Well I’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging front for the last few weeks. The reasons are varied, firstly the obvious one of changing country, and secondly I’m now in a place where I need to find my feet in ministry and wait upon the Lord for the direction that ministry should take here.
What is that the Lord wants for his people in this small town in southern England? That’s the question I need to search for!
I suppose that this is why I am quiet on other things at the moment!
Have you read ‘Memories, hopes, conversations,’ by Mark Lau Branson? It is an introduction to using something called appreciative inquiry - a positive listening and dialogue process - with a congregation. Appreciative Inquiry focuses on identifying strengths and building on and from them, and is a useful tool where a congregation is perhaps not very confident, and not quite ready to try looking at a weakness identifying approach like Natural Church Development. One can progress from an AI approach, which builds and strengthens relationships between yourself and the congregation and fosters a spirit of hope and confidence to say something like an NCD survey, either formally or just using the general parameters, in order to explore what the congregation might do to best develop and grow. That is just one option available as you reflect on ways forward. The book is available from Alban Institute. Warmest blessings!
Thanks for that Eleanor! I’ve had a quick look and it sounds interesting. I’m going to have a read of the articles linked to on the book page before buying!
I haven’t used AI yet with a congregation but am very open to doing so if one of the local churches is interested. It takes a while to get into the mindset of asking the right kind of positive questions, and not being deflected into what are we doing wrong? But I have to sit down learn this myself, having only used it once and briefly. (It produced good results on that occasion, so I’m willing to try again.) One of its key strengths is it is discussion based, and involves you listening deeply to the congregation. Much friendlier and more ice-breaking, and trust-building, than a large survey, I felt.
I commiserate regarding the reading. I have a folder on my desktop labelled ‘Must Read’ and it is packed, mostly with 20 page densely written articles on commercial mediation and stuff on Christian leadership. I get a headache looking at it. :0)
Blessings
E.