Tri-Regional Partnership Update
[Editor’s Note] This article uses the term “Kin-dom of God.” Kin-doms are self-organizing systems that are fostered in kinship – the recognition that we are all kin, working together cooperatively and collaboratively.
Over the last 18 months, the Tri-Region Steering Committee made up of representatives from Kansas, Nebraska, and the Greater Kansas City regions, have learned about each other and the difficulty of discerning new ways of being church together.
The nature of this work is adaptive, meaning learning is required, better questions must be asked, answers are elusive, and hearts and minds must be open and trusting. In other words, this is not a matter of cutting and pasting tired solutions from available templates.
Despite how that might sound, we remain optimistic and committed to discovering ways to better serve local congregations and work together in new and effective ways.
Currently, we are not recommending any structural change to the regions. We remain open to the possibility if that is deemed the best path forward. We will offer each regional board a Collaborative Framework, based on covenantal relationship, that will serve to guide future efforts, leveraging regional assets and strengths.
We will offer regional assembly planning teams, workshops to aid in communication between the Steering Committee and local congregations. We will attend training from the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) on Leadership through Adaptive Change with the help of a KLC Transformation Grant to the region of Kansas.
We will continue to share information in a spirit of transparency that will serve to nurture our relationships and enable ideas and opportunities to flow freely.
As our work continues, the membership of the committee evolves as inevitable changes take place in all our lives. We thank our General Minister and President, Terri Hord Owens for her insights and support. We thank our regional ministers for their mentoring, support, and latitude to do this work.
We move prayerfully ahead, confident in the power of the Holy Spirit leading us to discern God’s will for the work of our regions and the work of local congregations to build up the Kin-dom of God.
Grace and Peace,
Rev. Kelly Gindlesberger (Kansas)
Peggy Chandler (Greater KC)
Rev. Mike Njus (Nebraska)