Frequently Asked Questions about Genesis II: Re-Vision and Renew
Q: What is Genesis II: Re-Vision and Renew?
A: Genesis II: Re-Vision and Renew is an innovative ministry redevelopment
initiative that explores and highlights specific practices aimed at strengthening parishes for the challenging, yet exciting, work of entering into deeper more interdependent relationships with one another and with their neighborhoods. We believe that through these relationships we will discover the ways God is active in and around our congregations. Genesis II: Re-Vision and Renew offers four entry points to this work:
- Second Tuesdays is a “watering hole” for those who yearn to discern faithful action, nurture life in their churches, and support one another in the work of “practicing possibility” for the sake of Love? We invite you to join us on the second Tuesday of every month (2:00-3:00/ 1:00-2:00 Central / 12:00-1:00 Mountain / 11:00-12:00 Pacific) as we learn from each other and as we experiment with practices that move us into interdependent relationships with our neighbors.
- Third Thursdays is a “CP&R Cafe,” allowing us to share experiences and offer action-oriented feedback. We toss out a theme and invite 2-3 participants to share how that theme shows up in their ministry context. The rest of us will ask questions, connect responses with our own contexts and emerge with new paths forward.
- Coaching Cohorts for Churches Experiencing Decline are formed from core teams of 4-5 lay leaders from congregations within a diocese who come together eight times over six months on Zoom for 90-minute sessions under the leadership of a coach trained in group coaching and experienced in church leadership. Together we explore the question, “What’s our next faithful step based on our lived reality?”
- The Practicing Community is comprised of five or more congregations from within a diocese (already engaged in redevelopment). They meet together online 2x/month to learn skills, collaborate as a cohort, and innovate new ways of being church today. The participants are supported by committed members of a Wisdom Community (mentors and coaches who will bring their experience of redevelopment participants). The commitment is for six months with options to go deeper in six-month intervals for up to two years.
Q: How is this like or unlike other redevelopment initiatives?
A: Jesus’ ministry happened in the context of community, as he crossed cultural boundaries, centered on people on the margins of society, and cultivated a sense of abundance. In doing so, Jesus embodied God’s reconciling love. As the body of Christ, we follow Jesus’ example by sharing the good news of God’s love today.
In Genesis II: Re-Vision and Renew our work is to discern, with the guidance of the Spirit and our neighbors, what God’s love looks like in this place, at this moment, and how we as the body of Christ, can embody that love through radical hospitality. We engage our churches and our neighbors in ways that nurture authentic relationships marked by mutuality, vulnerability, and accountability. Out of these relationships, we initiate new ministries in our neighborhoods.
These are the hallmarks of our work together in the church and in the neighborhood:
- Greater vulnerability in relationships
- A growing sense of mutuality in relationship
- Curious energy that leads to innovation
- Attention to emergence: How is the Spirit showing up and inviting?
- Willingness to “fail forward” for the sake of possibility and love
- A desire to nurture participatory/ shared leadership
- Exploring partnerships/ ministries with the neighborhood leadership
Q: What is a “new ministry?”
A: In the context of Genesis II: Re-vision and Renew a new ministry is the fruit that results from a church’s deepening relationship with its neighbors resulting in increased collaboration and partnership. A “new ministry” is a specific expression of this partnership that results in a new collaborative initiative serving the needs and evoking the opportunities in the neighborhood.
Q: What does it cost a Practicing Community church to participate?
A: The monetary cost of participating in the Practicing Community is covered by The Episcopal Church, although you may discern that supplemental church funds will help you experience the fullest expression of this experiment and the ministries it will foster.
Q: I want to learn from this initiative and my church does as well, but we can’t make a commitment right now. Is there a way for us to be involved?
A: YES! The church-at-large is invited to join us online for our “Second Tuesdays” and “Third Thursdays” monthly conversations where we explore the challenges and joys of this on-going work of church redevelopment for the sake of developing new ministries.
Q: Where do I find out more about Genesis II: Re-Vision and Renew?
A: Contact: Steve Matthews
