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Category Archives: Ministerial formation

Hot (blog) summer in Britain

The British Unitarians and Free Christian bloggers seem to be countering the mid-summer slump that’s withering the bloggers on this side of the Atlantic. And they have an energy that its worthy of emulation: they use blogs, in a loosely-coordinated (or perhaps not so loosely, but that’s how it appears) way, to provide services.  Unofficial [...]

Posted 27 July 2010 † Scott Wells § Bloggers § Church administration § World Unitarianism and Universalism ‡ Comments (0) °

My Universalism in June post

UU Salon‘s appeal to discuss Universalism as “the other U” and review of a graduate-level Universalist class curriculum at Transient and Permanent — to be put plainly — pushes my buttons. For the last two decades or so, I’ve seen Universalism viewed normatively through a Unitarian lens, though this process is actually more than a [...]

Posted 06 June 2010 † Scott Wells § Universalism § Universalist history § Universalist identity ‡ Comments (9) °

Books to recommend?

Good readers: I’ve been working on my 2010 resolutions for about three weeks now — it’s a lot easier to accomplish your goals in thirteen and a half months than twelve. And besides: I can hardly remember what I intended for 2009 at this point. I’m a slow reader, but even so I would like [...]

Posted 06 December 2009 † Scott Wells § Art and culture ‡ Comments (11) ° Tagged:

PolityWonk on ministerial formation

I agree with Elizabeth (of “Elizabeth’s Little Blog”) that you should read PolityWonk’s “How UU Ministry Got to Be So Expensive” — and especially the little-told parts of the story from point #7 onwards. In a related note, my own choice of seminary was conditioned on the full tuition I got from Brite Divinity School (M.Div. [...]

Posted 21 November 2009 † Scott Wells § Class § Debt ‡ Comments (2) °

Meadville Lombard open thread

Today we hear the not-so-stunning news that Meadville Lombard plans to sell its Chicago property. The next step would be to relocate to metro-Boston to participate in some kind of educational situation with the UUCF-affiliated Andover Newton Theological School (which itself has a large Unitarian Universalist student base) and the ailing Episcopalian Colgate Rochester Crozer [...]

Posted 10 November 2009 † Scott Wells § Unitarian Universalist family matters ‡ Comments (12) °

“From Jesus to Christ” online

If I had to develop a DIY training plan for ministry leaders — especially Unitarian and Universalist Christian ones — I would surely include the PBS Frontline series “From Jesus to Christ” (1998) as a resource. I had just finished my seminary education the year before, and was quite impressed in watching it. So when [...]

Posted 18 January 2009 † Scott Wells § Bible ‡ Comments (4) ° Tagged: ,

Is the M.Div. too much?

I didn’t get a Ph.D. because I didn’t want one. I got an M.Div. because everyone said I needed one to follow my call — which I hear differently now; it isn’t extinguished — into the ministry. Looking around at the talented people I know — who have between them a knack for making connections, [...]

Posted 13 January 2009 † Scott Wells § Sustainable living ‡ Comments (8) °

“Calling Ministers” blog

The new Calling Ministers blog gives me some hope. Examining discrete pieces of church life from a particular, non-bureaucratic voice — here, as subtitled “Examining and interviewing for UU ministry” — is where blogging is ideal contribution, and this is an area of particular, overlooked concern. I look forward to many more entries. Share this [...]

Posted 29 December 2008 † Scott Wells § Bloggers § Unitarian Universalist Association ‡ Comments (0) °

On this day in 1788: Murray ordained

Or ordained for the second time, but as so much with early Universalism, the first was irregular enough to be legally suspect. John Murray was the minister of the Independent Christian Church, Gloucester, Massachusetts; the record of the ordination follows after the jump, from Universalism in Gloucester, Mass. (1892, 191 ff.) A polity note: see [...]

Posted 25 December 2008 † Scott Wells § Universalist history ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Unitarian ordination in Denmark

From a Transylvanian Unitarian newsletter Jóakarat (PDF) comes a single English notice: the ordination of Roberto Rossi on November 16, in the Unitarian Church in Copenhagen, Norwegian Unitarian minister and blogger (here, also here) Knut Heidelberg presiding. It seems more of an international affair even than that — the Rev. Mr. Rossi being Italian for [...]

Posted 14 December 2008 † Scott Wells § World Unitarianism and Universalism ‡ Comments (3) °