Refreshing. Surprising. Transportable.
Last week I was at a gathering of Christian educators at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One of our purposes was to dream about what the future of Christian formation might be in The Episcopal Church.
We discussed trends and tensions, personal and institutional needs, resources that we already have (and might not know about) as well as what we are being called to do. Over and over again we came back to discipleship. Programs and resources are simply vehicles, but it is through personal story, following Christ and being authentic to the Gospel that will keep Christianity alive.
Carolyn Chilton, of Richmond, Virginia shared a story in relationship to a marketing research project about milkshakes.
Rows of Sharon 
Nice story about market research, but again: Why are we so eager to embrace the language of the marketplace and business models? Look what they did to the economy.
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In some respects I agree with you Jeff. But the Church needs to better articulate what we are about instead of creating programs and resources that do not connect with who we are and what we profess. Just opening up to rephrase the question: “What do you want your church to do?” “What do you want your Christian education program to do?” “What do you want your children’s ministries to do?” We need to get back to what and how we share the Gospel. And we need to understand who the seekers are that MAY come to us and learn what they are looking for.
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Introvert thinking. I would rather it be “what do you want … to be?” than “to do”. We need to understand and enjoy who we are and then how to share that with people who may come to us, and how go be open to what they need that may influence what we offer for programs to support their journey. Thoughts continue to develop.
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Good thoughts, Elizabeth. (One reason I posted the video was to see how we could ‘spin’ this in a faith context. Keep those thoughts coming!
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Left Hand/Right Hand. But it would help if they were both on the same body!
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