This ten-part A Deacon’s Musing series will explore the intersection between the change philosophy known as Appreciative Inquiry and a Christian theological orientation grounded in diversity. I am most grateful to be co-shaping this conversation with my mentor and friend Maureen McKenna. We sincerely hope that the definitions, metaphors, theological reflections, images, and videos help impart the significant generative potential that is rooted in appreciation, gratitude, and abundance.

As this Appreciative Inquiry series of theological reflections unfold, you can find each blog on the Tabs above.

  1. Constructionist (170429);
  2. Simultaneity (170512);
  3. Anticipatory (170601);
  4. Poetic (170708); and
  5. Positive (170721).
  1. Wholeness (170929);
  2. Enactment (171020);
  3. Free Choice (171117);
  4. Awareness (180209); and
  5. Narrative (180406).

The Wholeness Principle: people commit to what they have voice in creating

“Stakeholders in any system already have within them the wisdom and
creativity to confront even the most difficult challenges.”
~ The Systems Thinker (2002)

Bringing all stakeholders together in a large group format, it is clear that everyone has a voice (an insight) in the creation of the outcome. Using a whole systems approach stimulates creativity and builds individual, organizational and multi-organizational capacity.

Appreciative Inquiry, rooted as it is in that which is strong and positive, leads to a “new manner of thinking.” AI unleashes the imagination and provides a process for human beings to join together and experience the idea that “Wholes precede parts!” as articulated in Peter Senge’s book “Presence“.

The challenge for an AI change agent is to help organizations begin to understand the interconnectedness of literally every part of the organization and to see it as an interconnected whole

Metaphor: The intention that created the modern Olympic movement and United Nations is grounded in a recognition that we are an interconnected global species

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body,
though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

1 Corinthians 12.12 (NRSV)

Connexions

Connexions

This unfolding series about how Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and a Christianity, which is expansive in nature, can be conversation partners has been exciting to explore. One of the things that AI brings to Christianity is the reminder that things are always unfolding. That such a reminder is necessary may surprise some. The reality is that those whose faith is explored through the Christian lens tend to lean towards adhering to traditions in order to resist the only constant that we ultimately experience as a species:  change.

As the philosophy of AI has deepened, it has become clear to practitioner with the dawn of the new millennium that the core principles were not solely adequate to address the insights and learning that were growing. Inadequate, not in the sense of deficiency, but in the sense that learnings and insights were spilling out of containers that could not solely accommodate such wealth. As such, the emergent principles have been nurtured to help encapsulate some of this rich wisdom that has become more abundant as AI nears 35 years of engaging where practice and theory meet in the change life-cycle of people and organisations.

AI takes literally that an entire system and all its parts, whether a company or a family, an NGO or a faith community, are connected. In turn, functioning and resilience, creativity and possibility are directly tied to the degree to which a system is not only aware of that reality, but intentionally embraces and nurtures further relationships and connexions.

Living Liberty

Living Liberty

The metaphorical image of the Christian community as a body is very old. It is an image that continues to challenge the Christian faith tradition. We are often divided upon theological and moral understandings which have led the metaphor to being considered more as an aspiration than an inspiration. In my The United Church of Canada context, the metaphor as literal is also confronting structural change that carries with it considerations that are grounded in deficit, whether that is financial or commitment. Whether the image of the body speaks to the general Christian experience or denominational ones, the metaphor has difficulty engaging with AI in such a conversation.

Difficulty, however, does not preclude possibility. It has been my experience that, when AI is used in practical congregational contexts, it does not take too long to not only “get it” but to “embrace it.” This quote from Wendell Berry speaks to how I have seen Christian communities awaken to the body as literal:

I take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that God loves the world. I believe that the world was created and approved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love. I believe that divine love, incarnate and indwelling in the world, summons the world always toward wholeness, which ultimately is reconciliation and atonement with God.”

Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

So, let us pause in this unfolding series with some questions that Berry and AI bring to faith communities that are experiencing change. If the questions we ask help to determine the future, let us ask a few in respect to taking literally that we are One:

  • What does it mean for a faith community to not only accept that it is literally connected, but to begin to live that way?
  • If a community literally embraces that every part of the body contributes to its well-being, how might that relational position reveal opportunities, which are indiscernible when focused on what is missing?
  • If Christian expansiveness embraces the gift of diversity, how might the tradition begin to see the larger body, which includes not only our species, but the planets and all its constituent parts, as One?
  • What might that mean for our relationship to Creation and to others who have found ways to express reality in different ways?
  • What does it mean if these different ways are not perceived through contention or competition, but parts that compromise a whole that require each individual component to be nurtured and refined so all may shine?