Since two weeks ago, we have moved to our new place at Jakarta Theological Seminary Campus, Jl. Proklamasi No. 27, Jakarta Pusat. The house is in the seminary’s complex. It is a beautiful old-Dutch style house, with open space at the back room and high ceilings. We are really happy to stay here. We can now cut back the 90 minutes travel time that it takes to get here from Duren Sawit. More nap is possible.
We are still hunting for furniture, household appliances, etc, in order to complete the new house as our new home. We feel at home already here. We do have some plus sides and minus sides. The up sides are: I can go to my office any time I want, the library is just across the small walkway, and the cafeteria is 10 steps away from my front door. Dorta is also closer by to her office and her sisters. The down side, is that we are now at the seminary, where everyone can have access to us, at anytime. But I think this is the life of being in the seminary. Our lives belong to others as well.
I do enjoy my teaching role, even when I have to stayed up late for the preparation of the next class in the morning. I teach Modern Philosophy, Introduction to Theology, and Selected Ethical Issues for Bachelor Program; and Applied Ethics for Master Program; and Religion and Society for the PhD program together with other lecturers. More subjects than last semester. Since I’m new here, I have to prepare a lot of new materials for the class, but I am enjoying every minute of it. Our Seminary has now encouraged the faculty to teach in English, and I’m all for it.
The biggest difference between becoming a pastor and a lecturer is the expected role of the two positions, I think. A pastor is expected to lead and to serve. There is a beautiful tense between leading and serving in a pastor’s role. Meanwhile, a lecturer is somehow has more power over his/her students compare to a pastor to his/her congregation member. But since becoming pastor a hobby, I tried to combine both styles of leadership. I tried to apply the things that I learned while creating my own style of teaching. Teaching for me is an art of explaining a message in different ways, try to get it across in the simplest manner ; and encouraging students to learn independently. It is also an art of leadership. Somehow, I still consider myself as a student, and act as one. I think it will still take a while for me to realize that I am now actually a lecturer.
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