Internal transformation鈥攚hen it is holistic, embodied, and attuned to both the nature of our calling and the needs of our world鈥攎ust always lead to outward service. This is why transformative learning cannot be contained to a classroom. Grounded in the integration of text.soul.culture, we seek to create space for students to gain real-world experience in a range of settings to help sharpen and expand the ideas they explore in lectures, readings, and papers.
To that end, later this month five students will travel to Kenya for the fourth annual Engaging Global Partnerships class with Dr. Ron Ruthruff, Associate Professor of Theology & Culture, and Cheryl Goodwin, Director of Institutional Assessment & Library Services. The vision for this class grew out of Ron鈥檚 involvement with the Center for Transforming Mission and , an international network of leaders who facilitate grassroots education and training in the particular context of local communities. In his work around the world, Ron always dreamed about being able to invite students in the United States to come meet the 鈥渆ntrepreneurial theologians鈥� he was meeting and partnering with. Now, as a faculty member at 天美视频 and a Senior Fellow with Street Psalms, Ron鈥檚 continued relationships with pastors, theologians, activists, and social entrepreneurs around the world have helped him develop courses that are far more global and far more of a lived experience than what is typically offered in higher education, which often trends toward self-contained intellectualism rather than practical, engaged learning.
In the Engaging Global Partnerships class, students are invited to let their assumptions, beliefs, and practices be challenged and clarified by the stories of a place and the people who serve it. Beginning in 2016, Ron has traveled with students to learn from his friends in Guatemala. This is the first year that the class will be traveling to Kenya. In the months leading up to the class, the students have been wrestling with readings and discussions to help deepen and contextualize their time together. 鈥淲e鈥檙e taking a deep look at the history of colonialism and religion, and the relationship between a place and the people who inhabit it鈥攅specially in places of wounding,鈥� says Dr. Ruthruff. 鈥淗ow can we enter those wounds in a way that is honoring to others鈥� stories and also helps us reimagine our shared future?鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e taking a deep look at the history of colonialism and religion, and the relationship between a place and the people who inhabit it鈥攅specially in places of wounding.鈥�
By asking these questions and witnessing the 鈥渉eart, hurt, and hope鈥� of a particular place, students are challenged to reconsider categories including partnership, service, culture, incarnation, and mission鈥攁n essential part of discerning what their own calling might look like in their local context. As he guides students in that process, Ron is inspired by David Bosch鈥檚 work in and Martin K盲hler鈥檚 assertion that 鈥渕ission is the mother of theology.鈥� It鈥檚 not the other way around, says Ron: 鈥淭heology emerges as we listen to others.鈥�
Of course, if you hear about a group of American students traveling internationally and talking about mission, you might already have certain assumptions or images in mind. That鈥檚 why Ron is quick to clarify that, 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 a mission trip, it鈥檚 a vision trip. There won鈥檛 be any air-conditioned buses, and we won鈥檛 be digging a hole in a community that some youth group has to come fill in three months later. This isn鈥檛 about us bringing our program overseas or placing our visions on others. I hope it鈥檚 about learning to listen well, engage with our shared history, and dream together about a vision for something new.鈥�
Photo by Jesse Smith of .