We'll begin at the top of the hour. In the meantime, please use the flipchart 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. Also … please tell us a bit about the yearning that drew you into ministry. Notes & recording from last week: Session Two: Church as a Habitat for Creative Emergence If you can see this, you're connected correctly! Welcome

Introductions Re-introducing the presenters Opening Prayer

One: Holy One, help us to trust that life itself is your Yes to this gay, great happening illimitably Earth. All: We fall into the grace that renews our strength.

One: We feel into our connection with You, with the unity, and the unifier, who is the Christ, the center and circumference, the beginning and end, the push and the pull of this evolving adventure. All: We fall into the unity of love.

One: We are grateful for this community tonight, willing to be the future present, the Kin(g)dom of God for a world profaned by the illusion of separation. All: We fall and land softly on the forest floor of each others hearts. Amen.

Today's Agenda Ministry Anywhere, Anytime, by Anybody Theology of Creative Emergence Practical steps to creating the Deal that allows for change

Small group discussion (5 mins) Thinking about the yearning that drew you into ministry, name one thing in your congregation today that's working, where this yearning is being expressed

Ministry Anywhere, Anytime, by Anybody I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:19

Away from a command and control organizational model Toward creative emergence Shifting models

Away from a command and control organizational model Toward creative emergence Away from Five Year Strategies Toward tracking emergent signs of life and then steering the organization to nurture them Shifting models

Away from a command and control organizational model Toward creative emergence Away from Five Year Strategies Toward tracking emergent signs of life and then steering the organization to nurture them Away from clergy-centred Toward lay-driven ministry

Small Group Discussion (8 mins) How might you do this sort of thing in your own congregation? Away from a command and control organizational model Toward creative emergence Away from Five Year Strategies Toward tracking emergent signs of life and then steering the organization to nurture them Away from clergy-centred Toward lay-driven ministry

New Wine at Cana Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. (John 2:6)

Complexity theory

Chaos Theory Strange attractors Trusting the hidden order, the pattern underlying the chaos

Novelty The whole is not only greater than the sum of the parts. It is unpredictably new. The emergent whole cannot be reduced to its constituent parts.

Evolutionary Impulse as Sacred Impulse

Novelty Chaos Theory Complexity Theory Radio Call-in Style Discussion and Q&A

Parable of the Fig Tree AttributionNoncommercialShare Alike Some rights reserved by uccsbiology

Creating The Deal Explicit agreement & maximum buy-in to do the work

Creating The Deal Explicit agreement & maximum buy-in to do the work The time required to focus on it

Creating The Deal Explicit agreement & maximum buy-in to do the work The time required to focus on it The inner conviction that we are ready, willing and able to do the work

Small Group Discussion (8 mins) What would you need to do in your congregation to move in this direction? What ministry tasks would you need to give up to make time for this? Explicit agreement & maximum buy-in to do the work The time required to focus on it The inner conviction that we are ready, willing and able to do the work

Next Week Session Three: The Engaged Church: How Gift-Based Ministry, Connection Circles, & Clear Expectations can transform your congregation

Homework – for next week Fill out the spiritual gift inventory and reflect on how it feels to think about yourself this way. Can you imagine doing something like this with members of your congregation?