CLC Primer on Mental Models
Present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God- what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12.1-2
The CLC Primer takes pastors and congregational leaders on the journey of learning change through the Spirit's renewal. We integrate biblical values for living and adaptive skills for leading with a method of learning that honours diverse theological traditions and each church's unique context and culture.
How do we change?
By offering up our mental models for renewal...
Primer Overview
​Our participation-driven Primer will help you bring clarity to the big (or little) challenges and opportunities your congregation is experiencing and empower you to lead through change with curiosity and hope. There are 3 units in the Primer:
1
Mental Models & Roadblocks
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Learn about mental models and practice systems thinking as a leadership team.
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Practice unearthing and testing your personal mental models before introducing ideas to your congregation.
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Identify and address the roadblocks to communal change-- both in yourselves and as a congregation.
2
Scripture & Theology
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Learn to evaluate ministries and systems holistically.
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Explore the Old and New Testament through a mental model lens and reflect on your own theology and tradition as you seek to understand your current reality.
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Get curious and grow awareness about the values guiding your congregation so that a new reality can be pursued.
3
Learning Change
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Grow your adaptive leadership skills so that your congregation can live faithfully and fruitfully as the body of Christ.
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Create a community of authenticity, curiosity, integrity, courage, and love.
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Learn to effectively evaluate your church's mission and vision in light of its values and learn how to bridge the gap between current reality and God's Design for your context.
Primer Features
Flexible Engagement
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The Primer can be engaged in a number of ways: with just one church team, with a group of church teams (from a denomination or region), or within an existing CLC learning community. Contact us for more info about options.
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Each team member has access to all of the material on an easy to use online learning platform, meaning they can engage it at anytime from anywhere. Tech support included!
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Teams set their own pace for learning and, with their coach, have the option to adapt the content to better address their context.
Teams can start their CLC journey at any time! For $3,000, church teams are empowered with:
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24 months of access to the online learning platform and downloadable material (including tech support);
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12 coaching sessions and further resourcing (with the option to add more);
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opportunity to participate in CLC learning events;
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a lifelong partnership with other participant-practitioners around the globe.
Customized Coaching
Coaches catalyze curiosity, help you ask and seek the answers to the hard questions, and empower participants to learn the leadership skills necessary to lead deep and lasting communal change. Our coaches will help you as you identify your church's leverage points for transformation, challenge the status quo, and lead your community to learn and evolve within God's Design.
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Our coaches are all practitioners-- pastors serving in all kinds of ministry contexts across North America who have committed to the playful praxis of following the Spirit's lead in learning change. Bonus: you'll even get to choose your coach from our team.
Lifelong Learning Partnership
Joining CLC means being part of a community of lifelong practitioners who are staying curious, committed, and caring with one another. The skills and processes you learn in CLC can be applied to all areas of life as you seek to both live and lead by God's Design. We know that once you start learning change with CLC, you'll discover the rich life and leadership that will catalyze a lifetime of spiritual growth and blessing.
Praxis-Driven Content
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Each session has a short video presenting one key idea and a reflection guide to get you thinking personally about the topic before you meet in-person as a team.
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Team Meeting Facilitation Guides bridge personal learning and communal action playfully and with curiosity, suggesting ways to share, practice, and reflect on what you're learning and what's needed in your context.
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In fact, all of the material gets you offline and into living and leading by God's Design- individually, as a church team, and even as a congregation. Every participant becomes a teacher as well as a learner because each brings a unique experience of the Spirit's transforming work through faithful and fruitful engagement with the material.
Best of all, you will be empowered to keep on seeking God's Design long after your time with CLC comes to an end.
CLC is about the journey of humbly becoming living sacrifices to God in every circumstance. From the way you do ministry to the way you think about yourselves, the CLC Primer creates the space for you to be a living sacrifice to God as a leader and a church. The Holy Spirit uses CLC to renew and revitalize the church as a learning community that is empowered to discern God's Design for their unique context and then to pursue those holistic purposes as a spiritual act of worship. Our practices are about becoming lifelong disciples unlearning the ways of the world and learning the ways of God. Join us to discover your own unique offering of living and leading by God's Design.
Get started on mental models work today!
This resource will help you surface and examine your own mental models of ministry and how you can begin to unearth the ones in your congregation. Download your free resource.
Fill out the form below to start your learning journey.