Church Planting Central

Open conversations (or close them)

A guy walks into a shop that sells ties. He's opened the conversation by walking in.

Salesman says, "can I help you?"

The conversation is now closed. The prospect can politely say, "no thanks, just looking."

Consider the alternative: "That's a [insert adjective here] tie you're wearing, sir. Where did you buy it?"

Conversation is now open. Attention has been paid, a rapport can be built. They can talk about ties. And good taste.

Or consider a patron at a fancy restaurant. He was served an old piece of fish, something hardly worth the place's reputation. On the way out, he says to the chef,

"It must be hard to get great fish on Mondays. I'm afraid the filet I was served had turned."

If the chef says, "I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your meal..." then the conversation is over. The patron has been rebuffed, the feedback considered merely whining and a matter of personal perspective.

What if the chef said instead, "what kind of fish was it?" What if the chef invited the patron back into the kitchen to take a look at the process and was asked for feedback?

Open conversations generate loyalty, sales and most of all, learning... for both sides.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

How many of my conversations have been closed to the pregnant response because I was afraid of what might be birthed between us?

Just so you know: what I've been working on, lately!

This is what my work looks like in a Wordle format!

 

(This is a report submitted to the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church for their 4th Quarter review process, on December 12th, 2011)
 
Virtual Groups – Now hosting 5 monthly trainings / cohort groups via WebEx Training Center. These include public gatherings for Church Planters and New Ministry Developers, Intentional Redevelopers, Leaders of Fresh Expressions of Ministry, as well as a monthly gathering for a remarkable Network of Musicians & Liturgists (committed to resourcing new ministries and mentoring the musicians who serve those new ministries). Each of these Gatherings has coalesced into a Community of Practice utilizing WebEx Training Center (a dynamic Virtual Classroom platform with integrated VOIP that makes each gathering a no-charge connection for participants). Additionally, via local/regional cohort groups, I am honored to work with an average of 150 leaders (lay and ordained) each week, both from the Episcopal Church and the ELCA.
 
Online Communities of Practice – In March of 2011, Anthony Guillen and I began strategizing a public commitment to partner for the sake of multi-cultural and intercultural approaches to ministry development/redevelopment. After listening to some of the best minds and hearts in the Episcopal Church, we decided to “put some skin in the game” and gather a public Community of Practice. In September, that emerged as “missio:Engage!” – a two year covenanted process of intentional redevelopment as resourced by practitioners from three denominations, offering their best learnings via WebEx. That group of 20 some congregations meets twice monthly for 90 minutes at a time. Each session is digitally recorded and made available to participating congregations, their dioceses and anyone else interested to join in or watch later. Note: This is a risky venture since our commitment is to learn publicly from failures as well as our successes. Both sets of learnings are shared openly. Not everything we try is going to work and we hope to lend courage to our leaders by leading with compassion, transparency, trustworthiness and consistency.
 
Diocesan Consulting – Have decidedly left behind the “Sage on the Stage” approach to Diocesan Conventions, Clergy Days and Consultations. Instead, I have been refining a relational approach that seeks to foster courageous conversations that utilize local examples of innovative ministry and stretch into a prophetic understanding of learning from the future as it emerges. Constantly highlighting these examples of new possibilities in the hopes of forming localized learning communities. Also moving away from a “transactional” engagement to a more transformational engagement via clear contracting for relationship, more concise clarification of “desired outcomes,” a rigorous assessment of “readiness to take action,” and concise and public  follow-up plans. Now working closely and purposefully with the leaders from 23 Dioceses on supporting new ministries, intentional redevelopment of faith communities in decline and the nurture of alternative ministries, primarily through WebEx gatherings. One of the exciting examples of resources being nurtured via such consultation is the Evangelism Toolkit developed by the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire (thanks to Canon Charles LaFond). Another example is the development of a Wiki ministry resource coming out of the Center for Christian Spirituality in the Diocese of Western North Carolina.
 
Quarterly – Regional Gatherings – In response to the GC resolutions calling for better travel stewardship and growing concerns over our carbon footprint, several key diocesan leaders (and Synod leaders from the ELCA) and I collaborated to host three Quarterly-Regional gatherings in 2011. These were regional gatherings for those who could travel less than a half day to attend and virtual gatherings offered to the rest of the church. Via live and archived Video, we invited the church at large to “look over our shoulder” and participate in the site visits and conversations via Twitter, chat, e-mail and WebEx sessions. On the final evening of each visit, we hosted a “roundtable” discussion of case studies with local participants as well as remote, hosted by one of our local Episcopal or Lutheran seminaries. Some of the video was released immediately as part of the event and some of it was used as educational materials offered within the corresponding WebEx training sessions.
 
NOTE: The strategies for each of these initiatives includes maximum collaboration with my Church Center partners, as well as with our peers in the ELCA.