Post on 15-Jun-2015
Finding Your Community of Ministerial Practice
By Dr. Charlotte McCorquodale Ministry Training Source
Charlotte McCorquodale, PhD
Ê From Lake Charles, LA; currently lives and ministers in Diocese of Baton Rouge, LA
Ê Served in youth ministry practitioner since 1980 in Lake Charles, Houston, Los Angeles, Mobile, Lake Charles, and Baton Rouge.
Ê Member of the following communities of practice NALM, NFCYM, NACYML, e-‐Learning Guild, and ASTD
Ê LSU Graduate, “The Emergence of Lay Ecclesial Youth Ministry as a Profession in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.”
Ê A member of a large family of LSU and Saints fans!
THIS WORKSHOP IS ABOUT ……
YOU!!!!!!!
Goals of Today’s Workshop
Ê To focus on the role that learning with others (in community) plays in your ministerial productivity and competence.
Ê To examine what is meant by a Community of Practice and how this can be applied to your ministerial leadership and development.
Ê To identify current communities of ministerial practice; and, how you can go about finding, starting, or enhancing one.
Ê To develop a plan or goal for your participation in a community of ministerial practice.
Let’s get to know each other…
Ê Please find two other people, introduce yourself, where you are from, and what ministry you do on behalf of the church.
Ê Why did you select this workshop and what is one thing you hope we discuss today?
Ê Please share one challenge you are experiencing in ministry right now?
Have we lost our sense of community?
What do we mean by Community of Practice (CoP)
Is this a community?
What is the difference between a community and a team?
What do we mean by “practice?”
How would you deBine learning?
Learning is a change in the learner’s knowledge due to experience. —Richard E. Mayer, Applying the Science of Learning
Is learning today different than in previous generations?
Has learning changed?
Ê Is it more social or individualized?
Ê Is it more formal or informal?
Ê Is it easier or harder?
Motivation the key to
all learning!
Share your best experience of learning with others. What made it so good?
What is a community of practice (CoP)?
“…are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” (Cultivating Communities of Practice by Etienne Wenger, p.4.)
One of my Communities of Ministerial Practice (CoMP)
A CoP is a unique combination of 3 fundamental elements: a domain of knowledge which de@ines a set of issues; a community of people who care about the domain, and
the shared practice that they are developing to be effective in the domain.
Communities of Practice Take Many Forms
Ê Small or Big
Ê Long-‐lived or Short-‐lived
Ê Co-‐located or Distributed
Ê Homogeneous or Heterogeneous
Ê Spontaneous or Intentional
Ê Unrecognized or Institutionalized
Ê Formal/highly structured or Informal/loosely structured
What CoP’s or CoMP’s are you a
part of currently?
What do all Communities of Ministerial Practice (CoMP) need to be successful?
Ê DOMAIN: A well-‐defined domain provides common ground and identity. It affirms the purpose and value to members.
Ê COMMUNITY: The community creates the social fabric of learning. A strong community is based upon trust and fosters participation.
Ê PRACTICE: The practices includes a set of frameworks, ideas, tools, language, and information, that members share. The domain denotes the focus topic or issue of the CoP, while the practice includes the specific knowledge the community develops, shares, and maintains.
Why are we talking about this at a gathering of ministerial leaders?
Are ministry leaders required to continued formation and learning?
A Response to the Church’s Mandate
“Both temporary and permanent ministers
are obligated to acquire appropriate formation which is required to fulfill their
function properly and to carry it out conscientiously, zealously, and
diligently” (Canon #231).
A learning organization is one that is continually expanding it’s capacity to create it’s future.
They are possible because deep down we are all natural learners.
Real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human, because through learning we re-‐create ourselves and the world around us.
The Church as a Learning Organization From Peter Senge,
The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of Becoming a Learning Organization
© 2004 Ministry Training Source
Ê Personal Mastery
Ê Mental Models
Ê Building a Shared Vision
Ê Team Learning (Shared Wisdom)
Ê Systems Thinking:
The Fifth Discipline
The Five Disciplines (keys) of a Learning Organization
Personal Mastery
“Personal mastery is the discipline of continually
clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing
reality objectively. The key to this discipline is living life with intentionality and from an importance
paradigm.”
Two underlying movements are
involved:
1) Clarifying what is important to us, and
2) Continually learning how to see current reality more clearly.
© 2004 Ministry Training Source
Creative Tension
Vision: What we
want to do, our goal or
vision
What is the creative tension in your ministry?
Current Reality:
Where we are relative to what we want…
© 2004 Ministry Training Source
How do we close the gap?
Two options, we can either lower our standards (vision) or move towards our vision!
© 2004 Ministry Training Source
What is the gap between your vision and the current reality?
“Every question possesses a power that does not necessarily lie in ���the answer to the questions.”
How does or could technology or social media support CoMP’s?
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Seven Principles for Cultivating a CoP
Ê Design for evolution.
Ê Open a dialogue between inside and outside perspectives.
Ê Invite different levels of participation.
Ê Develop both public and private community spaces.
Ê Focus on value.
Ê Combine familiarity and excitement.
Ê Create a rhythm for the community.
Different Levels of Participation
Peripheral
Active (15-‐20%)
Core (10-‐15%)
The key to good community participation and a healthy degree of movement between levels is to design community activities that allow
participants at all levels to feel like full members. Rather than force
participation, successful communities build
benches for those on the sidelines.
What communities of practice exist nationally?
Ê National Association of Lay Ministry (NALM)
Ê National Association of Catholic Youth Ministry Leaders (NACYML)
Ê National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC)
Ê National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM)
Ê National Catholic Education Association (NCEA)
Ê National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association (NCYAMA)
Ê National Association of Catechetical Leaders (NCCL)
Ê ETC…. Just google it!
Communities of Practice Discussion
Ê Share current communities of ministerial practice that you are a part of or aware of? Are they successful at engaging members? Why or why not?
Ê What is one aspect within the practice of your ministry that you believe you need to increase the effective?
Ê If you were to form a community of practice around an issue that important to you who would you invite to be a part of it? How would you gather and form community?
Ê If you have been in ministry for a long time, how are you contributing to the development of future ministry leaders?
IF NOT US WHO?
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Concluding Prayer (by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin)
O Lord of the harvest, work out your will in us, that we might prepare others to be
laborers for your harvest. Transform us ever more completely into the image of your Son, that we might call others to ministry as he called, teach them as he taught, and form them as he did. We make this prayer in
your most holy name. Amen.
Thank you for your participation
Contact Info for Charlotte McCorquodale, PhD 417-‐693-‐1882, charlotte@ministrytrainingsource.org www.ministrytrainingsource.org