If you can see this, you're connected correctly! We'll begin at the top of the hour. In the meantime, please use the “flipchart” at the top left of your screen for some informal conversation as people gather. You might begin by typing your name and location into the white space at the bottom of the box. Session One: Behold I am Doing a New Thing Welcome

Introductions The presenters “The Flipchart” “Questions for Steve” Opening Prayer

Meeting One Agenda Context: where we find ourselves Some words about Bruce's context Observations about The United Church of Canada in 2012 Cultural Shifts New strategies for ministry The Meaning of Hope in Evolutionary Spirituality

Context Urban/Rural Large/Small Affluent/Less affluent Culture: Traditional/Modern/Postmodern

Mitigating Contextual Differences Focus on transformational depth, not numbers Focus on evolution, (your unique, next-best adaptive step) and not ideals

Small Group Discussion (5 mins) Name Location A sentence or two about your own context

Bad News David Ewart’s Video: “The United Church at 100” With statistics drawn from the Year Book, and projections after 2007

Trends-Projected-Based-on-2010.pdf

How does the context of the congregation you serve compare to the national trends? 6 Quick Polls

Small Group discussion (10 mins) How do you respond to the “bad news”? What strategies have you been using already to address these issues? Do you feel like the strategies you're using are working? Why or why not?

Good News  It’s not your fault  You are part of the solution  Christendom is over – people are in church because they choose to be.  Disciplined practice may become the norm  It may be hopeless enough that finally real change is possible.

Culture Shift From What toward What?

Culture Shifting  Out of meetings and into ministry

Culture Shifting  Out of meetings and into ministry  From membership toward discipleship

Culture Shifting  Out of meetings and into ministry  From membership toward discipleship  From bureaucratically-based ministry toward gift-based ministry

Culture Shifting  Out of meetings and into ministry  From membership toward discipleship  From bureaucratically-based ministry toward gift-based ministry  From clergy as personal chaplain toward clergy as leader of leaders

Culture Shifting  Out of meetings and into ministry  From membership toward discipleship  From bureaucratically-based ministry toward gift-based ministry  From clergy as personal chaplain toward clergy as leader of leaders  From superficiality toward deep connection

Culture Shifting  Out of meetings and into ministry  From membership toward discipleship  From bureaucratically-based ministry toward gift-based ministry  From clergy as personal chaplain toward clergy as leader of leaders  From superficiality toward deep connection  From organizing around emergencies toward organizing for emergence

Small Group discussion: What would ministers do differently? What would church members do differently?  Out of meetings and into ministry  From membership toward discipleship  From bureaucratically-based ministry toward gift-based ministry  From clergy as personal chaplain toward clergy as leader of leaders  From superficiality toward deep connection  From organizing around emergencies toward organizing for emergence

Good News “And the day came when the risk it took to remain tightly closed in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to bloom” —Anais Nin

More Good News: Reframing Crisis In An Evolutionary Paradigm Parable of the prenatal pessimist

The Crisis is the Birth

Hope in an Evolutionary Paradigm  Crises are evocations or provocations of new intelligences necessary to adapt and thrive

Hope in an Evolutionary Paradigm  Crises are evocations or provocations of new intelligences necessary to adapt and thrive  Crisis is information, not the enemy, in a living, learning universe. Crises are part of the information feed-back loop system of cosmic intelligence.

Hope in an Evolutionary Paradigm  Crises are evocations or provocations of new intelligences necessary to adapt and thrive  Crisis is information, not the enemy, in a living, learning universe. Crises are part of the information feed-back loop system of cosmic intelligence.  In evolution, optimum creative tension is required.

Optimal Creative Tension is... The persistent experience of some frustration, organizational dilemma, or personal problem that is…

perfectly designed to cause us to feel the limits of our current way of knowing and acting Optimal Creative Tension is...

In some sphere of our living that we care about, with…

Optimal Creative Tension is... In some sphere of our living that we care about, with… sufficient supports so that we are not overwhelmed by it, nor able to escape or diffuse it.

More Good News  Church is a habitat of creative emergence

More Good News  Church is a habitat of creative emergence  Role of leaders is to hold congregations in the tension, and persuade folks that remaining in bud form is more painful than the risk of blooming.

More Good News  Church is a habitat of creative emergence  Role of leaders is to hold congregations in the tension, and persuade folks that remaining in bud form is more painful than the risk of blooming.  Create the habitat and the universe will bloom!

Emergence The universe is creativity in motion. It is arising in every moment, forming increasingly complex wholes from the parts. It does so from the inside-out—a natural grace. When we feel our lives, and our organizations, to be an occasion of this ever-emergent grace, we tap into a gracious dynamism—and a restless desire to bring forth new futures.

Toward a theology of Promise What yearning drew you into ministry?

Please join us next week at the same time, for Session Two: “Church as a Habitat for Creative Emergence” Ministry Anywhere, Anytime, by Anybody Theology of “Creative Emergence” Practical steps to creating “the Deal” that allows for change