Some thoughts...

Some thoughts now, probably more later.

We are at the end of the second day here in Ft. Worth. We have the evening off an totally on our own. I’m very tired and about to take a nap before my friends and I venture out for dinner. However, I thought I would write some quick reflections now with the intent of writing some more later.

At the end of today I’m still interested in community-based organizing and probably more so on one level due to some connections I’ve made, yet at the same time less excited about it on another level. I think it sounds like a very interesting way of doing leadership in the church and the more I learn about it, the more I think I would like to try it in a congregation setting to see what happens. However, I also realize that it is not the only way to do mission and therefore am becoming less excited about it simply based on the fact that I know it is only one way. Nevertheless, there were some connections I made today during a workshop that has interested me. It seems to me that community-based organizing and pastoral care share a lot of the same principles. I actually wonder if that’s why community-based organizing works in many cases because it shares these same principles and may be seen as pastoral care on a larger level. That gets me excited... partially because I love pastoral care and partially because a big component of pastoral care is relationships which I love. It is all about relationships. =)

On another note, it is also very cool being here because when we gather as a large group, we are probably one of the most ethnically diverse groups in the ELCA. It is awesome to see the range of people who are Lutheran and how we all live out our faith lives. The diversity is definitely something I’ve been missing lately.

Ok, enough for now. Time for a nap.

Kate