ANd oh do I wish I had found it a few years ago. The process Cawley outlines is one I think would work really well in this congregation to explore identity questions. But right now is not the right time to start the process.
SHe suggests an identity exercise that leads the congregation into describing the person that the congregation is. WHat is their gender, their age, their life-stage, their health etc. And all this she grounds in reminding the congregation that they are the body of Christ. I heartily recommend this book.
I'd be interested in knowing whether the author has built any "reality check" into the exercise cited here. By that I mean, what is in it to prevent a congregation from simply projecting a distorted self image and calling that its "identity"?
ReplyDeleteHer claim is that the process seems to self-correct for this. If the congregation feels in a safe place anyway. She tells of one story where part of teh congregation tried to hold a different picture than the other small groups and the rest refused to let them do so.
ReplyDeletePArt of it would be the preparation I suspect.