| Think Tank, Not Performance Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site. Church Innovations and a Seminary co-sponsor a yearly Think Tank (see last month's special edition of Partners in Innovation). We invite leaders of local churches engaged to various degrees with the missional church movement and persons committed to critically supporting those local churches innovate their capacities to be renewed in God’s mission. Each year we gather both a core of regulars who work between Think Tanks on various issues growing out of the last Think Tank and also leaders new to the missional church conversation. In all cases, we invite leaders who we believe could make presentations to a usual conference on such a topic. We assume high levels of competence in the missional church movement from nearly all of the participants. When we invite this mixture of persons, several tensions arise. We invite some who come to hear the “sages on the stage” speak of the most recent best practices or theoretical reflections on the themes of the missional church movement to become more public about their own theoretical reflections or best practices, both in plenary and small group sessions. Indeed, present in the individually invited 70 leaders this year were local and judicatory leaders with a plentiful knowledge of best practices, skills, and minimum knowledge base to bring about the adaptive change the missional era demands. We also invited teachers and researchers in the field who in several cases were not on the “stage.” In this model, then, we invite a certain level of frustration for those anticipating the usual presentation-style conference or church renewal event. In an effort to both catalyze the reflection of the remarkable capacity among the seventy people gathered and do real work on the question to be explored, the initial plenary sessions present the question. This year we asked about the place of story and narrative, especially a story that includes God as a major actor, in the work of doing adaptive change. The goal in these initial plenary sessions is to open up the question. As a result the plenary sessions have a certain porous character since they seek to invite thought, even at the level of framing of the question, from the remarkable gifts of the persons who are present. Then, we invite these same remarkably gifted persons to join other remarkably gifted persons who share a similar social location in this shared work. These social locations include local church leaders, judicatory staff and leaders, seminary teachers, and researchers in the field. Within these similar social location small group cohorts, we invite people to frame, explore, and clarify the question about which we are mutually thinking. In this sense, we want to create a genuine think tank of these gifted participants. This works for most participants, though it takes some attitude adjustments. One senior pastor of a large, very established congregation that nonetheless recognizes the adaptive challenge of the new missional era, was elated. He noted the contrast from most conferences to which he is invited. Normally, he feels as if he brings little to the gathering but a listening ear, and perhaps a trenchant question on a rare occasion. In this Think Tank he joined others in his small cohort who shared his strong interest in the work of missional church and was expected to provide significant and critical content to the discussion. This freed him to engage others of significant capacity in searching out the question of the Think Tank. This is success: actually growing the capacity of the group and the two sponsors to innovate the church’s capacity to be renewed in God’s mission. When this happens, we come away from a Think Tank with both richness and complexity worthy of the adaptive challenge but also the very practices and habits that further the shared work. We also come away with new and renewed relationships with persons around the world who are sharing this critical work. In Christ's Peace, Pat Keifert |
|