Yesterday afternoon was spent primarily using the methodology of The World Cafe. Four people sit around a table and discuss a central question. Yesterday the question resembled: what are the major challenges facing leadership? They talk for 20-30 minutes, one person remains then the other three move to other tables. At the end of the day 4 themes that emerged from the conversations are written on post-it notes and stuck to  sheet on the all. (I’m not sure if or when these get reported out.)

The general process (as I understand it) for the 3 days, follows The U Theory outlined by Otto Scharmer. This process resembles one of the traditional Christian methodologies for discernment moving from a greater awareness of the current situation, identification of beliefs, habits and convictions that need to be let go and then cultivating an awareness of new possibilities which are then refined into practices or habits. So this morning will be spent identifying limiting beliefs present in our current approach to theological education/leadership development followed by a “letting go” of the most restrictive of those beliefs and practices.