Sunday School 2.0: Shark Tank for Spiritual Growth
July 29, 2018 § Leave a comment
The purpose of Sunday School 2.0 is to create an adaptive architecture of participation where everyone can experience what it feels like to be children of God, including:
- The Security of unconditional love
- Service to those outside
- The Struggle to create something worthwhile
We advance this purpose by loving God with all our “heart, soul, mind and strength” through deliberate practice of C.A.R.E.:
- Curiosity: Asking the right questions (mind)
- Agency: Choosing how I can further that purpose (heart)
- Resilience: Iterating towards a successful strategy (strength)
- Empathy: Delivering something others will value (soul)
The key roles and steps in the process are:
- Sponsors propose a “Big Idea” for the next step in advancing the purpose
- Leaders brainstorm and pitch a Project for implementing that Big Idea
- Stakeholders approve the Resources (e.g., people, time, materials) to implement that Project
- Participants enroll in executing their part of the Project
- Audience experiences the Project in a way that allows us to collect feedback
- Sponsors review with Stakeholders how effectively the Project advanced the purpose
At the micro level, this could be a single class with multiple age groups:
- Adults are the Sponsors and Stakeholders
- Older kids are the Leaders proposing a craft project
- Younger kids are the Participants building the craft
- Parents are the Audience receiving the craft
- Sponsors observe how the parents and kids interact around the craft
However, the same process could be used for a six-week Christmas program, or even a wholesale redesign of Children’s ministry (where the Elders are the Stakeholders). It could sometime even be flipped on its head, where the children are the Sponsors and the grown-ups are the Participants!
The most important and difficult aspect is creating a feedback loop. Without the data to enable continuous improvement, this will become just another empty ritual. Conversely, as long as you have the right mechanisms for feedback, you can start from anywhere and create excellence.
iHack, therefore iBlog 
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