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There are five steps to bringing this learning and discernment experience into the congregation:
- Establish a convenant for learning.
- Explore the unique character of this congregation.
- Explore the unique character of our community context today.
- Articulate our congregation’s particular vocation within this context.
- Adopt a plan for further learning and action.
Form a team of five to seven people, including the (senior) pastor, to lead this learning and discernment process. As you move through these five steps, you will be working with three “circles” of involvement in the process. The smallest and most involved is the learning team. The second is the governing board, an oversight body that should see themselves as participating as a learning community. The last is that wider circle of leaders that encompasses those with official roles as well as informal leaders.
Seek outside support to improve your chances for success. This could be a congregational consultant, someone from your denominational office, or another congregation from your region that is moving through the same transition.
Out of this five step learning process should come shared concepts, attitudes, and goals. The single most important outcome may be the development of a widely shared sense of the congregation’s calling within its present context.
Shared congregational learning requires honest assessment, hard work, and a baseline of trust. Your role involves creating a “holding environment” strong enough to contain anxiety and to engage leaders throughout the process which will take at least eight months to complete. These five steps can be further broken down into tasks. Some tasks involve only the planning team; other tasks engage the board or the wider circle of leaders so that a shared sense of direction may be developed.
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