Overview
of the Partnership for Missional Church Process
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Partnership
for Missional Church is a three to five year journey that engages denominational
systems and congregations in practices that help them discern what God
is up to in their place, what we refer to as God’s preferred and
promised future. We work with judicatory staff (Executive Presbyters,
Bishops, District Superintendents), pastors and many levels of lay leadership
to guide and assess the process. The partners we develop at all levels
enter into a journey that begins with conversations that will ultimately
bring together clusters of 12-16 congregations in a three year journey,
with a possibility of a 4th year of learning and reinforcing the change.
The PMC cluster meets for three times per year for three years, called
Phases.
Phase
One: Discovery
Congregations meet together to use tools, learn processes and share
what they are learning about themselves and the ways they act as a community.
The primary tools, developed by Church Innovations, include Church Future
Finder and the Congregational Discovery process. The congregations are
lead to learn about themselves and their community context. They are
called to discern how they function, how they might look to the surrounding
community and how they might want to respond to all that they have learned
with a new understanding of what God has in mind
Phase
Two: Experimenting
The discoveries of the first year’s work are translated into experiments.
Missional Engagement Teams (MET) take on the task of identifying and
addressing the needs, challenges and desires identified in the Discovery
Phase. They then experiment with how they might shape and change how
the congregation responds to the preferred and promised future God has
in mind for them. The teams are invited to use their imagination, try
new things, and enjoy both successes and failures. These are short term
experiments that allow for learning and responsiveness. Sometimes the
chosen experiments create a whole new energy; sometimes they help the
congregations discern a way to refine their dreams. It is an exciting
time, a time of tension, as systems adjust to change. It is always a
time of fruitful learning/action engagement.
Phase
Three: Visioning for Embodiment
Having learned much in the first two years, Phase Three turns to the
development of five documents that will help shape and guide the congregation
into its future. The congregation will carefully take up the planning
and implementation through developing their own:
- Statement
for Missional Vocation
- Vision
for Embodiment
- Strategic
Plan
- Smart
Plans of Action
- Staff
Covenant
Phase
Four: Learning and Growing (Optional)
All through the three year process pastors have been involved in developing
spiritual disciplines and recognize ways to grow leadership within their
congregations. Many congregations realize at the end of Phase Three
that they were just at the beginning of significant and long lasting
change. There are many ways for them to move forward and continue the
journey of learning, experimenting, planning and effectively executing
their plans. Some clusters elect to continue using Church Innovation
services for a fourth year of learning and growing and reinforcing the
changes and the new practices of spiritual discernment. .
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