Earlier this month, 20 individuals from throughout the U.S. and Canada completed the 2014-2015 certificate program. Leadership in the New Parish, a partnership between the and 天美视频 of Theology & Psychology, is an imaginative, collaborative, and transformative program in which leaders and practitioners join together to passionately engage the intersections of God鈥檚 story, their personal stories, and the stories of their particular neighborhoods. Designed as a practitioner think-tank, the program seeks to equip participants for innovative missional work that transforms neighborhoods and revitalizes local churches.
Leadership in the New Parish (LNP) combines 天美视频鈥檚 model of relational hermeneutics grounded in personal narrative with the Parish Collective鈥檚 vision of reimagining the church through place-based solutions. Participants are challenged to engage the desires, woundings, failures, and triumphs in their own stories, develop innovative skills to engage the stories of their neighborhoods, become more boldly attuned to God鈥檚 work in their local contexts, and grow in their capacity for relational presence with neighbors.
The program combines teaching, personal reflection and discernment, collaboration with a wide network of practitioners, and hands-on experience. Four weekend intensives, ongoing small group conversations, and generative readings all function to support each participant鈥檚 organic experimentation and theological reflection in his or her own parish. This model is in contrast to the traditional, hierarchical educational structures in which abstract scholarship is the final product; instead, the imaginative ideas of scholars and the grounded discoveries of practitioners are tools that equip LNP fellows to continue the gritty, beautiful work of pursuing shalom in their neighborhoods.
One of the cornerstone experiences of the program is the parish tour, in which LNP fellows are led through a particular neighborhood, hearing stories about faithful practice and presence and dreaming together about how local churches can pursue the Kingdom of God in particular contexts. This year鈥檚 final parish tours were in Tacoma and Portland, including visits to , the Lincoln District in Tacoma, , the community in Portland鈥檚 Lents neighborhood, , , and more. The group was joined by LNP Fellow John Pattison, co-author of (one of the primary required texts) and Tony Kriz, storyteller and author of the new book .
鈥淲hat a year! Congratulations to the Leadership in the New Parish 2015 Fellows,鈥� says Paul Sparks, a co-producer of the program. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 wait to see the continued stories that will come from all of your parishes in the months to come.鈥�
If you are interested in joining a growing collective of pastors, lay leaders, churchgoers, theologians, entrepreneurs, community developers, and place-makers who are passionate about weaving together individual narratives, the stories of local neighborhoods, and the ongoing work of the Kingdom of God, then we invite you to join us.