Developmental Initiatives
Participants will design, implement and reflect on six developmental initiatives over a period of 18 to 20 months in a diocesan program and 12 - 16 months in the national program. Trainers and facilitators will provide substantial support and guidance in helping participants carry out parish initiatives to foster health and spiritual and emotional maturity.
Developmental initiatives have three primary functions
1. To build momentum in jumpstarting the parish toward increased health
2. The parish ends up with people who more deeply understand how to helpfully intervene in parishes—what needs to be considered in making interventions, what a parish exists for, how their own emotional intelligence and spiritual practices impacts the whole, and so on.
3. To better understand the dynamics, patterns and culture of the parish through an action-learning process (or action-research). Based on the idea that we best learn about our organizations by trying to change something, observing what happens, and reflecting on that.
These are action-based initiatives. They are not traditional “research” projects, nor are they focused on the production of a paper or report, although use of a structured format for design and reflection is required. The projects will be in the program’s core areas of emotional and social intelligence, spiritual practice, and change theory and methods.
Three aspects of our work on developmental initiatives are:
1) There will be choices to make. You will need to identify initiatives that will be effective in your parish now. You will have a broad range of possible initiatives from which to select. The action planning process includes a series of “considerations” that will help you decide on whether one fits the parish now.
2) There will be guidance about the developmental initiatives. This comes in two forms. First, there will be a list of initiatives you may select from. These are proven interventions leading to increased parish health and faithfulness. Second, as you design, implement and reflect on the work you’ll be assisted by trainers and facilitators.
3) The developmental initiatives are both about having some success in the short term and learning how to make effective interventions, a skill that will serve you in the long-term. We’ll help you assess the readiness of your parish for a particular project, prepare an action plan, and learn from the experience whether you see it as successful or not.
Our assumption is that parish development is a long-term process involving many interventions over the years. It’s a continuous process because the parish and the world keep changing. To become, and to stay, healthy, the parish needs its leaders to give regular attention to the three areas of spiritual practice, emotional and social intelligence, and change theory and methods.
Developmental Initiatives
There are now more than enough developmental initiatives available for any parish to select six and make significant headway. They will be revised over time based on the experience of participants and trainers. When revised the updated version will be posted. From time to time a new initiative may be added.
Participants will be helped to figure out whether an intervention fits their parish at this time.
The initiatives are categorized by levels. Participants will need to do at least four interventions that are systemic in nature — work likely to impact the whole parish over a long period of time. These projects will typically call for an intervention with a tangible benefit in the short term while putting in place a long-term process that will shape the parish over time.
Access to the Developmental Initiatives: A link to all the projects will be provided to participants registered in a Shaping the Parish program (and those who have completed the program).
Overview descriptions of all the Developmental Initiatives
Permissions
Copyrighted material: Please note these are all copyrighted material.
You have permission to use the initiatives on the condiction that you acknowledge the source.
DEVELOPMENTAL INITIATIVES
This section consists of a number of Developmental Initiatives used in the Shaping the Parish program. Our experience with participants in the Church Development Institute (CDI) and the College for Congregational Development (CCD) was that their projects were rarely strategic or developmental. While the ideas strategic and developmental are part of the teaching in both that doesn’t seem to result in related projects. For the most part the projects are worthy endeavors. However, they rarely have much of a ripple effect or likely to impact the parish culture. On the other hand, the process of designing those projects does often have payoffs as participants increase their abilities for team work and project design. The Shape of the Parish leaders decided to focus on helping parish teams produce truly strategic and developmental results emphasizing the results for the parishes over the design learning of the participants. Their hope was that participants would come away with a stronger sense of what was developmental and strategic having implement such initiatives.
A Developmental Initiative Worksheet - you can use for planning and reflection purposes
Developmental Initiatives from the 2011-12 program
“Interventions: Methods and Processes for Building Healthier Parishes” - a PDF In the Developmental Initiatives (DIs) below you’ll find references to pages in the PDF.
Finding God in All Things: Contemplation, Intercession, Intervention by Heyne and Gallagher is a book based on that earlier work. It will be available from Ascension Press shortly.
The DIs below were categorized by the degree to which they were strategic and development—A, B or C.
A
This initiative is to create or significantly improve the parish’s approach to communal voice. The core of this initiative is around establishing a pattern of community meetings, the use of survey-feedback methods, and an understanding of communal discernment. A useful and effective “communal voice” depends on the positional leadership (rector, vestry, others) staying in role. A PDF Communal meetings
Creating an Adult Foundations Course
This initiative is designed to assist in the development of proficiency in the Christian life by the development and implementation of an adult foundations course program.
“Outline of an Adult Foundations Course in Faith & Practice”
Course Outline from From Nothing so contagious as holiness
Increase the parish’s processes and structures for listening. The immediate goal is to put into place several listening processes within the next three months. And set in motion the longer-term goal. The longer-term goal is to establish a parish culture given to respectful and thoughtful listening to God, the larger church, and one another.
The project is to develop the Eucharistic competence of the congregation. This is a long-term developmental approach. In fact, it never ends because there are always new people joining the life of a parish. The overall goal is to establish and maintain a critical mass of people in each congregation of the parish who are proficient in their participation in the Holy Eucharist.
This project has the capacity to build a critical mass of members with an intentional spiritual discipline, a rule of life. It might require offering the process several times over 2 or 3 years or in combination with other programs on the spiritual life for the critical mass to emerge.
This project touches both on issues of emotional intelligence and spiritual practices connected to community and service. The long-term intention of this project is to create a climate in the parish of quality service to one another. That service needs to be grounded in behavioral norms operating in most of the groups of the parish. The short-term objective is to begin to establish these norms in two parish groups.
For the purposes of the project we’ll describe quality service as having three characteristics:
- Timely
- Thorough
- Respectful
A possible pathway is to invite two groups to work with you. Consider beginning with a couple of groups that are already pretty good at living with quality service norms.
This initiative is directed at significantly improving the congregation’s ability to engage in and manage conflict. The project assumes there is not presently a high level of conflict in the parish.
Arts and Spirituality Parish Self-Definition
This initiative is directed toward helping the parish deepen or generate a connection to the arts that defines the parish in a healthy and sensible way. There needs to be a kind of critical mass of activity, interest, and marketing for the effort to become part of the parish’s self definition.
Grounding in Spiritual Practices
This initiative is offered as the foundation for a strategy focused on grounding the parish in spiritual practice and developing competence in spiritual practice. When used as a key element of a broader strategy, this initiative can be used to build a critical mass of members with competence in spiritual practice.
Daily Office - Equipping the Individual
The immediate objective is to establish a system of training and coaching so individuals may develop the habit of saying the Office. During the period of this project the system is to be created and launched. The longer-range objective is to have 20% of the adult ASA saying the Office in some form. The system established needs to be one that will have this likely outcome.
Establish the permanent practice of a public offering of the Daily Office.
Do in a manner that:
1) Draws an adequate number of participants
2) Is offered on at least four days (Mon- Sat) for at least ten months of the year.
3) In which lay members are either immediately or eventually able to officiate.
Shaping the Parish Through Spiritual Practices
This initiative is to set in motion and sustain the parish’s work on the primary task of formation though training, guiding and coaching members in spiritual practices. The work is one of establishing a “demand system” and critical mass that supports that focus. In this initiative the assumption is that the “map” being used is the one in In Your Holy Spirit: Shaping the Parish Through Spiritual Practice, Robert A. Gallagher 2011, Ascension Press
Orientation to Spiritual Practices
Provide an adequate overall orientation to spiritual practices within the first five months of a person’s arrival in the parish. Make it a priority to ground new members in spiritual practice. Weave this onto the parish culture: Place the dates for the program on the parish schedule for at least the next 16 months. Have the program on the parish web site. Have related books always for sale and some related handouts always available for free or at low cost. Fresh posters about the next session always up. Weave into preaching.
This initiative is designed to engage the parish in understanding and acting in a manner that approaches trust as something to actively develop rather than a quality noticed when it is missed. We are seeking a parish with characteristics related to high trust: competence, reliability, responsiveness, reciprocity and congruence. With a critical mass of members acting in a way that develops trust, especially competence in spiritual life and practice as that relates to inclusion and hospitality, acceptance and challenge dynamics, communication and listening, and discernment and decision-making. The task is to shape the parish so it facilitates trust in and through its climate, structures, processes and behavioral norms. We seek ways of inclusion, acceptance, communicating, and making decisions that result in high levels of internal commitment, self-management and collaborative relationships.
Sunday Liturgy — full, rich, graceful, beautiful
This initiative is directed toward helping the parish Sunday Eucharist consistently be an extraordinary event. The goal is that this becomes so true, and so well know to a broader community, that it becomes part of the parish’s self-definition and identity. This initiative is strategic to the extent it is not simply a segment of parish life or an occasional activity but is related to a sustainable and meaningful parish identity. Such an identity must arise out of the parish’s existing life—there must be an adequate number of parishioners with skill, knowledge and passion for Eucharistic practice; it must fit the existing culture of the parish. A parish may want to begin the initiative on Eucharistic Competence either before taking this initiative on, or do it in a somewhat parallel time line.
This initiative is to launch a significant OD process improvement process using an appreciative process. This is to include increasing the competence of parish leaders for such work and integrating methods throughout the parish. Appreciative Inquiry is a strategy for intentional change that identifies the best of “what is” to pursue dreams and possibilities of “what could be”; a cooperative search for the strengths, passions and life-giving forces that are found within every system and that hold potential for inspired, positive change.
This initiative may fit your situation if you have a small group of members who behave in a manner that suppresses the voice of the larger congregation or the voice and authority the rector and/or the majority of the vestry.
Exploring Congregational Options
This initiative may fit your situation if the parish no longer has the ability to continue in the ministry structure it has been accustom to. A reasonable target might be to find a new alignment that stabilizes the situation for the next few years. The immediate goal of the initiative might be to begin the exploration of options and to map out an initial design for a process over the coming months.
This initiative is a broad ranging effort at significant culture change to include the parish’s way of being and doing around spiritual practices, primary task, emotional & social intelligence, and dealing with change. Some parishes face the most difficult choice—change or die. Others find themselves increasingly aware of how much better and healthier the parish could be. Very few parishes have any idea of the magnitude of change that will be required. A systemic, parish-wide culture change is a long term, complex and difficult task. It will call for persistence and courage, wise leadership, and a capacity for strategic thinking and management.
B
Improve the functioning of the vestry and other significant groups in the parish in an action – research process. Facilitate a process in which members of the group learn from their experience as a group. Use a learning-from-experience process with the vestry and other selected groups. The process may be the use of meeting assessment forms or another EIAG process (see attachments below). The same process is to be used for at least two meetings in a row and scheduled for use at several other meetings over the following 14 months.
C
As parish leaders, participants increase their use of skillful feedback. In the long-term you are seeking to make feedback from leaders a normal part of parish life. In the short-term you are: 1) using feedback to improve at least three working relationships, 2) deal with a difficult member, 3) improve your feedback skills, and 4) increase your own self-awareness and self-management in offering feedback.