Seminars

Two-Day Seminars, Monday & Tuesday

1. Happiness, Holiness, and Hierarchy: Lessons in Leadership from the Beatitudes

Edgardo Colón-Emeric, assistant research professor of theology and Hispanic studies;
director of the Hispanic studies program

Jesus’s “Sermon on the Mount” has been at the heart of Christian moral reflection for a long time, but its significance for shaping the character of Christian leadership has been underappreciated.  By reading the Matthean account of the beatitudes, with the help of Wesley and Aquinas, participants will reflect on the role of grace and social structures in forming holy, joyful leaders for God’s people.

2. Moral Leadership Is Not an Oxymoron

Stephen Gunter, associate dean for Methodist studies; research professor of evangelism and Wesleyan studies

How do we change to meet the demands of a new strategic set of challenges without losing followers or losing sight of our core mission?  This question is front and center in every organization. Some leadership theorists prefer to talk about “democratic leadership,” but we will explore leadership frames that are rooted in universally recognized moral values that respect the spirituality of team members and followers. Moral leaders know better than to try to work always in straight lines toward previously designed outcomes, but they never lose sight of the vision as they find creative ways to bring more people into the conversation to accomplish the desired outcomes.

3. Theological Entrepreneurship: What’s “Christian” about Christian Leadership?

David Toole, associate dean for academic administration and strategic initiatives

Using corporate leadership literature, narratives of entrepreneurial success, and biblical and theological texts as a frame, participants will explore “entrepreneurship” from a theological perspective, with the aim of highlighting the entrepreneurial character of Christian leadership and ministry, as well as the theological character of the creativity, innovation, and collaboration that defines entrepreneurship.

4. Grace to Lead

Ken Carder, Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams professor of the practice of Christian ministry, and Laceye Warner, associate dean for academic formation and programs; associate professor of the practice of evangelism and Methodist studies; Royce and Jane Reynolds Teaching Fellow

Faithful leadership in the Wesleyan tradition is rooted in, formed and sustained by, and directed toward holistic salvation wrought through grace.  At times, pastors and congregations may confront obstacles to faithful and effective ministry leadership practices, such as: 

1. preoccupation with rapid numerical growth to reverse the trend of membership decline;
2. lack of theological reflection;
3. disinterest in sustained Christian practices or spiritual disciplines; and
4. reluctance to engage the other, particularly across socio-economic boundaries.

In order to rediscover the grace to lead, this workshop will explore four aspects of the early Methodist movement that offer resources to respond to such obstacles.

5. But It Shall Not Be with You: Exercising Authority in the Church

L. Gregory Jones, dean and professor of theology, and Sam Wells, dean of Duke Chapel

Can Christians exercise authority well? We tend to be ambivalent about issues of power and authority, especially because of Jesus's critiques of those who pursue power in self-absorbed and self-interested ways. Yet pastoral ministry, like any leadership, inevitably involves power and authority. The question is not whether we will exercise power and authority or not; it is whether we will do so well or poorly. Doing so well involves us in reflections on Christ, the church, sin and holiness, and the nature of institutions - and the very images we use for the nature and purpose of ordained ministry.

6. The Foolishness of Preaching

Charles Campbell, professor of homiletics

In First Corinthians Paul writes, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe” (1:21). This workshop explores the character of “gospel foolishness” and its challenge for contemporary preaching. Participants will examine not only Paul’s claims about the foolishness of preaching in First Corinthians, but also the foolishness of Jesus’s preaching in the Sermon on the Mount. In addition, the traditions of the jester and the holy fool will be offered as resources for exploring the character of the preacher as a “fool for Christ” (1 Corinthians 4:10). Looking beyond homiletical gimmicks and techniques, participants will explore the ways in which the wild and foolish gospel can enliven and enrich the risky adventure of preaching.

7. Priest, Prophet, or Pastor: Which Voice for a Postmodern Context?

Joy J. Moore, associate dean for lifelong learning

Whether dining with dignitaries, posturing among politicians, or cultivating a congregational community, Christian leaders are obliged to find a voice that is concurrently one of challenge, comfort, and conviction. Acknowledging the generic atheism of contemporary god-talk and the church’s task to bear witness to the God of Jesus Christ, participants will be challenged to convey the biblical witness in a new way that speaks meaningfully and sufficiently to the increasingly spiritual but non-religious individual. Not simply for the pulpit or small groups, this seminar considers the encounter between a postmodern, post-feminist, post-Christian individualistic culture and the biblical call to a community of justice, and emphasizes the need for Christian leaders to use their own ‘language’ (including speech) to articulate theological, biblical, and spiritual concerns to convey the good news of a faithful God in the twenty-first century context.

8. Hope and Leadership for Reconciliation

Emmanuel Katongole, co-director, center for reconciliation and associate research professor of theology and world Christianity, and Chris Rice, co-director, center for reconciliation

This seminar tells stories of inspiring leaders from around the world and draw lessons for Christian mission and leadership for reconciliation for our time.

9. Leading When You're Not Sure of the Way: What a Young Girl with Cancer Taught a Mom, a Pastor, and a Doctor

Ray Barfield , associate professor of pediatrics and Christian philosophy at the Divinity School and Duke University School of Medicine, Nancy Mills, mother, and Craig Strickland, senior pastor of Hope Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tenn.

In this seminar, a mother, a pastor, and a physician will reflect on how they came to know each other around the life and death of a young girl with cancer. This time for sharing and reflecting together will provide the background for a conversation about how uncertainty itself leads us into new lessons about love, relationship, and leading in a complex world.  We often think of leadership in terms of fundraising, church growth, and visible success.  But sometimes leadership is silent presence, humble willingness to suffer alongside, and confession that our limits have been reached. 

10. Emerging in the Church: Re-cognizing Faith in a Postmodern Culture

Tim Conder, pastor of Emmaus Way (an emergent community in downtown Durham, N.C.), and Dan Rhodes, associate pastor of Emmaus Way

In the past few years, the Emerging Church has garnered much attention while also eluding consistent definition.  For some this movement is a welcome transformation to the landscape of Christianity in North America; to others it is a threat. In this seminar, we will begin by offering both a historical perspective to and description of this movement. Primarily, however, we will focus most of our discussion on the role of doctrine, mission, text, and worship in emergent communities in order to describe the practices we have found to be both essential and reinvigorating for the church as it moves into the twenty-first century. 

11. Leading a Faithful Church in a ‘Mestizo’ World

G. Kevin Baker, pastor Reconciliation United Methodist Church in Durham, N.C. and Cookie Santiago, director of Hispanic and Latino ministries, North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church

We live in a Mestizo—a multicultural, bilingual, interracial—world. Yet, do our Christian leaders understand the implications for “such a time as this?” How can we move churches from celebrating Pentecost once a year to truly embodying it every day?  To do so faithfully in a mestizo world, leaders must find ways to cultivate fluency in other languages, cultures, social and economic contexts, and community and family dynamics, in addition to the traditional fluency needed to teach and preach the biblical and theological truths of the Gospel.

Monday-Only Seminars

12. The Stories We Tell Ourselves and Their Impact on Leadership

William H. Lamar IV, managing director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, and Janice Virtue, executive director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity

Each of us carries several narratives – stories – with us. Formed out of our experiences, these narratives shape our practice of leading for good and for ill. Join us for a conversation about the power of narrative, the discovery of alternative stories, and the unbinding of our leadership abilities.

13. Equipping the Saints for Ministry: Developing Lay Leaders in Your Congregation

Nathan Kirkpatrick, managing director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, and David Odom, executive director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity

In leading a congregation, a pastor faces the challenges of identifying and equipping lay leaders who will help carry forward the church's work in the world.  Most often, though, this feels like a burden rather than an exciting opportunity to shape the direction of the congregation.  Could it be different?  In this seminar, we will discuss ways of building congregational processes of lay recruitment and resourcing that are mission-driven and Spirit-led.

Tuesday-Only Seminars

14. Deer Hunting with Jesus: Faithful Ministry in Blue-Collar Communities

Jeremy Troxler, director of Thriving Rural Communities

Modern mainline congregations and clergy often experience a “class-gap” in terms of education, income, and culture when they seek to reach out to their surrounding communities. This seminar will focus upon ways that we can be in faithful and effective ministry with working-class people, and how such people often call the church to conversion. Through an encounter with the ideas of Tex Sample, Wendell Berry, Will Campbell, and Joe Bageant (whose book inspired the name of this seminar), we will address stereotypes of so-called “blue-collar” people, learn from each others’ experiences of ministry, and seek ways to create a more truly inclusive church.

15. How to Pay Attention: The Desert Fathers and Ministry

Jason Byassee, director of the Center for Theology, Writing, and Media; special assistant to the dean

The desert fathers and mothers of the ancient church have inspired readers to imitate their odd ways of life for centuries. Christians as diverse as St. Augustine, medieval monks, and present-day evangelicals have found desert Christianity strangely appealing, and have adapted practices from desert Christianity for their own day. This session is designed not only to introduce participants to Abbas Moses, Poemen, and Pambo, but also to reappropriate creatively their lives of strict Christian practice for our own day.