Spiritual capital and educational blessing

This morning the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund led our worship in the person of their general secretary Irene Mutalima.
Our reflection was led by two people who collaborate in teh field of education Dr. Sam Rima from the Bethel Seminary in the USA who spoke about - Spiritual Capital, integral economics and sustainable development: The Path to Blessing! Sam director of the doctor of ministry programme and staff of the Center for Transformational Leadership. He's promised to send his reflection on in full to me and I'll post more about it when I've had a chance to re-read it. What was particularly interesting in both relfections this morning was the focus on blessing, how sharing power, sharing cpaital, sharing resources rather than accumulating things, objects or money can be the path to true blessing.
The second person to speak this morning introduced us to the TRANS4M Four World Center for Social Innovation, which is based here in Geneva. Education that Brings Blessing was the theme for Dr. Alexander Scheifer

When we talk about “blessing” then we suggest, however, to not only focus on the burning needs of a particular society, but also on the gifts (the “blessings”) that each society, each culture has received. Research and education, as we understand it, needs to build on and activate these particular gifts. In other words, the often isolated emphasis on “poverty”, to our mind, dramatically overshadows the existing wealth in a particular context, be it in form of local knowledge, wisdom, values or relationships.

Later over coffee it was interesting to hear colleagues talking about their own work in health, HIV or economic justice in similar terms. If we learn to value local experience, local knowledge and listen to people and not think that what "we" bring is the most important thing. Bringing out the value in others is where blessing begins.
Read more here.