Rhythms

Monthly Learning Community Conversations

Learning communities offer small-group opportunities to discuss readings, reflect on work, consider vocational direction, and provide accountability for rhythms and practices. These groups are often intentionally cross-divisional. We hope to highlight the diversity of faculty experiences at George Fox so as to heighten interdisciplinary collaboration and celebrate a myriad of scholarship and teaching approaches.

Groups generally meet monthly at a time/place agreed on by the group.  

At minimum, your learning community should:

• Establish community agreements (You can form your own or use this model.) 

• Select a book that will form the basis of your monthly discussions. The faculty development office will provide the book copies for your group from one of the following choices: 

  1. 1. 1.  To Know As We Are Known, Parker Palmer

        2.  Visions of Vocation, Steven Garber

        3.  Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller with Katherine Leary Alsdorf

• Hold each other accountable to spiritual formation rhythms and practices

• Consider having a monthly meal together or other kinds of fellowship

How do I find my group?

There are a few options in forming your learning community. You can: 

• Keep your Year One triad. 

• Assemble a new group based on affinity or shared experience.

• Ask the faculty development director to place you in a group.

Spiritual Formation Rhythms

Overview

Spiritual formation--through the practice of disciplines such as prayer, silence, and sabbath--is a crucial component of a deepening faith. In the classroom, our practice of spiritual disciplines may lead us to recognize and accept that teaching is not all about content; instead, it includes constantly assessing whether or not our students are understanding the content, whether or not real learning is taking place. In our research, we may be led to acknowledge someone else’s success, even to rejoice with them, something that does not often happen in the academy. It is not easy to have compassion for others when they have been given more than us, but practicing spiritual disciplines allows us, in the words of Richard Foster, “the freedom to lay down the terrible burden of always having to have our own way.” As we practice the disciplines, we become slower in making judgments and consequently more hopeful about others, more able to guide students, and more content with the accomplishments of our colleagues.*

In Year Two, we suggest that you incorporate a new spiritual formation rhythm or incorporate one that you are already practicing into your teaching, scholarship, or service. Your learning community and/or the faculty development director can offer support and encouragement so please reach out!

Resources

The classic work about the spiritual disciplines is Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline. Through the library, you can access a copy of the print book or the audio book. The Faculty Development Office will also purchase a personal copy for you on request.

If a book feels overwhelming, then the following articles might be a helpful place to start on your journey of spiritual formation. Consider incorporating one of these disciplines into your rhythms in each term. All of these short articles and reflection questions come from Spiritual Classics, ed. Richard J. Foster and Emilie Griffin (2000).

Joyce Huggett (Meditation)

Simone Weil (Prayer)

Clare de Assisi (Simplicity)

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Solitude)

* Adapted from InterVarsity’s Faculty Leadership team guide, “Taking Time Apart: Spiritual Disciplines and the Academic Life,” 2007.