Training
Adaptive Church Leadership Cohort
Learn to implement adaptive change in your congregation with a six-month hybrid cohort led by Tod Bolsinger.
The world in front of us is very different from the world behind us, so what are we going to do about it?
In Canoeing the Mountains, Tod Bolsinger gave the church a metaphor that has resonated deeply in every congregation: the canoes that got us here won’t get us over the mountains. In a rapidly changing world, every church must learn how to experiment its way forward. The challenges we face will not be solved by experts, conferences, or better mission statements. Instead, we have to experiment our way into a new future.
Partnering with Fresh Expressions, a leader in the field of mission experimentation, Tod Bolsinger will be your guide through a process to help your team develop the capacity to take on your unique ministry challenges. Through a paced journey of training, frameworks, activities, and coaching, you will be able to clarify what will never change, identify what needs to change, and implement a process to experiment with the change. Your church is a unique gift to the world! Let us help you propel your mission into the changing world ahead of us.
What to Expect
Is ACLC for you?
Team Approach
Implementation is easier when a team is in this work together
Accessible Pricing
Get access to the premier consultant in adaptive change for a price that is accessible for every church
Level Up Your Skills
Grow your congregation’s adaptive capacity to continue navigating the challenges of the future
Do you find yourself overwhelmed by the challenges before you and want to learn to lead real adaptive change?
The Adaptive Church Leadership Cohort offers the resources, the team approach, a community of fellow travelers, and the coaching that can help you take the important steps toward more impactful ministry in a radically changed world.
OVerview
What You Will Learn
Principles of Change that Move You Forward
How to disrupt old practices that are holding you back
Effective experiments that help you apply what you’ve learned
You won’t get unstuck by trying harder. Instead, gather a team of six from your congregation and learn to lead differently.
How do you lead when you don’t know what to do in the present moment, much less how to predict the future? For organizations to thrive in a changing world, leaders can’t continue to repeat the same past actions, nor can they become paralyzed by inaction. In this cohort, you will learn to identify the unique qualities of your congregation that should never change and to identify what kinds of changes will be required for your church to flourish in a 21st-century environment and beyond. In a collaborative and supportive environment, you will learn how to craft experiments that press into the shifts you are seeking to make, apply the learnings for transformation, and navigate the competing values that must be faced within the organization.
More than just engaging presentations, this journey gives you the opportunity for real-time feedback from Tod Bolsinger, coaching as you apply the principles in your setting, and encouragement from other church teams who are navigating similar challenges
Three Phases of Training
Phase 1
Preparing for Adaptive Change (three months)
Learn the principles and practices of prototyping into your adaptive challenges. Learn how to formulate the critical questions that will challenge default behaviors and mental models in order to lead the learning and inform the transformation needed.
By the end of this phase, you will have identified the shift you are trying to make, developed simple prototypes to implement around that shift, and be well-versed in balcony sessions that help you more clearly see the problem before you try to solve it.
Phase 2
Prototyping Adaptive Change (three months)
Learn how to identify the adaptive challenges underneath the presenting issues with which you are struggling. Implement tools to identify your congregational DNA, listen deeply to your surrounding community, and identify the shifts you need to make to more effectively respond to a changing world.
By the end of this phase, you will have identified the adaptive challenge you are working on, your congregational DNA, and some of the pain points of the community around you.
Phase 3 (Optional)
Build Adaptive Capacity with Ongoing Coaching
You may choose to apply the principles you learned in the cohort on your own as a team, or you may decide that you would greatly benefit from coaching that will build your adaptive capacity as you practice and hone the skills you have learned. Twelve months of add-on coaching will support you as you prototype, apply internal change interventions, navigate competing values, and encounter internal resistance.
Your Guides
Tod Bolsinger brings vast experience in the field of adaptive leadership in the church. He is the author of Canoeing the Mountains, Tempered Resilience, and the newly released Practicing Change Series. Tod is a Senior Congregational Strategist and Professor of Leadership Formation at Fuller Seminary and Co-Founder/Lead Consultant for AE Sloan Leadership.
Shannon Kiser brings the experience of Fresh Expressions’ work with inherited church leaders around missional experimentation. Shannon is the Director of U.S. Ministries and Training for Fresh Expressions North America, as well as a pastoral leader with a congregation experimenting its way to becoming a community hub through a bustling coffee shop and deep community engagement.
“This Cohort has been so good for me and for our congregation. I think what we learned will ‘stick.’ I’ll carry what I learned to my new church since it’s the perfect approach to a new pastorate.”
Bruce Case
Parkway Heights UMC, Hattiesburg MS
Upcoming Cohorts
Cohorts are added throughout the year based on expressed interest. Cohorts are typically online to accomodate groups from across the globe, unless a particular regional organization desires to host a Cohort that includes an initial in-person gathering.
Want to host an Adaptive Church Cohort for multiple churches in your region? Contact us at info@freshexpressions.com to find out how we can bring this training to you.
Are you an individual congregation looking to join a Cohort? Let us know you are interested by clicking on the link to join the waitlist.
Pricing
- Six-Person Team
- Training
- Materials
- Coaching
$3500 or $584/month for 6 months
(Discounts may be available for participating partners)
FAqs
More questions?
How do we know we are a good fit for the cohort?
This cohort is for any congregation facing challenges you just can’t get traction on. Here are some we often hear: engaging busy young families, ministry in increasingly diverse communities, the changing reality of volunteering, ministry in a polarized culture, aging congregations, discipleship in a postmodern context, and more.
You are not the only church struggling to figure out new ways of being the church in a changing world. But if you care about entering into that struggle and discovering the unique opportunities for your church to engage a changing world, you are a good fit for this cohort.
Why a six-person team?
This transformation team is invaluable for leading the change curve in a congregation. A team fostering a culture of experimentation that leads to transformation will gain far more traction than a lone pastor trying to singlehandedly effect change in the organization. A diverse team also increases the effectiveness of the iterative process needed to apply the learnings from prototyping into the congregational system. Finally, a team is better able to navigate the inevitable congregational resistance that comes with change.
What about the optional coaching phase?
Following the six-month cohort, you may wish to secure coaching support for the following year as you implement the process you have learned. Cohort congregations can opt into 12 monthly coaching sessions for $3,000. There is no requirement to sign on to this phase, but the resource is available and has helped many congregations stay the course in the midst of competing demands and congregational resistance.