A couple of years ago, Luther Seminary invited our Synod to be part of a pilot program to develop new ways of thinking about ministry. Four congregations have chosen to participate in this program of Leadership for Faithful Innovation. Their pastors have been getting training for almost two years, and the congregations now have guiding teams made up of six or so members of the congregation as well. They met this weekend for their second training session with Pr. Dawn Alitz from Luther.

The program has three phases: Listen, Act, Share. The first training was focused on listening- to the congregation, the neighborhood, and to where God is calling them to be. This weekend we moved into the next stage – Act. The groups worked together to think about experiments that the congregation can be doing to learn about new behaviors and new ways to be the church.

The energy in the room was high and I am hopeful that the excitement will be contagious. I look forward to seeing what new things may come from these congregations. Eventually the plan is to take the program out into other congregations too, so stay tuned.