These are the slides from a week long DMIN seminar I led at San Francisco Theological Seminary in the summer of 2014.

1. leading adaptive action in communities of faith
DM6023 – SU14
SFTS / San Anselmo, CA

2. orientation
• who are we?
• what will we be doing?
• where and how is God calling?

4. believe
create
share

6. rethinking change
• static : when an object is moved from one place to
another (bounded, low-dimension linear spaces)
• dynamic : motion along a smooth course to end up at a
predictable point (some open boundaries, more factors,
causality is messy)
• dynamical : complex change that results from unknown
forces acting unpredictably to bring about surprising
outcomes

7. interdependent pairs
• containers
• differences
• exchanges

8. adaptive action
• when adaptive action is called for, seeing, thinking and acting in iterative
cycles is exactly the right response
• every ending action makes the next beginning question necessary
• an adaptive action is always standing in inquiry — it’s framed as a series of
questions
• is simple enough to be flexible
• reduces the risk of uncertainty in dynamical change
• lots of ways to do this work!
• cycles can be embedded inside one another to build a network of inquiry and
action

9. ways of knowing
• objective (observable, “facts”) [eg. there are cycles of light
and darkness]
• normative truth (agreement about what is true) [eg. “light”
is “day” and “dark” is “night”]
• subjective truth (personal beliefs and convictions) [eg.
“good” days and “bad” days]
• complex truth (acknowledging all three of the other truths
are equally valid, no one truth takes precedence over the
others all the time)

10. tuesday

11. covenants of presence
• be fully present, extending and presuming welcome
• listen generously
• author your story
• we come as equals
• it is never “share or die”
• no fixing
• suspend judgment
• turn to wonder

12. covenants of presence, cont.
• hold these stories with care
• be mindful and respectful of time
• practice confidentiality care
• welcome discomfort and dislocation
• love the questions themselves
• believe that it is possible for us to emerge from our time
together refreshed, surprised and less burdened than when
we came

13. Case: A Time for Burning

14. what?
• inquiry
• patterns
• perspectives

15. standing in inquiry
• know your “stuff,” but remain open to and actively engaged in
learning more
• be comfortable with ambiguity and vulnerability of holding
questions
• ask questions more than you give answers
• turn judgment into curiosity [I would say “wonder”]
• turn disagreement into mutual exploration
• turn defensiveness into self-reflection

16. case questions, traditionally
• background
• description
• analysis
• evaluation

17. pattern spotters
• generalizations (“in general I noticed…”)
• exceptions (“In general I noticed, but…”)
• contradictions (“on one hand I noticed…. and on the
other hand…”)
• surprises (“I was surprised that…”)
• puzzles (“I wonder what was different that set the
conditions for…”)

18. lunch break

19. Kegan’s immunity to change
• commitment
• what I’m doing or not doing that prevents my
commitment from being fully realized
• competing commitment
• big assumption

22. prayer/contemplation break

23. spiritual competencies for boundary leaders
• be about one’s own journey of faith and service
• nurture capacity for surprise
• develop rituals of passage, growth, lament, memory and
encouragement
• illuminate and support movement from self to social and
back
• trust the visions born in lament

24. spiritual competencies for boundary leaders, cont.
• challenge tyranny of externalities, superficial measures,
and short term outcomes
• appreciate literature and practices of faith traditions
• appreciate transformational potential of one’s faith
tradition and open appreciation for others’

25. working with questions
• standing in inquiry
• containers, differences, exchanges
• the Art of Powerful Questions
• art of hosting, liberating structures, respectful
conversations, etc.

27. liberating structure
• 1 - 2 - 4 - all
• (1) in silence : what had real meaning for you from what
you’ve heard today? (1 minute)
• (2) generate ideas in pairs, building on ideas from self-
reflection: (2 minutes)
• (4) share and develop ideas in foursomes (4 minutes)
• (all) what is one idea that stood out in your conversation?

28. wednesday

29. Kirkwood UCC Atlanta, GA

30. working the case
• containers
• differences
• exchanges

31. generating options for action
• define all the similarities, differences, and connections you can observe in
the current pattern you want to change
• consider how you might uncover new similarities, or amplify or destroy
existing ones; write down all of these possible options for action
• focus on the differences and consider increasing or decreasing current
differences, or shifting attention to new ones that might tip the dynamics in
a new direction; add these options to the list
• locate all the current connections that influence the pattern. Consider
making the existing connections stronger or weaker, breaking them or
adding new ones between parts of the system that are currently
disconnected. Expand your list further with these exchange-based options
for action.

32. break at 10:30

33. landscape of/for emerging adults

34. national study of youth and religion
• directed by christian smith (notre dame) and lisa pearce (chapel hill)
• begun in august of 2001 and continued through 2013
• designed to enhance our understanding of the religious lives of
american youth from adolescence into young adulthood, using
telephone survey and in-depth interview methods
• http://www.youthandreligion.org/research
• the following slides have information from that study which
appeared in the book Souls in Transition (page numbers in
parentheses)

35. cultural worlds of emerging adults
• disruptions (75)
• distractions (76)
• differentiation (78)
• postponed family formation and childbearing (79)
• keeping options open (79)
• honoring diversity (80)
(page number references to “souls in transition”)

36. cultural worlds, continued
• self-confident self-sufficiency (81)
• self-evident morality (82)
• partying, hooking up, having sex and cohabiting (83)
• religion as a resource for stability and recovery (84)
• ongoing relations with parents (85)
(page number references to “souls in transition”)

37. six “types” of religious emerging adults
• committed traditionalists (166)
• selective adherents (167)
• spiritually open (167)
• religiously indifferent (168)
• religiously disconnected (168)
• irreligious (168)
(page number references to “souls in transition”)

38. note
• emerging adults more in continuity than contrast with
their parents, as well as previous generations (102)
• jewish and catholic categories lost the largest
percentages as proportional to where they began, and
self-identified “non religious” emerging adults grew by
nearly 93% (105)
• moralistic therapeutic deism is alive and well (154ff)
(page number references to “souls in transition”)

39. john roberto and faith20/20 project
• will trends in u.s. culture lead people to become more
receptive to organized religion, and in particular
christianity or will trends lead people to become more
resistant to organized religion and christianity?
• will people’s searching and hunger for God and the
spiritual life increase over the next decade or will people’s
need for God and the spiritual life decrease?
• http://www.faithformation2020.net/index.html

41. networked religion (heidi campbell, texas a&m)
• storied identity (fluid and dynamic identity construction, performative in
nature)
• shifting authority (authority is built, not assumed structurally)
• networked community (loosely bounded social networks)
• convergent practice (personalized blending of belief and ritual, internet
becomes a hub for assembling religious identity)
• multi-site reality (distinction between “online” and “offline” no longer
adequately descriptive)
• http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/podcast-heidi-
campbell-on-religion-in-a-networked-society/

42. authority
!
authenticity
!
agency
for more on this, see “Learning the Bible in the 21st century: Lessons from Harry Potter and Vampires”

44. michael wesch (kansas state university)
• cultural inversions
• express individualism, value community
• express independence, value relationships
• express commercialization, value authenticity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU

49. lunch break

50. prayer/contemplation

51. break

52. respectful conversation process

53. Robert Kegan (with my theological echoes)
• from complaint to commitment (what does faith call us to, lament
psalms)
• from blame to personal responsibility (forgiveness)
• from ‘new year’s resolutions’ to ‘competing
commitments’ (steadfastness)
• from ‘big assumptions that hold us’ to ‘assumptions we hold’ (parables)
• from ‘prize and praising’ to ‘ongoing regard’ (grace)
• from rules and policies to public agreement (covenant)
• from constructive to deconstructive criticism (learning)

54. from policies to public agreement (118)
• a collective route to first-column commitment
• not to prevent violations but to create them (without
agreements there can be no violations), and they can
help us to surface further inner contradictions
• an opportunity for learning

55. core public agreement
• Speak for oneself; Use ‘I statements.’ Own and offer your thoughts and
feelings honestly; avoid grand pronouncements or stating positions of others
• Practice respect in speaking and listening; accept that others may have
different views, without needing to debate or set them straight
• Be brief in comments; honor timeframes and refrain from interrupting
• Listen carefully, especially when something is hard to accept; suspend
judgment
• Respect confidentiality: After the conversation, do not attach names to
comments made without permission
• Allow people to pass, or pass for now, if they are not ready or willing to
respond to a question
Respectful Conversations project

56. (1) what in your experience influences your
perspective on change in the church? (up to three
minutes each)

57. (2) when you think about issues of change in the
church, what matters most to you? (up to three
minutes each)

58. (3) within your own perspective on issues of
change, what questions do you still wrestle with?
(up to three minutes each)

59. (4) what genuine questions do you have for each
other?

60. thursday

61. Mark’s case : working with Kegan’s languages

62. internal languages
• from complaint to commitment (what does faith call us
to, lament psalms)
• from blame to personal responsibility (forgiveness)
• from ‘new year’s resolutions’ to ‘competing
commitments’ (steadfastness, edification)
• from ‘big assumptions that hold us’ to ‘assumptions we
hold’ (parables)

63. social languages
• from ‘prize and praising’ to ‘ongoing regard’ (grace)
• from rules and policies to public agreement (covenant)
• from constructive to deconstructive criticism (learning)

64. break (10:30)

65. moving into the “so what” through storying

68. story circle exercise (repeat for each person)
• tell a story of a moment when you “let go and let God” (3 minutes)
• pause for 30 seconds
• storyteller turns around (so you’re not seeing the others, but can
hear them)
• listeners propose titles to the story they’ve just heard (2 minutes)
• storyteller turns back around and either chooses one of the titles
offered, or suggests their own (30 seconds)
• write down the title, then repeat entire process for the next person

69. lunch break

70. “We are rarely presented with an authentically fulfilling
trajectory for our desires… If we are created for infinite
satisfaction, we really only have three choices about
what to do with our desire in this life: We will become
either a stoic, an addict, or a mystic. The stoic squelches
desire out of fear, while the addict attempts to satisfy his
desire for infinity with finite things, which, of course, can’t
satisfy. That’s why the addict wants more and more and
more. The mystic, on the other hand — in the Christian
sense of the term — is the one who is learning how to
direct his desire for infinity toward infinity.”
Christopher West

71. contemplation / theological reflection

72. working with God’s story and our story
• what do you bring back from this exercise? (2 - 4 - all)
• another example (Jim Gilliam)

74. so what?

75. friday

76. Breathe in the breath of God
Breathe out your cares and
concerns
!
Breathe in the love of God
Breathe out your doubts and
despairs
!
Breathe in the life of God
Breathe out your fears and
frustrations
!
We sit quietly before the One who
gives life and love to all creation,
!
We sit in awe of the One who
formed us in our mother’s wombs
!
We sit at peace surrounded by the
One who fills every fibre of our being
Breathe in the breath of God
Breathe out your tensions and
turmoil
!
Breathe in the love of God
Breathe out your haste and hurry
!
Breathe in the life of God
Breathe out your work and worry
!
We sit quietly before the One who
gives life and love to all creation,
!
We sit in awe of the One who
formed us in our mother’s wombs
!
We sit at peace surrounded by the
One who fills every fibre of our being

77. ciq

78. now what?

79. Case study: Stewart’s church

80. containers, differences, exchanges

81. Builder Shepherd Gardener
Inspires action
by
Making
decisions
Empowering
people
Making
meaning
Approach to
leadership
Organizational
approach
Pastoral care
approach
Homiletic
approach
Emphasizes Roles and
responsibilities
Relationships Vocabulary
and stories
View of
congregation
Structure Community Culture
Biblical
precedents
Nehemiah,
Jethro
Jesus as
Good
Shepherd
Nathan and
David

82. resources for emerging adults

86. lunch break

87. for contemplation: an examen

88. break

89. visio divina

90. closing rituals

91. videos available online:
!
apple ipad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiyIcz7wUH0)
apple iphone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhwhnEe7CjE)
johnson&johnson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzPPx36r3oY)
capital one 360 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCFqAuE8WnE)
forever young pepsi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLfrdRgpKfI)
!
empathy animation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1Evwgu369Jw)
Jim Gilliam testimony (http://www.internetismyreligion.com/)
!
the innovator’s Bible (https://vimeo.com/77818196)
woman at the well (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q49BbfgJbto)
Paradise Fears “Sanctuary” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=KdKu_J5ebMg)

92. image of theory u for theo ed taken from FTE vocation care guide
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/508nj76glhj3r2q/GUIDE%20TO
%20VOCATIONCARE%202012%20%281%29%202.PDF)
!
covenants of presence from the FTE vocation care guide
!
spiritual competencies taken from Gary Gunderson, Boundary Leaders
!
leaders as gardeners table from Scott Cormode (“Multi-layered
leadership: The Christian leader as builder, shepherd, gardener” in
Journal of the Academy of Religious Leadership, Vol. 1, #2, pp.
69-104.)

93. more information at:
http://meh.religioused.org/web/Home.html
mhess@luthersem.edu