU misses is staying up on the cultural movements of everyone else. We can't be our own "bubble." We've got to infiltrate the enemies lines!
I am not saying that anyone specific is the enemy....the devil that is working in the cultural movements is the enemy..just to clarify:)
Post a Comment
<< Home