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Open Space: Leadership Development
Winnipeg, Man.  •  March 28-31
Will we find leaders?


Approximately 50 invited persons came together at Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute, Winnipeg, on the weekend of March 28-31 to discuss church leadership issues. Convened by Canadian Conference Executive Director David Wiebe, the gathering consisted of people from all provincial conferences, including the Atlantic Provinces, provincial conference moderators, chairs of Conference boards, post-secondary school representatives, and other church leaders.


It was called an Open Space event because of its unique structure. People soon caught on to the procedures and felt comfortable with it.

Wiebe opened the Thursday morning session by saying that the participants were the people that God wanted to have at this weekend, people who are committed to leadership development in the Conference, people who have a wealth of information and ideas, and who have the Spirit of God within them.

The question giving impetus to the discussion was: “How will the Mennonite Brethren Conference discern, develop and retain the church leaders it needs for the next 10 to 15 years?” Related questions were: How are people discerned? How are leaders developed? What qualities are looked for in leaders? Retaining leaders implies being in ministry. How are leaders supported?

Process

The process employed for the discussion is a technique developed by Harrison Owen and has been used over the last 15 years. Each person in the group identifies something they are passionate about and would like to discuss, although to propose a topic does not presuppose expertise in the area. These topics are then placed on a community bulletin board and participants are invited to sign up to attend as many topics as there are time allotments. Four principles govern the discussions:

Whoever comes is the right people. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Whatever time it starts is the right time. When it’s over, it’s over.

Bad grammar not withstanding, these principles, together with the law of two feet, were the overarching guidelines for the event. (The law of two feet means that participants were free to leave a discussion if it no longer interested them or they no longer had anything to contribute.) The groups recorded their findings and these were compiled for each of the participants.


After two days of discussion in the smaller groups, Saturday morning was devoted to prioritizing the 28 topics, and picking the top ten. These were refined and action recommendations developed. A volunteer task force was struck which will communicate largely via e-mail. They will take the discussion to the next level and seek to find solutions to the issues raised.

Prayer before, during and after the sessions kept the focus where it should be – on the Spirit of God guiding the discussions. The final session Saturday afternoon was specifically devoted to prayer, a change from the original schedule. Specific people were called to the centre of the circle, hands were laid on them and they were blessed for ministry. An offering was then taken to help fund the implementation of the suggestions raised.

 – sbb

The top ten issues as identified by the group:

Mentoring/Coaching leaders Training young adults through missions: Training the next generation Calling/Affirming women for leadership Developing spiritual gifts Character/Spiritual formation Transitioning leadership across generations Volunteer/Lay ministry training Postmodernity implications Creating a positive image of leadership Retaining zeal and passion

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Last modified June 4, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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