Igniting Imagination

Adam Barlow-Thompson, co-founder of The Neighboring Movement, wants us to meet our actual neighbors. While that may seem like a simple idea, research (and perhaps experience) shows us that few of us truly engage our neighbors. Adam invites us to move from the theoretical ‘love your neighbor’ to the literal: meet your neighbors in the eight houses or apartments around you and discover the gifts God has given them. Adam does not simply offer a rosy picture of neighboring. He relates a story of a neighbor who slammed the door on his colleague one day, and a year later embraced the chance to work with neighbors in a community garden.  Neighboring is a long-term investment in relationships. The Neighboring Movement is not a numerical church-growth program with an aim to get more people in pews, rather a shift in mindset from scarcity to abundance that ultimately results in a congregation’s increased joy. This conversation is packed with inspiring stories and practical ideas for connecting with neighbors, discovering their gifts, and bringing people together to foster a thriving community.    QUOTES “In many ways, we’re asking you to meet your neighbor. Like that is such a simple task.” -Adam Barlow-Thompson [24:17] “To be a good neighbor means you have to be present in your neighborhood.” -Adam Barlow-Thompson [30:35]   TIMESTAMPS [00:00] Intro [00:48] Blair’s story about her neighbor [02:46] The proximity of neighbor [03:53] Why neighboring is so important for the church [06:48] Meet Adam Barlow-Thompson [08:41] Host’s reactions to the conversation [11:35] Why neighboring is important [15:03] What it means to be a neighbor [20:32] Where social media plays into neighboring movement [23:38] Is the neighboring movement subservice? [26:51] The Good Neighbor Experiment [36:15] The Eight Front Doors Project [42:18] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS Read all about the Neighboring Movement and find resources like the Eight Front Doors Project here. Read Lisa Greenwood’s monograph about God’s Mixed Ecology: The Changing Spiritual Landscape here. New Feature: Transcripts for this Season’s Episodes We will have transcripts for each of our episodes this season. Visit our website to download this week’s transcript. We hope these additional resources will help you share these conversations with your friends, colleagues, and leadership teams to spark the spirit within you, your organization, and “ignite imagination!” This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high-capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. Subscribe to our Leadership Ministry emails here. If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?   Adam Barlow-Thompson’s Bio Adam Barlow-Thompson is a graduate of Southwestern College and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He served for 6 years as the Executive Pastor at Woodlawn UMC in Derby, KS, and created a Process Communication Model-based worship service called Swerve.  Adam is a certified trainer and provider of Process Communication Model, Servants by Design, and Leading Out of Drama. In 2016 Adam left the local church to become a full-time trainer/facilitator and to support the nonprofit Neighboring Movement which he founded with Ashley and their neighbors. The Neighboring Movement believes the best way to create vibrant, thriving communities is by first creating neighborly relationships, connecting people–just like you–with others whose skills, passions and causes can change the world for good. Adam loves playing banjo and laughing loudly. He can be seen around the neighborhood playing music on the front porch or riding his bike to the office.  Adam is always up for a story or a laugh and is an eternal optimist when it comes to his neighborhood. Adam is married to Ashley and they have a son named Prescott.

Most of us can readily identify with having a love-hate relationship with the Institution of the Church. Gil Rendle’s latest paper, Jacob’s Bones: On the Church’s Institutional Future, addresses our ambivalence head-on and offers a distinction that is a gamechanger. He states, “Institutions are not organizations that house values. Institutions are values and disciplines that need organizations to bring their gifts to the people.” Listen to this week’s episode of Igniting Imagination as we dig deeper into this conversation with Gil. We hope it sparks a new imagination in you around the vital work of identifying the core truths, values and practices that reside at the center of what it means to be the Church today.   QUOTES “We still have this internal knowledge that there is something of great purpose in what we’re doing by forming a family. There is something of great purpose in what we’re doing in forming a marriage or in being part of a religious community or seeking democracy or wanting to serve the common good. This is going back to fundamentals that reside pretty deep in us.” -Gil Rendle [31:55] “The younger an institution is or the younger an expression of an institution is, the  easier it is because the closer it lives to its purpose.” -Gil Rendle [32:59]   TIMESTAMPS [00:00] Intro [01:06] The purpose of talking about purpose [05:10] Meet Gil Rendle [06:24] Host’s reactions to this conversation [11:32] About Jacob’s Bones: On the Church’s Institutional Future  [15:17] Institution as a construction of a social reality [19:43] Problem-solving instead of discernment [24:31] How leaders shift from problem-solving mode to discernment mode [30:08] What we’re experiencing [34:47] What giving Gil hope for the future of the Church [37:32] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS Read Gil Rendle’s publication “Jacob’s Bones: On the Church’s Institutional Future” for free on our website here. In the intro, Blair references this article from Fortune: 2022 Will Be A Year of Continuing Transformation by Alan Murray and David Meyer Read Lisa Greenwood’s monograph about God’s Mixed Ecology: The Changing Spiritual Landscape here. New Feature: Transcripts for this Season’s Episodes We will have transcripts for each of our episodes this season. Visit our website to download this week’s transcript. We hope these additional resources will help you share these conversations with your friends, colleagues, and leadership teams to spark the spirit within you, your organization, and “ignite imagination!” This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high-capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. Subscribe to our Leadership Ministry emails here. If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?   Gil Rendle’s Bio Dr. Gil Rendle is a retired Senior Vice President and part-time consultant with The Texas Methodist Foundation in Austin, Texas and an independent consultant working with issues of change and leadership in denominations. Rendle has an extensive background in organizational development, group and systems theory, and leadership development. He has consulted with congregations on planning, staff and leadership development, and issues of change. He is well known for his work with middle judicatory and national denominational offices and staff as they wrestle with denominational and congregational change. He is the author of ten books, a contributor to four books, and the author of numerous articles and monographs. His most recent books include Journey in the Wilderness: New Life for Mainline Churches (2010) and Back to Zero: The Search to Rediscover the Methodist Movement (2011) both published by Abingdon Press and Doing the Math of Mission: Fruits, Faithfulness and Metrics (2014) and Quietly Courageous: Leading the Church in a Changing World (2018) both published by Rowman & Littlefield. Rendle is a resident of Pennsylvania where he lives with his wife, Lynne.

One big takeaway about the Five Muscles (Grieving Well, Discerning Purpose, Walking Alongside, Distributing Power, Expanding Imagination) is that they are all connected. Shannon Hopkins, co-founder and lead cultivator of RootedGood, profoundly understands that grieving well makes discerning purpose and expanding imagination possible. Shannon shares the origin story of her organization RootedGood. She and her colleagues discerned that Matryoshka Haus, the 15-year-old organization she founded and that was by many accounts thriving, could no longer continue in the same way. They decided to let go of what was so that they could step into the new dreams God had for them and RootedGood and two other organizations were born. This conversation with Shannon is rich with insight about grieving as a leader, leading an organization through loss, and living and leading out of the reality and great gift of the Christian tradition that there is life, death, and life after death.    QUOTES “If we don’t do the work of grief, it will come out another way, and I think whether that leads us to toxic, unhealthy organizations and communities, we don’t need more of that.” -Shannon Hopkins [29:49] “There’s going to be some pain, and it’s going to take and require some bold leadership. And it’s going to look like death before it looks like life, but I think that’s where it’s exciting.” -Shannon Hopkins [46:52]   TIMESTAMPS [00:00] Intro [00:52] The theme for Season 4 [03:38] A story about muscles from Scott [05:29] The changing spiritual landscape [07:52] About Shannon Hopkins [10:11] Hosts’ observations [14:28] Matryoshka Haus and RootedGood [22:07] How purpose ties with needing to grieve and move on [23:36] Recognize the need to grieve [30:57] Difference between leader’s grief and corporate grief [35:02] How God’s imagination has taken off [38:52] How this has changed Shannon personally [43:13] The hope Shannon has to offer to the church [48:58] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS RootedGood’s Tools and Games Explore RootedGood’s website to find tools and games to help you implement design thinking, produce creative ideas, launch new ventures, generate revenue consistent with mission, measure your impact, and more. Membership in RootedGood’s Mycelium Network allows access to all of the content and a dynamic network of social impact leaders.   How to Lead When Things Fall Apart Shannon Hopkins names and explains the five stages of a healthy pivot when the structures you have built no longer work. This is an important read and a helpful conversation starter for leadership teams as we continue to navigate disruption, change, and the feelings of loss that come when things do not go as we had hoped and planned. (5 min read)   Read Lisa Greenwood’s monograph about God’s Mixed Ecology: The Changing Spiritual Landscape here.   New Feature: Transcripts for this Season’s Episodes We will have transcripts for each of our episodes this season. Visit our website to download this week’s transcript. We hope these additional resources will help you share these conversations with your friends, colleagues, and leadership teams to spark the spirit within you, your organization, and “ignite imagination!”   This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high-capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. Subscribe to our Leadership Ministry emails here. If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?   Shannon Hopkins’ Bio Shannon Hopkins is an extreme networker and social entrepreneur living in East London. Her passion for community and individual transformation has launched or influenced the formation of fifteen campaigns, projects, and organizations — and trained over 200 social entrepreneurs. In 2008, Shannon was awarded the Women of the UN and UK’s Annual Woman of Peace Award for The Truth isn’t Sexy, a campaign that addressed the demand side of human trafficking. A Texas native, in 2004 Shannon moved to London and founded Matryoshka Haus. Part incubator, part community, part training organization, Matryoshka Haus was born of a fundamental belief that a different world is possible. Shannon is excited to see how over a decade’s worth of work, passion, and learning will live on and take new shape in the US through RootedGood. Shannon’s mission-centered focus on bridging the gap between partners, funders, and cause-related champions in a post-Christian secular world is rooted in one powerful concept: inspiration. In her words, “I think we undervalue what inspires us and moves us to act… but once someone is inspired it can really set a whole host of things in motion.”

Vice President of Leadership Ministry and host Rev. Lisa Greenwood welcomes guests Rev. Rachel Billups and Rev. Matt Rawle to discuss disruptive trends impacting churches. Drawing from recent articles about 2022 trends by Carey Nieuwhof, Joe Park, and Thom Rainer, the three discuss how multi-access is here to stay, the shift to more decentralized power, the role of authority, giving permission to play, less givers giving more…and so much more! This engaging conversation will surely ignite your imagination for what God may be inviting you to consider in your context this year and beyond.    See our show notes for an invitation to email us your reflections from today’s topic for a chance to win a copy of Gil Rendle’s book “Quietly Courageous.”   QUOTES “As we’re moving forward, even myself, I have to let go of the fear of what I know and step into something I don’t know.” -Rev. Rachel Billups [07:14] “That’s the beauty of a church in a community is that we’re not going anywhere. Even if you disappoint us, even if you walk away, even if you don’t join my church and leave, you’re still in the neighborhood, and it’s still my job to love you and serve you.” -Rev. Matt Rawle [31:26]   TIMESTAMPS [00:00] Intro [02:55] Permission to play [08:24] Transformation is in the hands of God [10:02] Influence over authority [13:20] Three marathons…  [18:59] Less will give more [24:11] Lessening the generation gap [29:03] Community focus is more important than ever [37:05] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS Three Articles on Trends Today’s episode references 1) Carey Nieuwhof’s 12 Disruptive Church Trends that Will Rule 2022, 2) Joe Park’s Seven Trends to Watch in 2022, and 3) Thom Rainer’s Ten (Very Different) Church Trends for 2022.   Email and Enter a Drawing for a Free Book What trends are you noticing? We’d love to hear from you! Email Lisa (lgreenwood@tmf-fdn.org) your reflections on trends and we’ll enter your name into a drawing for a free copy of Gil Rendle’s book “Quietly Courageous.” We’ll pick three names next Wednesday (2/16)   Posts Related to Today’s Episode  Matt Rawle’s recent blogpost “The Center of Nine” expands on what he shares in our conversation, including the “Three Covid Marathons” he sees and his thoughts on what it means to “Abide.” Dan Bracken is a member of Rachel Billups’s team at Ginghamsburg Church and wrote this piece about their first steps into ministry in the metaverse.    New Feature: Transcripts for this Season’s Episodes We will have transcripts for each of our episodes this season. Visit our website to download this week’s transcript. We hope these additional resources will help you share these conversations with your friends, colleagues, and leadership teams to spark the spirit within you, your organization, and “ignite imagination!”   This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high-capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. Subscribe to our Leadership Ministry emails here. If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?   Matt Rawle’s Bio: Matt is the Lead Pastor at Asbury United Methodist Church in Bossier City, Louisiana and a graduate from the LSU School of Music and Duke Divinity School. He is an international speaker who loves to tell an old story in a new way, especially at the intersection of pop culture and the church. Matt is also the author of The Heart that Grew Three Sizes, The Grace of Les Misérables, What Makes a Hero?, The Faith of a Mockingbird, Hollywood Jesus, The Salvation of Doctor Who, and The Redemption of Scrooge. He and wife Christie have four awesome kids: Isabelle, Annaleigh, Cecilia, and Robert.   Rachel Billups’ Bio: Rachel Billups is a visionary, leader, speaker and author. Currently she serves as Senior Pastor at Ginghamsburg Church multi-campus ministry in Tipp City/Dayton Ohio. Rachel draws on her love of people and passion to explore new venues for ministry and mission.  Rachel is an ordained Elder within the United Methodist Church and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Bible/Religion and History from Anderson University and a Master of Divinity Degree from Duke Divinity School. Most days you can find Rachel reaching out – praying online, hosting Open Table gatherings in her home or enjoying moments with husband Jon and their four loves: Adeline, Christopher, David and Sarah. She also might be cheering for those Duke Blue Devils and The OSU Buckeyes.  Rachel is a popular speaker for national gatherings and has recently authored BE BOLD: Finding your Fierce as well as co-authoring Down to Earth: Hopes and Fears of all the Year Are Met in Thee Tonight and Sent: Delivering the Gift of Hope at Christmas – all published by Abingdon Press. You can find her on social media at: @rlbillups.

The fifth and final muscle the church needs to strengthen in order to be fit, agile, and ready for God’s now is Expanding Imagination. Dr. Amy Oden teaches theology, the history of Christianity and spiritual formation. Her ability to combine deep theological thought with spiritual practice and bring ancient wisdom to inform contemporary life is not just relevant…her work is truly revelatory for the church today. In this conversation, Amy connects imagination with the life and ministry of Jesus and the work of the early church. She invites us to see curiosity as a spiritual practice so we can have the discipline to explore what God might be imagining instead of moving too quickly into problem solving and resolution. Amy explores how hospitality is connected to expanding imagination and the gift of science in giving us awe and wonder. This conversation is packed with insight and inspiration for becoming more imaginative in your context!    QUOTES “It takes discipline to withhold that really strong muscle that we’ve developed very well of jumping to resolution. But instead what spiritual practices do is help us stay in the unknowing, the not knowing, the not jumping into conclusions long enough to pay attention to what God is up to here.” -Amy Oden [22:16] “When we pay attention to our bodies, God has given us this incredible gift of embodiment where God is often revealed. God speaks to us through our bodies, and that’s often where grief shows up. ” -Amy Oden [30:45]   TIMESTAMPS [00:00] Intro [00:50] Answering questions from listeners [04:57] How to start exercising the muscles [09:07] Meet Dr. Amy Oden [16:34] How Expanding Imagination applies to the church [21:04] What spiritual practices inform about curiosity [23:50] At the table with the stranger and the other [29:06] How it links back to grief [33:03] What “all” means to Amy [38:29] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS Visit Amy Oden’s website to find out more about her books and other recent podcast interviews. Read Amy’s book “Right Here, Right Now: The Practice of Christian Mindfulness”  Read more about the Five Muscles on our website and download a PowerPoint presentation to share with your leadership. “God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67. This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

The fourth of five muscles the church needs to strengthen in order to be fit, agile, and ready for God’s now is Distributing Power. Dr. Joerg Rieger is the Distinguished Professor of Theology and the Cal Turner Chancellor’s Chair of Wesleyan Studies at Vanderbilt University. He has spent the last two decades addressing the relation of theology and public life, reflecting on the misuse of power in religion, politics, and economics.  In this conversation, Joerg reminds us that distributed power is at the heart of Jesus’ ministry and the ministry of John Wesley and the people called Methodists. He connects spiritual practices with distributing power, inviting us to do the work of theology so that we might grow in holy power not to hoard it but to channel it. This conversation with Joerg is full of that holy power. We can’t wait for you to listen!   QUOTES “I remember years ago there was some theologian who wrote a book saying we have to ask more God questions and less me questions. And everybody was really excited about this book. ‘We have to ask more God questions and less me questions.’ In the Perkins faculty where I was teaching at the time was really excited, and I said ‘What if your God questions are really your concealed me questions?’ Is that possible, right, that you talk about God, and you’re really talking about yourself.” -Joerg Rieger [13:41] “Power is not a dirty word, but it’s a different sort of power. If you want to use modern language, you could say it’s more democratic. It’s more shared. It’s something that brings people together. Something that builds relationships. Something that builds solidarity.” -Joerg Rieger [15:00]   TIMESTAMPS [00:00] Intro [01:14] Current conversations with congregations [05:23] Meet Joerg Rieger [07:06] Highlights from the interview [10:51] What comes to mind with “distributing power” [17:04] The issue of power in the US right now [20:58] Ways to build those power muscles [25:42] Practices to get a better grip on the notion of power [33:26] Signs of hope [38:55] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS Visit Joerg Rieger’s website to find out more about his books and other recent podcast interviews. Joerg’s book “No Religion but Social Religion” reflects on the Wesley’s understanding of grace, God, and religion. Read more about the Five Muscles on our website and download a PowerPoint presentation to share with your leadership. “God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67. This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

The third of five muscles the church needs to strengthen in order to be fit, agile, and ready for God’s now is Walking Alongside or Neighboring. Coté Soerens is the owner and midwife of Resistencia Coffee shop in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. She is also the co-founder of Cultivate South Park, a non-profit that lends infrastructure to neighborhood community development projects such as the Urban Fresh Food Collective, Reconnect South Park, and the South Park Arts and Culture Collective.  In this conversation, Coté beautifully and powerfully offers a picture of what it means to walk alongside and build trust with our neighbors, to let go of who we think we are, to believe we have everything we need, and to find power in vulnerability, friendship and joy. Her passion is infectious. We can’t wait for you to hear her!   QUOTES “We have to recognize that the work in the neighborhood is very messy. It sounds beautiful because it is, but it’s also very messy.” -Coté Soerens [15:55] “Being able to make myself vulnerable became a practice, an everyday practice. Giving up control is a way for me to become vulnerable. Taking how in my wanting to keep control everyday in the work in the neighborhood is a way that I keep myself accountable.” -Coté Soerens [28:33]   TIMESTAMPS [00:01] Intro [01:00] How the muscles are connected [05:11] Meet Coté [08:17] What stood out to the hosts about this conversation [10:21] What is Cultivate South Park? [13:18] How to build trust and relationships [17:15] From soup nights to coffee shop [24:58] Navigating all the things in the neighborhood [30:54] Some of the visions that the neighborhood experiences [42:17] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS Cultivate South Park is “Connecting Neighbors and their Gifts to Co Create a thriving and equitable South Park.” Find out more on their website. Learn more about Resistencia Coffee in Seattle, Washington at their website. Mark Elsdon’s book that is referenced in the interview is We Aren't Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry. Read more about the Five Muscles on our website and download a PowerPoint presentation to share with your leadership. “God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67. This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

The second of five muscles the church needs to strengthen in order to be fit, agile, and ready for God’s now is Discerning Purpose. Susan Beaumont is well known for her groundbreaking work in organizational leadership dynamics. She is a consultant, coach, author, spiritual director, and an ordained minister within the American Baptist Churches. She has worked with hundreds of congregations and denominational bodies across the United States and in Canada.   In this conversation with Lisa Greenwood, Susan reflects on the difference between discernment and decision-making. She offers practical wisdom for how pastors can begin to help leaders shift towards a posture of discernment that will help clarify the congregation’s purpose. In the midst of this liminal season, Susan is an expert guide who models leadership rooted in spiritual practices that ultimately help connect the soul of the leader to the soul of the institution.   QUOTES “I think that congregations are at their most vital when the soul of a leader is connecting with the soul of the institution and calling something forth.” -Susan Beaumont [13:32] “We cannot manufacture or produce discernment. It’s a gift that is given.” -Susan Beaumont [32:27]   TIMESTAMPS [00:01] Intro [01:20] Meet Susan [01:56] What stood out to Blair and Scott about this conversation [09:19] How her book came to be and her commitment to it [11:37] Tending the soul of an institution [14:07] The act of discernment and why it’s important [20:09] Methods and tools to shift into discernment mode [30:49] Obstacles or resistances that a leader might face [36:25] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS Susan Beaumont’s book that is referenced throughout the interview is How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going: Leading in a Liminal Season. Find more information about Susan, including blogs and other resources, visit her website: https://susanbeaumont.com Read more about the Five Muscles on our website and download a PowerPoint presentation to share with your leadership. “God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67. This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

The first of five muscles the church needs to strengthen in order to be fit, agile, and ready for God’s now is Grieving Well. Suzanne Stabile is well known as an expert on the Enneagram. This past year, she has done extensive work on grief and the Enneagram because she believes grieving in real time is so important in our world today. Suzanne offers us remarkable insights through this in-depth interview about grief and what grieving well looks like for congregations and communities. Suzanne Stabile is a highly sought after speaker and teacher, known for her engaging laugh, personal vulnerability and creative approach to Enneagram instruction. After 25 years of studying the enneagram, learning from people’s stories, cultivating relationships, and learning under Father Richard Rohr, she has become a bestselling author and world class teacher of the enneagram and how individuals can best utilize this spiritual tool.   QUOTES “But what has happened to me as I’ve started to work on grieving is that I’ve come to believe that we have to grieve through the transition in order to live into the teaching that life has merely changed.” -Suzanne Stabile [17:23] “Grieving has got to be as unique to the individual as anything that’s ever gonna happen.” -Suzanne Stabile [25:59]   TIMESTAMPS [00:01] Intro [01:28] Meet Suzanne [04:11] The hosts’ thoughts on the conversation [06:51] Grieving in real time [12:59] How the enneagram can inform how to grieve [16:01] What has happened to her as she’s worked on grieving [22:45] Why she decided to study grieving [25:08] Grieving has to be as unique to the individual [27:42] What it would look like for congregations to do grief well together [33:12] Two kinds of ambiguous loss [37:05] Grief, fear and despair are basic emotions [45:11] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS Suzanne’s newest book is “The Journey Toward Wholeness: Enneagram Wisdom for Stress, Balance, and Transformation” released on November 2, 2021. Her other books include “The Road Back to You” and “The Path Between Us.” Find out more about Suzanne’s ministry and workshop opportunities on her Life in the Trinity website: https://www.lifeinthetrinityministry.com and at: https://suzannestabile.com Suzanne’s podcast is “The Enneagram Journey”: https://www.theenneagramjourney.org/podcast The two books Suzanne references in the podcast are: Ambiguous Loss by Pauline Boss and Healing through the Dark Emotions by Miriam Greenspan “God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67. This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

You’re listening to Igniting Imagination, a podcast to spark the spirit within you from Wesleyan Investive and Texas Methodist Foundation. This season, we are sharing conversations about the five adaptive muscles the church must strengthen to be fit, agile, and ready for God’s now. For more information about these muscles, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry. TMF’s Leadership Ministry team had conversations with pastors, bishops, conference leaders, spiritual entrepreneurs and practitioners from various fields about the adaptive challenges the church is facing in the pandemic and post-pandemic world. Through these conversations, the team identified “Five Muscles” that congregations need to strengthen and flex in order to thrive now and in the foreseeable future. The “Five Muscles” have been affirmed by numerous leaders who note that these are the muscles the church must continually exercise to be fit, agile, and ready for God’s now. The “Five Muscles” are Grieving Well, Discerning Purpose, Walking Alongside / Neighboring, Distributing Power, and Expanding Imagination. In this episode, host Lisa Greenwood and this season’s co-hosts, Scott Sharp and Blair Thompson-White, give an overview of each of the five muscles. Their conversation is not only packed with insights about what leaders and congregations might consider related to each muscle, they also model for listeners how to talk through each muscle and exercise them together.  Guests this season will dive deep into each muscle. Join us for: Grieving Well with Suzanne Stabile, Discerning Purpose with Susan Beaumont, Walking Alongside / Neighboring with Coté Soerens, Distributing Power with Joerg Rieger, and Expanding Imagination with Amy Oden.   QUOTES “If you only go to the gym and you only work on your arms and you skip leg day every week, you’re not going to have the complimentary strength that you can have, and I don’t mean just to power lift, but to move through life.” -Scott Sharp [04:48] “This is not a one and done kind of thing. You can’t just run around the block once and think that you’re back in shape. It’s a constant, constant thing.” -Blair Thompson-White [28:32] “Just because I’m exercising or doing something doesn’t mean that I’m actually doing all that my body needs to stay fit and agile.” -Lisa Greenwood [29:42]   TIMESTAMPS [00:01] Intro [01:09] Why the muscle metaphor is a helpful image [05:20] How we identify the five muscles [06:30] First Muscle: Grieving Well [11:34] Second Muscle: Discerning Purpose [15:36] Third Muscle: Walking Alongside / Neighboring [18:43] Fourth Muscle: Distributing Power [23:43] Fifth Muscle: Expanding Imagination [28:41] A wake-up to do more [33:20] A blessing [34:15] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS Read the book, New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World--and How to Make It Work for You by Henry Timms and Jeremy Heimans. Our hosts refer to the progression “We Welcome You--We Stand with You--We Need You.” This is the work of Sandra van Opstahl. Find more information about her here. The question "What biblical narrative are you currently inhabiting?" was incorrectly attributed to John Thornburg. Gil Rendle was the first to offer the question that is now widely used by our Area Representatives team when working with congregations. Read the bios of our hosts on our podcast website and find quotes and other information about each episode. “God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67. This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.