The Value of a Holding Tank: the Chance to Build Connections
By Pat Taylor Ellison

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People have trouble understanding what I do for a living. My elevator speech is solid, but when people hear about research and development, consulting and training for churches, they really have to concentrate. What do I produce?

So when I describe our recent Missional Church Think Tank at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, most of them really want to see an outcome: “Will you publish it as a book?” “Will you broadcast the videos of the sessions?” “Did you lead a bunch of workshops? Were there handouts?”

It’s true that out of think tanks have come many products over the decades: new inventions, legislation, international pacts…but perhaps the most valuable resource that comes from a Think Tank is a network of relationships across the breadth of a system. For the network to function, the relationships have to work. For the relationships to work, trust has to be built. For trust to be built, the Think Tank has to become a holding tank that allows uninterrupted listening to the other, a sustainable connection leading to a sense of shared yearning for a part in God’s mission.

In Pittsburgh a couple of weeks ago, those things happened for our Church Innovations Institute staff as well as for many of our invited guests. It was particularly striking for me to see the younger persons connect to the older, the rookies connect to the highly positioned. The links that people forged crossed age, status, and denomination lines gave me hope for a shared future for the Missional Church Movement in North America. As we all dwelt in the Word together, processed stories of real congregations together, ate meals together, and talked with and listened to dozens of people, the Holy Spirit installed connection ports in us and tested them. The Holy Spirit is still tapping me on the shoulder, reminding me to use those installed programs. I have marked my calendar to check and write on the blog every Friday, just to keep those connections open.

I want the holding tank to have created the space for a true network of relationships to form and deepen. But those connections depend every bit as much upon my energy as on anyone else’s. I am blessed to regularly use some energy in this way, and I know my contributions will be blessed by others doing the same. I eagerly await being held together next January to build even more.

Pat Taylor Ellison, Ph.D., is the managing director of research for Church Innovations.