Opportunities and Challenges

Engaging the ABCD project is inviting transformation.

And while the opportunities on the other side of this transformation are enormous, the process of reaching these opportunities can uncover challenges to the underlying patterns, beliefs and structures of your faith community, including:

• Existing leadership models,
• Long-held community priorities,
• Desire for a quick-fix or immediate results,
• Need for a recipe-style approach,
• Judgement based upon styles or theological beliefs, and
• Latent discrimination and stereotyping

It’s important to recognize when these challenges are taking place and to respond pastorally to any individual or group reacting strongly to the process. Your Leadership Team will play a critical role in working together to adopt a non-reactive stance and an appropriate response, which may range from one-on-one personal conversations to pausing the process so that you can attend to the situation.

You will find resources throughout this toolkit that may be useful in gaining a deeper understanding of community systems and a developing a process for responding to challenges as they arise.

Through it all, keep in mind that while this may be an unintended and painful reality, on some level these challenges are a normal and predictable part of the process – and can even be seen as an indication that your process is working.