Provocative Hope

Summary:

This 14-week group will develop and practice key collaborative leadership skills to more fully
articulate and implement the vision and mission of the church. Collaborative leadership designed to reclaim
God’s dream for who the church is intended to be and what disciples are intended to do. Using appreciative
inquiry, participants will strengthen the vision oriented collaborative capacity of their church leadership
teams.

Outcomes:

Course participants will practice collaborative leadership skills in the context of vision
articulation and implementation addressing these and other competencies:
# 7 Define and articulate a future vision of the church
# 3 Encourage and empower others to take ownership
# 10 Influence the actions and behaviors of others to accomplish changes in the local church

Format:

The course uses a narrative peer group form of learning which leans on ’participant
knowledge,’ in contrast to ‘spectator knowledge.’ Each person collaborates to the learning of the
group.

• Eight participants in each group to make space for substantial conversation.
• Five video conferences
• Weekly readings (generally requiring less than 15 minutes)
• Five guided peer conversations with one or two course collaborators

There is no financial cost for participating in the course for participants in the Bishop’s Emerging
Leadership Initiative, other than the purchase of two books and one article:

• Memories Hopes and Conversations, 2nd Edition. Branson, M. (2016)
• Appreciative Inquiry: A positive revolution in change. Cooperrider, D. & Whitney, D. (2005)
• Cracking the Code of Sustained Collaboration. Gino, F. Harvard Business Review from the
  November -December 2019 Issue

Participants are expected to commit to completing the course requirements as a condition of
enrollment.