Neighborhood Seminary
Head
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Collaborative learning with teaching teams of practitioners and scholars
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Accessible for lay people while built upon solid research and practice
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Uses a variety of teaching methods because people learn in different ways
Heart
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Practicing deep listening to God, others, and world in a posture of compassion
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Attending to personal growth through time tested spiritual practices.
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Large and small group experience with trained spiritual directors.
Hands
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Working with missional innovators to learn to see as Jesus sees.
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Building relationships with fellow learners, neighbors, and strangers.
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Developing the senses to see and appreciate the gifts in ourselves and others.
Upcoming Courses
GLOBAL NEIGHBORS. GLOBAL PRAYERS.
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Monthly free virtual prayer event led by Rev. Kim Barker-Brugman
4th Tuesdays
6:30 to 9:00 pm EST (USA/Canada)
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Register once for recurring monthly event.
Staying in Jerusalem: Waiting on the Spirit
1-day retreat held on April 14, 2023, facilitated by Rev. Dr. Elaine Heath. Retreat followed by 7 weeks of virtual small groups through June 2.
Closing event June 15 at WNCC Annual Conference.
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Note: This course offering is open to clergy and laity serving as pulpit supply in Western NC Conference of the UMC.
Registration closes April 1, 2023, 5 pm
Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization
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7-session course facilitated by Dr. Elaine Enns
Thursdays: September 7 and 21, October 5 and 19,
November 2, 16, and 30, 2023
4:00 pm to 7:00 pm EST (USA/Canada)
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Registration closes August 7, 2023, 5 pm
Ministry Partnership Spotlight
President Rev. Dr. Lynne Caldwell highlights
Neighborhood Seminary's partnership with Cornelias Corps
and their shared commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.
THANK YOU FROM
NEIGHBORHOOD SEMINARY
Advent-Christmas, 2022
Dear Friends of Neighborhood Seminary
A favorite Anne Lamott quote identifies “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” as one of the two greatest prayers. (The other one is HELP!). As 2022 draws to a close, Neighborhood Seminary offers those two words with heartfelt enthusiasm to God and for you: THANK YOU!
We give thanks for God’s faithfulness to us and through our Founder and first President, Elaine Heath, for her guidance, wisdom, visionary leadership and responsiveness to God’s calling for the first five years of Neighborhood Seminary. Dr. Heath retired from Neighborhood Seminary in June, and continues her very active, creative, imaginative work as the Abbess of the Spring Forest Community and Church in Hillsborough, N.C. Neighborhood Seminary and Spring Forest will partner together in 2023 with new opportunities for transformative learning and practicing our faith as we seek to love God and our neighbors in the way of Jesus. We give thanks for brilliant, unfailing administrative expertise and wisdom of Dina Helderman who served as Office Manager and has moved into a consulting role and member of the Board. We welcome the presence and gifts of Pansy Crumpler and Ivy Parker to the Neighborhood Seminary Lead Team.
We give thanks to God for students who completed the NS/Certified Lay Ministry Cohort in the Many Waters District of the New England Conference; the participants currently in the Neighboring Theology and Practices Cohort of the Katahdin District, also in the New England Conference; and the extraordinary leadership of Local Lead Teams for both of those cohorts in Maine. We are grateful for participants in short-term classes and seminars, for visitors to our Taste of Neighborhood Seminary offerings, and other Neighborhood Seminary-sponsored conversations.
THANK YOU to all who have partnered with Neighborhood Seminary through gifts of time, teaching, dreaming and planning, sharing our story. We thank you for providing financial gifts, for serving as thought partners, Board members, advisors and guides, participants and promoters and partners in prayer. We would not and cannot be engaged in this incredible work without you!
We look forward with hope and great joy to pathways opening before us as we approach 2023, trusting in the One who is ever faithful to lead us into God’s future, filled with hope. This Christmastide we stand in awe of the amazing gift of God’s love, wrapped in human flesh that has moved into the neighborhoods of our lives, and taken up residence with us. (John 1:14). May you and your loved ones experience the wonder and mystery of this holy season, and may you sense the tenderness of God’s gracious presence enfolding you and your loved ones with deepest peace and fullness of joy.
Happy Christmas!
Lynne B. Caldwell
Lynne B. Caldwell, D. Min.
President, Neighborhood Seminary
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4 Castlewood Dr., Clayton, NC 27520
Podcasts
Never One Thing: Remembering 2,000 Years of Innovative Expressions of Church
The Fresh Expressions Podcast
When you hear the word “church” you are likely imagining something that is very particular to your time and culture. But the church is 2,000 years old, and has many different expressions. This episode will introduce you to a variety of expressions of Church throughout the centuries.
The Church of the Future?
You Have Permission Podcast
"Today my guest, Dr. Elaine Heath, joins me to discuss her five principles of 'What the Church of the Future Needs to Contain". Dr. Heath was the first woman dean of Duke Divinity School and is an author, speaker, pastor, and consultant. Along with her five principles, we cover the value of wisdom traditions, socio-political identity, and more. Elaine says, "Christianity is losing its swagger" and "the Church's mission [towards people] should be to go to Hell for them."
What is the Work? What is the Wisdom?
The Wisdom & The Work Podcast
Join host Sterling Freeman as he sits down to chat with guests Kathleen Crabbs and Gita Gulati-Partee. Kathleen is a leadership and equity educator and coach, and a partner in organizational and cultural systems change. Gita Gulati-Partee is a the founder and principal of Open Source Leadership Strategies which researches, designs and evaluates racial and social justice efforts as well as builds capacity for racial and social justice organizations, movements and leaders around the world.
Blog
What we are thinking about ...
