Innovate: A Creative Process for Community Flourishing

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INNOVATE A Creative Process toward Community Flourishing

Church Facilitator Guide The creation of Innovate would not have been possible without the generous collaboration of so many people across time, nations, and specialities. The Chalmers Center would like to thank the following people for their time and expertise in creating Innovate: Brian Fikkert, Tabitha Kapic, J. Mark Bowers, Gena Thomas, Abigail Sebesta, David Codington.

Church Facilitator Guide, Version 2021 Innovate is a series of training manuals written by The Chalmers Center ©2021 All rights reserved. For permission, contact info@chalmers.org.

Illustrations and photos generously provided by Semillas de Bendición (Bolivia) and the talented photographers at Unsplash.

The Chalmers Center equips local churches to address the broken relationships at the root of material poverty, living out Jesus' Kingdom today.

The Chalmers Center 507 MacFarland Drive, Suite B Lookout Mountain, GA 30750 USA www.chalmers.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction

Preparing to Facilitate

Part A

Imagine (Lessons 1 & 2)

Envision God’s Big Story

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Part B

Listen (Lessons 3 & 4)

Name Community Resources and Brokenness

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Part C

Make (Lessons 5 & 6)

Brainstorming Ideas and Making a Prototype

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Part D

Test (Lesson 7)

Revising and Carrying Out the Prototype

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Part E

Reflect (Lessons 8 & 9)

Evaluating the Process and Proposing New Issues

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Part F

Repeat (Lessons 10, 11 & 12)

Listen, Make, and Test New Solutions

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Introduction Innovate teaches a creative process that equips churches in the Majority World to use their own resources to love their communities by solving local problems in creative and sustainable ways. Derived from the best practices of design thinking, Innovate takes an asset-based approach to helping churches create desirable solutions in ways that are technically feasible and economically viable. For the users of Innovate, the mindset and process of learning to iterate and solve problems are equally as important as the outcomes generated.

This facilitator guide brings together tools from the fields of both community development and social innovation. The guide integrates a biblical perspective into the design thinking content, articulating God’s story of change along a creative process that keeps the community’s experience central as the group envisions and tests creative solutions.

Facilitator Instructions ● ●

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There are 6 parts of Innovate: Imagine, Listen, Make, Test, Reflect, and Repeat.

Within these 6 parts, there are 12 lessons. Each lesson lasts 45 minutes. ○ PART A: Imagine is made up of Lessons 1 and 2. These two, 45-minute lessons can be combined and take place in one sitting if the group has 90 minutes. ○ PART B: Listen is made up of Lessons 3 and 4. These two, 45-minute lessons can be combined and take place in one sitting if the group has 90 minutes. ○ PART C: Make is made up of Lessons 5 and 6. These two, 45-minute lessons can be combined and take place in one sitting if the group has 90 minutes. ○ PART D: Test is made up of Lesson 7. This one, 45-minute lesson cannot be combined with others and should take place at its own separate meeting. ○ PART E: Reflect is made up of Lessons 8 and 9. These two, 45-minute lessons can be combined and take place in one sitting if the group has 90 minutes. ○ PART F: Repeat is made up of Lessons 10-12. These three, 45-minute lessons cannot be combined and should take place in 3 separate meetings.

The beginning of each part outlines the lesson’s title, summary, preparation and materials needed, and the achievement-based objectives.

Regular font = specific information or instructions for the facilitator to read or paraphrase to the participants.

Orange bolded font = instructions for the facilitator. Do not read this text to the participants.

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Blue italic font = signifies verses from the Bible or a prayer.

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This small clock icon signifies a specific amount of time to give to participants for a particular activity.

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Visual Map Although this Innovate Facilitator Guide has 6 parts, you will lead your learners through this simplified visual map of the creative process: Listen, Make, Test. The material follows this cycle to help the learners understand and carry out the creative process.

God’s Big Story Timeline The timeline of God’s big story: Creation, Fall, Redemption is used throughout to help learners see how their stories are part of the larger one that God is working out in the world.

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Full Page Visuals When you encounter full page visuals in the Innovate material, these are connected to a story or activity. They are meant to be held up and shown to your learners as you tell a story or describe an activity or concept.

Icons The following symbols represent different types of learning tasks found throughout the lessons.

Small Group

Listen

Prayer

Pair Up

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Preparing to Facilitate Study the objectives.

The objectives in the information box for all Innovate units are listed at the beginning of each unit. Studying these objectives beforehand will help you stay focused on accomplishing the learning objective.

Be mindful of the time.

Allow participants to speak and engage with the content, but the lessons are designed to move briskly to make room for key content. Use your discretion in order to keep the learning as effective as possible in the time you have.

Adapt to the needs of your target group.

The content of Innovate was created for church groups in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Because each setting is unique, you may need to adapt the content for your learners. An example or story might better connect with your group if you change it from what is written in the curriculum. This is highly advisable! You know your participants best—feel free to make the content as relevant as possible. The Innovate curriculum is not static—it serves as a tool and a guide for you.

If possible, post all flipcharts created on the walls of the training room. Leave these charts up and continue adding to the walls each week to build on further learning. If this isn’t possible, bring them back and repost the key charts at each new meeting. As the lessons progress, participants can easily see and call to mind past ones—and the facilitator can draw on previous learning. Posting participant responses that are well written on the chart also affirms their contributions and helps them to own the learning process.

Show visuals.

The lessons contain full page visuals that are meant to be shown to the learners. The material is formatted so that you can read and facilitate from one side of the handbook while holding the visual up and walking around the room for participants to see it.

Embellish the stories and draw out imagination as participants ponder these images!

Make the Scripture accessible.

For ease of understanding, all Scripture used in Innovate is from the NIrV, an easy-to-read version of the Bible. Using a readable version helps to create a comfortable environment for those who may have less experience locating passages in a Bible or who do not have high levels of education.

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Create Safety Learners need to feel that their ideas and contributions will be valued. Encourage even small efforts and be careful not to judge or humiliate individuals in front of others. Be sensitive and aware of the participants’ reactions and protect their feelings.

Address Cultural Beliefs This curriculum assumes that learners are in a Traditional Religion context. In the material, the way of the world refers to the perspective, behaviors, and systems that come from animistic people groups. In other contexts, the way of the world might reflect whatever is the dominant, non-Biblical perspective, behaviors and systems against which the cultural struggles.

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Learning Design Who? The People: A deep understanding of who will participate in the learning program and who will lead it.

Participants in the Innovate training are members of savings groups who gather regularly to save, lend, pray, and fellowship. It may also be used with any church-based group who gathers regularly. These groups share the following characteristics: ●

Age: 18+ (partners/users with child protection policies in place may consider use with youth 14-17)

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Location: Majority World, West Africa (both Chalmers Direct Partners in West Africa but

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eventually Indirect Partners working across the Majority World) Economic Situation: Cities and villages with high levels of poverty (rural or urban) Level of Poverty: Moderate and/or Extreme (Dependence to Dignity, pg 202) Education Level: Elementary school (up to 6th grade) Capacity of the Local Church: Ability to provide a church facilitator to be trained Language/Translations: Currently English and French Culture: Primarily tested in Togo, Ghana Concept of self: Collectivist, high-power distance

Facilitators of the Innovate training share similar characteristics, but usually have a high school level of reading and math skills. They have experience teaching or training adults in a church setting and are recommended by a pastor or leader.

Why? The Current Situation: A description of the situation that is calling for this learning event or meeting; the complex rationale or need For too long, people who are poor have been the recipients of handouts and programs that have disincentivized local ownership and problem solving, enhancing the marred identities of those with the very creative potential needed for the work of God’s kingdom. Innovate aims to change this narrative and unleash this potential, empowering churches and savings group members to see themselves as change agents in their community, made in God's image, who can improve and innovate for the gospel in their neighborhoods, churches, businesses, and families.

This initiative is part of the Chalmers Center’s overall strategic direction, which seeks to help churches to rediscover the Gospel—the good news of the kingdom of God—and to understand that they are both called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to creatively improvise that great story in their context.

To do this, Innovate teaches a creative process that equips churches in the Majority World to use their own resources to love their communities by solving local problems in creative ways. Derived from the best practices of design thinking, Innovate takes an asset-based approach to helping churches create desirable solutions in ways that are technologically feasible and economically viable. For the users of Innovate, the mindset and process of learning to solve problems and iterate solutions are equally as important as the outcomes generated.

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This facilitator guide brings together tools from the fields of both community development and social innovation. The guide integrates a biblical perspective into the design thinking content, articulating God’s story of change along with a creative process that keeps the community’s experience central as the group envisions and tests creative solutions.

So That? The Anticipated Change: A realistic vision of what will be different as a result of this joint learning experience.

This product helps churches and parachurch ministries quickly impact the community and culture around them. We will know this happens when we see churches and parachurch organizations quickly and effectively creating programs, ministries, nonprofits, and businesses that reflect God’s story of change within their communities.

We also plan to scale this product through our direct and indirect partners. We plan to spend 2021 rolling this product out with our direct partners in West Africa. During this time, we will also start conversations with indirect partners to see if they would be interested in scaling this as well. Implementation time for partners will vary. From past experience, implementation time takes about a year from when conversations start to the point when we are able to launch a pilot with an indirect partner.

Outputs: (by the end of training) ➔ The group will have a process that they can repeatedly use to create new ways of ministering as agents of reconciliation ➔ Facilitators will be equipped to lead on their own confidently ➔ Members will feel equipped to pursue reconciliation of one of the 4 relationships within their personal lives ➔ A new ministry will be created that promotes the reconciliation of the four key relationships Outcomes (1 year) ➔ Group members will see their church/group as an agent of reconciliation ➔ Ministries will be started that promote reconciliation ➔ The individual group members will see themselves as restored image bearers who can innovate in their homes, businesses, families, etc. ➔ The group repeats the process without a church facilitator Impacts ( 1-5 years) ➔ Group members and the people to/with whom they are ministering will experience increased reconciliation in all 4 relationships as a result of the group’s ministries ➔ The testimony of the church will be enhanced ➔ People will come to Christ and start the process of becoming whole ➔ People will experience increased reconciliation in all 4 relationships as a result of individuals innovating in their homes, businesses, families, etc.

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When? The Time and Timing: A detailed description of the time available for the learning, noting how this influences the possible amount and depth of content to be taught.

Because Innovate requires the saving group to collaborate deeply in co-creating a new initiative together that didn't exist before, delivery times for each lesson are slightly longer than the usual material designed for this context. The 6 parts will be broken down into 45-minute sections that can be delivered within the savings group as confirmed by our indirect partners (HOPE, Five Talents, Tearfund).

Where? The Place and Space: A decision on the best location to support the learning, and a description of the limitation that the place might offer.

At this time, Innovate is being designed to be delivered within the context of church-centered savings groups or other groups that meet regularly. The group may meet in a church building, community center, or outside in a public area.

Because of limited access, even such technologies as flipcharts, markers, sticky notes, or copiers (for handouts) will be required judiciously for successful facilitation.

What? The Content: A carefully-constructed set of skills, information, and perspectives to focus on in the learning.

The starting challenge question that Innovate poses is: How might we help our community with ________(issue)_________ so that the 4 relationships improve (in 2-4 hours with little or no money)?

The group decides what issue they will address in the community.

As listed below, the content clearly articulates God’s story of change—Creation/Fall/Redemption—and contrasts it with the story of change of Traditional Religion (The Way of the World). It addresses the differences between Christianity and Traditional Religion with respect to the 4 key relationships and presents Jesus Christ of Colossians 1 as the solution to all the causes of poverty: sinful people, broken systems, and demonic forces. The guide uses sound hermeneutics and incorporates the Chalmers Ministry Design Principles where appropriate.

Innovate focuses on Arenas 1-2 (Church and Parachurch) and a simple approach to Arena 3 (Community) that addresses every person’s vocational calling. As revealed in the logic model, this end goal of Innovate is not a full community organizing project launched across local stakeholders (like Tearfund’s CCMP); instead, Innovate seeks to help the church to quickly and creatively minister in its setting by solving local problems and creating new ministries that do so.

While this could lead to a deeper community-wide process, the Innovate approach is meant to be more nimble. As learners create new ministries interventions in the field, Chalmers will watch and learn from their experience so that we can potentially replicate and scale them.

Innovate is written and laid out in a way that is simple enough to be used on a wide scale. The material takes an easy-to-use approach--layout with full page visuals and rapid training-action-reflection cycle, including rapid prototyping, to keep participants engaged and active.

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What? The Content (Summarized): A

What For? The Achievement-Based Objectives: A

carefully-constructed set of skills, information, and perspectives to focus on in the learning.

specific description of what learners will do during the program with each piece of priority content, in order to learn it.

PART A: IMAGINE Envision God’s Big Story Lesson 1: God’s Big Story & Our Role In It Goals for human relationships across perspectives Relationship with God

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Lesson 2: Community Mapping - Assets and Issues Plan Community Conversations

PART B: LISTEN Name Community Resources and Issues

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Lesson 3: Relationship with Self Observations on Community Assets and Issues in Light of God’s Big Story Issue Tree - Symptoms, Problems, Root Causes Lesson 4: Choose an Issue to Address Community Interviewing

PART C: MAKE Brainstorm Ideas and Create a Prototype

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Lesson 5: Relationship with Others Deeper Analysis of Chosen Issue Create Challenges Questions

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Lesson 6: Idea Brainstorming and Selection Prototype Creation and Practice

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PART D: TEST Revise and Carry Out our Idea

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Reflected on God’s big story Demonstrated the 4 key relationships Roleplayed restored relationship with God Reframed our role in God’s big story as the hands and feet of Christ Created and shared a community map Planned to get feedback from community members

Roleplayed the significance of relationship with oneself Shared feedback from the community about our maps Distinguished between symptoms, problems, and root causes using the Issue Tree Agreed on an issue that we will address in our own community Planned and practiced asking leaders and neighbors about the issue chosen Roleplayed the significance of our relationship to others Analyzed symptoms, problems, and root causes of our chosen issue Practiced creating challenge questions to address our issue Brainstormed and ranked ideas for addressing our issue in the community Created a roleplay prototype of our idea for action Planned to share the roleplay with leaders and neighbors in the community Imagined the relationship to creation restored in our own community Shared prototype feedback from our community and revised our chosen idea

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Relationship with Creation Community Feedback Analysis and Idea Revision Review Community Map Design and Carry Out our Test

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PART E: REFLECT Evaluate the Process and Propose New Issues

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Lesson 8: Review Goals for Relationships across Spiritual Perspectives Evaluate Our Solution Consider New Issues

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Lesson 9: Decide on Next Steps for Repetition Feedback on Creative Process

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PART F: REPEAT Listen, Make and Test New Solutions

Reviewed distinct goals for 4 key relationships from the biblical perspective Examined feedback from the community about the solution we carried out Reflected on how well our solution worked and what we might improve Considered new issues we could address in our personal life and as a group Decided how/if this group will repeat this creative process again Evaluated each step of the creative process

● Analyzed symptoms, problem, and root causes of our new issue ● Practiced creating a new challenge question to address our issue ● Brainstormed and ranked ideas for addressing our issue in the community ● Created and shared a roleplay with the community

Lesson 10: Create New Ideas and Prototype

● Shared feedback from our community and revised our chosen idea ● Reviewed the resources recorded on our community maps ● Developed a plan to test our new idea in the community

Lesson 11: Revise and Carry Out the New Idea

● Lesson 12: Evaluate the Process and Propose New Issues

Reviewed the resources recorded on our community maps Developed a plan to test our idea in the community

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Reviewed distinct goals for 4 key relationships from the biblical perspective Examined feedback from the community about the solution we’ve done Reflected on how well our solution worked and what we might improve Considered new issues we could address in our personal life and as a group Decided how/if this group will repeat this creative process again Evaluated each step of the creative process

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Flipcharts Needed for Each Part Part A

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Flipchart: God’s Big Story Timeline Flipchart: 4 Relationships Example Community Map

Part B

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Flipchart: God’s Big Story Timeline (from previous lesson to refer to) Flipchart: Example Issue Tree

Part C

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Flipchart: Blank Issue Tree (participants will label it during the session) Flipchart: Challenge Question Flipchart: Brainstorm

Part D

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Flipchart: Roleplay Feedback Flipchart: Carry Out The Idea

Part E

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Flipchart: New Issues

Part F

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Flipchart: Challenge Question Flipchart: Brainstorm Flipchart: Roleplay Feedback Flipchart: Carry out The Idea Flipchart: New Issues

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PART A: IMAGINE

Envision God’s Big Story PART SUMMARY: The group will reflect on God’s story of redemption in the world and imagine how the creative process can help them be agents of reconciliation in their own community.

By the end of this part, we will have: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Reflected on God’s big story Demonstrated the 4 key relationships Roleplayed restored relationship with God Reframed our role in God’s big story as the hands and feet of Christ Created and shared a community map Planned to get feedback from community members

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LESSON 1:

Envision God’s Big Story TIME: 45 minutes

Preparation and materials needed for lessons 1-2: ● ● ● ●

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Flipchart: God’s Big Story Timeline Flipchart: 4 Relationships Community Map materials: flipchart paper for each group, 2 different color markers, tape (see Activity in Lesson 2, Point 4) Example Community Map (drawn on flipchart)

Welcome to our first meeting! Throughout our time together, we are going to discover a creative process that will help us improve restored relationships in our community with God, ourselves, one another, and the creation! I am glad each one of you is here! I am excited to imagine new ways that we can creatively demonstrate God’s love and restoration in our community.

[Say the name of a church/community leader in the group], could you please pray for us to begin? Ask the Lord to guide our meetings and to reveal the creativity He has given to us.

➞ The prayer written below is a suggestion, but the person who prays may use his or her own words.

God, thank you for each person here. Thank you for allowing us to come together to collaborate on how to better love and serve our community. Please guide this meeting and the decisions we make. Unleash the creativity within us to serve You and Your kingdom. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Thank you for praying!

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As the facilitator, I will guide you as your group determines an idea for a community project where we will help our community. Along the way, you will learn a unique creative process for doing this together.

Does everyone know the others in the group? If not, let’s go around and say our names.

➞ Keep introductions short!

First, we need to talk about what guidelines we will have for how our group interacts. The first three have already been created. Let’s take 5 minutes as a group to come up with 2 more group guidelines for our meetings together. We will repeat these rules at the beginning of each session together.

Our five rules are: 1. We will glorify God with passionate creativity.

2. We will welcome different ideas from each other and from the community.

3. We will listen well to the people we want to serve.

4. [Say rule #4 here] 5. [Say rule #5 here]

One of the clearest ways people carry God’s image is through our creativity. These meetings will inspire us to be creative people because we are made in the image of an innovative God. In this creative process, we will follow 3 steps: listen, make, and test ideas on how we might help to see relationships improved in our community. Examine this graphic as I describe each part.

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Before we get into the details of the creative process, let’s explore God’s big story and the role we each play in that story. Our stories are part of the larger one that God is working out in the world.

➞ Hang up and/or draw the God’s Big Story timeline on a flipchart

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Listen to a summary of God’s big story - the story of the Creation, Fall, and Redemption: Creation is the first part of God’s story. God made a world in which everything was good.

He made human beings to enjoy 4 relationships: with God, oneself, others, and the rest of creation. The Fall is the second part of God’s story. Due to human rebellion, God’s entire creation was damaged. Although God sustains His world so that there are still many good things in it, nothing is exactly the way it should be. In particular, the 4 relationships are damaged for every person. Redemption is the final part of God’s story. Redemption began when Jesus came to earth. He announced and showed people that He is beginning a new kingdom that is fixing all that is wrong. As he taught and healed, people asked him about this rule of God over the world. He said: "The kingdom of God is among you!" (Luke 17:21) King Jesus had arrived, and started His work in healing the 4 relationships. His redemption will be fulfilled when King Jesus comes again, finishing this work that He has already begun. Everything in the world will be made new!

While King Jesus rules over all things right now, His kingdom is not yet fully complete, so there are still many things wrong in this world. Because Jesus rules right now, we can live with hope. But we must also be patient, because only when Jesus returns will all the brokenness from the Fall will be fixed for good.

➞ Hang up and/or draw the 4 relationships on a flipchart

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In small groups, let’s create hand motions to remember each of these 4, important relationships. When God created us, he intended for all 4 of these relationships to be healthy and working properly.

1. Our relationship with God: This relationship is the most important. We are to love God and worship Him only. God loves us as His precious children. To be healthy, the other 3 relationships depend on this one.

2. Our relationship with ourselves: We are to love ourselves. God has made us with dignity in His image and wants us to know our role in His big story.

3. Our relationship with others: God made us to live in loving relationships with others. We are to care for each other and look for ways to help each other.

4. Our relationship with creation: God made us to take care of His world and the gifts God has given us. He wants us to work, manage our money, take care of nature, and create things that help people.

You have 5 minutes to determine motions, and then we will ask each group to share with everyone. The whole group will then decide by choosing on which set of hand motions are the best that the whole group can practice each time we meet.

Thank you!

Let’s practice the agreed upon hand motions: God, Oneself, Others, Creation!

As we do each motion, let’s also say this chant: God: Delight in His love and truth!

Oneself: I am made in His image!

Others: Put each other first!

Creation: Protect and develop His world!

Well done everyone! Remember those motions. We will practice them each time we meet.

In God’s story, the goal for all human relationships stands in great contrast to the way of the world. The power of His Son, Jesus, can restore all of our relationships toward dignity, service, caretaking, and worship of God.

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➞ For each relationship, the facilitator should elaborate on key points from the chart below.

The Way of the World

The Way of Jesus

Relationship with God

People live in fear of spirits and try to control them

People are meant to enjoy the love of God and seek to obey Him

Relationship with Self

People are of little value, no different than animals

All people carry the image of God and have great dignity and worth

Relationship with Others

Other people are a possible threat or worth less than my people

Other people are to be loved and served the way we love and serve ourselves

Relationship with Rest of Creation

People have no right to upset or change creation

People are God’s caretakers who guard and develop creation for Him

➞ The way of the world here refers to traditional religious practices. You can adjust the way these are described depending on the beliefs and struggles of your own participants.

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Listen to the vision the Bible gives us for when King Jesus comes again to restore all relationships and makes His kingdom complete:

“I heard a loud voice from the throne. It said, ‘Look! God now makes his home with the people. He will live with them. They will be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death.” And there will be no more sadness. There will be no more crying or pain. Things are no longer the way they used to be.’ He who was sitting on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:3-5a)

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Imagine if Jesus’ full restoration came to your community today. What would your community become like? What might you see, hear, and feel that would be different? Call out your ideas.

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Throughout our meetings we will examine each of the relationships more deeply and imagine God’s design for them. Let's start with the relationship with God. Listen to a story about Kossi the shoemaker: Kossi is a shoemaker. Because he isn’t earning much money, he wants to change to a different business. But Kossi is afraid to change. For many years his ancestors have been shoemakers, so he is afraid that changing his business will offend his ancestors’ spirits.

Kossi asks the local witchdoctor for advice. The witchdoctor tells Kossi to offer three chickens as a sacrifice to his ancestral spirits before changing his business. Kossi follows this advice in an attempt to gain the spirits’ blessing.

How did Kossi feel about his ancestral spirits?

➞ Be sure to highlight: ● ●

Kossi is enslaved to his fear of the ancestral spirits.

Kossi tries to control and manipulate these spirits.

Now let’s listen to a story from the Bible about Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue:

“The people were amazed at his teaching. That’s because he taught them like one who had authority. He did not talk like the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue cried out. He was controlled by an evil spirit. He said, ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the Holy One of God!’ “‘Be quiet!’ said Jesus firmly. ‘Come out of him!’ The evil spirit shook the man wildly. Then it came out of him with a scream. All the people were amazed. So they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching! And with so much authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits, and they obey him.’” (Mark 1:22-27) How does Jesus show His power over the spirits?

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➞ Take 1 or 2 quick comments before the next activity.

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In small groups, let’s discuss for

3 minutes the difference between the way of the

world and the way of Jesus. What might Christians think, feel, and do differently in regards to spirits because of Christ?

Let’s summarize what we discussed in the large group. Who can share?

Thank you for sharing!

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Christians do not need to live in fear because God loves us as his adopted children. Romans 8:14-15 says:

“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. The Spirit you received doesn’t make you slaves. Otherwise you would live in fear again. Instead, the Holy Spirit you received made you God’s adopted child. By the Spirit’s power we call God Abba. Abba means Father.”

As God’s adopted children we carry His image. We can change and grow to be more like Jesus.

➞ If time is limited to 45 minutes, end the meeting now with prayer and tell participants you’ll open the next meeting by reviewing and acting out Kossi’s story.

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LESSON 2:

Envision God’s Big Story, continued TIME: 45 minutes

➞ If you are at the beginning of a new meeting, briefly review the God’s Big Story timeline and Kossi’s story before doing the activity under Point 1 below.

1.

Gather into 3 small groups and let’s roleplay what Kossi could do to trust in Christ’s power even when his shoe making business isn’t making money. Someone in the group can play Kossi and his wife; the others can be friends who persuade him.

You have

5 minutes to prepare a 2-minute roleplay.

Great work! Because King Jesus is all powerful, we can ask Him to help us in all things. In fact, the Bible (James 1:5) says that if we lack wisdom, we can ask God and He will provide it to us. God wants to use us as part of the big story He is working out in the world.

2.

Let’s listen to what the Bible says about the role we have to play in God’s big story on earth:

“You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27) “When anyone lives in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone! The new is here! All this is from God. He brought us back to himself through Christ’s death on the cross. And he has given us the task of bringing others back to him through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18) Think of who you are as God’s people! You are the hands and feet of King Jesus called to spread the good news of his reconciling work - healing peoples’ relationships with God, within themselves, with others and with creation!

In pairs, let’s take

3 minutes to discuss the following questions:

1. What do you think it means to be the body of King Jesus?

2. What is the difference between living for ourselves and living to serve others?

We are to represent Jesus in every part of our lives. We do this by loving God, ourselves, others, and the rest of creation in our homes, in the fields, and in our businesses. He is the King, and has given us work to do for His kingdom.

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King Jesus has all the power in heaven and earth. He is more powerful than our sinful hearts, demons, spirits, oppressors, and enemies. King Jesus rules over all! We often feel weak and powerless. We don’t feel much like the body of a powerful king. But the Bible tells us that He gives us power to continue His work.

3.

Let’s listen to what Ephesians 1:18-21 says:

“I pray that you may understand more clearly. Then you will know the hope God has chosen you to receive. You will know that what God will give his holy people is rich and glorious. And you will know God’s great power. It can’t be compared with anything else.

His power works for us who believe. It is the same mighty strength God showed. He showed this when he raised Christ from the dead. God seated him at his right hand in his heavenly kingdom. There Christ sits far above all who rule and have authority. He also sits far above all powers and kings. He is above every name that is appealed to in this world and in the world to come.”

Let’s discuss for 2 minutes in pairs what it means that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us.

Then, we’ll share our thoughts in the larger group.

➞ Prepare materials for the community map: large paper, drawing utensils, and tape.

4.

As His body, God has given each of us the power to live out our role in His story - the same power that raised Christ from the dead!

To do this, we must have eyes to see the resources He has given our community due to the goodness of His Creation that He continues to sustain. Let's name the good gifts that God has given our community. In groups of 4-5 people, take 10 minutes to draw a community map. On it, you’ll draw the good resources in our community.

Come and get your materials and then return to your groups so I can give instructions.

➞ Show sample flip chart with map already drawn and give this description:

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1. On your large paper, draw a simple map of your neighborhood/village - like this one.

2. Identify the good things God created and the good gifts He has given. Choose a specific color to draw and label the resources/good things on the map.

3. You can include different types of resources on your map such as: a. Natural resources: land, trees, rivers, lakes b. Human resources: people’s skills, knowledge, ability to work, good health c. Social resources: government, community organizations, informal associations, networks d. Physical resources: man-made structures such as buildings homes, wells, latrines e. Economic resources: money, savings, grain stores, livestock, tools, and equipment f. Spiritual resources: churches, ministries, places of prayer, sacred places Because the Fall of God’s creation has also affected our community, we’ll also identify what is broken around us.

5.

The Fall is when sin damaged every aspect of God's good creation and broke all of our relationships. When the Fall happened, sin twisted God’s good creation by bringing brokenness to people, the environment, families, farms, governments, businesses, and organizations. In your groups, take 5 minutes to identify the broken things in your neighborhood/village. Using a different color, draw all the broken things or issues on the map.

Let’s give each group group.

6.

2 minutes to share the key points of their map with the larger

In the large group, let’s summarize for 2 minutes: ● ●

What are our most powerful resources?

What are the toughest issues in our area?

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7.

Before we meet again, each group should go out to look and listen in your community.

Consider what other good and broken things you see in your community. Take turns showing your map to several neighbors and/or community leaders. Ask them to name what they see in the village or neighborhood that is good and ask them to name what is broken.

Each person in your group should talk to at least 1 other person in the community. Listen for new things that might surprise you!

Add any new things they mention or things you see to your map.

Remember, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you, God’s people, who are His body! King Jesus goes with you by His Spirit, giving you the power to be His hands and feet in the world.

8.

Let’s close in prayer, asking the Lord to help us live out our role in His big story.

God, give us eyes to see our community the way you do and to where You are already at work among us. Help us to remember the great power you have over the forces of evil, and remind us that Your resurrection power is also at work in us. Show us how to listen to our community well. Thank you for your redeeming love. In Jesus’ name, amen.

In our next meeting, we’ll choose the issue our group will work on to show Christ’s love to our community. We’ll see you then!

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PART B: LISTEN

Name Community Resources and Brokenness PART SUMMARY: The group will reflect on the community’s resources and brokenness through the first step of the creative process: Listen!

By the end of this part, we will have: ● ● ● ● ●

Roleplayed the significance of relationship with oneself Shared feedback from the community about our maps Distinguished between symptoms, problem, and root causes using the Issue Tree Agreed on an issue that we will address in our own community Planned and practiced asking leaders and neighbors about the issue chosen

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LESSON 3:

Name Community Resources and Issues TIME: 45 minutes

Preparation and materials needed for lessons 3-4: ● ● ● ● ●

1.

Flipchart: God’s Big Story Timeline (from previous lesson) Flipchart: Example Issue Tree Issue Tree materials: flipchart sheets of paper for each group Writing utensils Tape and Markers

Welcome back everyone! Let’s start with a word of prayer before we dig into what we learned last week!

➞ Ask a member of the group to pray for the group and the lesson.

2.

Who can remember our group guidelines for interacting together?

Thank you for sharing!

Who can share a description of the three parts of God’s big story?

Thank you for sharing!

Who can share about the 4 relationships and what each of them signifies?

Thank you for sharing!

Let’s all stand up and do the hand motions of the 4 relationships. As we do each motion, let’s also say this chant: God: Delight in His love and truth!

Oneself: I am made in His image!

Others: Put each other first!

Creation: Protect and develop His world!

Thank you so much for your enthusiastic participation!

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Today, we’ll further examine the gifts that God has placed in our community as part of His good creation and plan for how we can use them to live out our role in God’s story. We will talk about how to listen for God’s story in our community in order to see how we can live out our role as His body. I’ll point to the chart and review each part of the story. ●

Creation: We can look for all the good things in the world that God originally created (trees, animals, people) and that He has helped people to make (houses, machines, even organizations).

●

Fall: We can look for the ways that the Fall has distorted God’s good creation by bringing brokenness to people, the environment, and organizations.

●

Redemption: We can look for ways in which King Jesus is already bringing healing and fixing things that are broken.

➞ Refer back to God’s Big Story timeline.

To refresh our memories, let’s talk more about the relationship to oneself. Show me that hand motion one more time for relationship to oneself!

3.

Listen to this story about a girl named Nadege: Nadege is a 10-year-old girl. She does not like to go to school, and when she does attend she pays very little attention. One day, the teacher asked the children to come up with ideas for making their school a better place for learning. Many children shared ideas, but Nadege offers nothing. The teacher asks Nadege, “Why are you not giving any ideas?”

Nadege replies, “What is the point? My people have never amounted to anything. We are cursed and I am only a girl. I am the lowest in my tribe. No one would listen to my ideas anyway.”

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In pairs, discuss the following question for in the large group.

2 minutes, then we will share our thoughts

How does Nadege understand who she is?

➞ Make sure to highlight that Nadege sees herself as inferior, incapable, and unable to accomplish much in life.

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4.

Let’s read two verses from the Bible that will help us better understand how we should think about ourselves.

“So God created human beings in his own likeness.

He created them to be like himself.

He created them as male and female.” (Genesis 1:27) “You have made them a little lower than the angels.

You placed on them a crown of glory and honor.

You made human beings rule over everything your hands created.

You put everything under their control.” (Psalm 8:5-6) Let’s take

3 minutes in the large group to discuss the following question.

How does the Bible describe who human beings are?

➞ Make sure to highlight that human beings are made in the image of God, full of honor and dignity, and rulers over God’s creation.

5.

Gather into 3 small groups.

➞ Depending on how well the groups know or don't know each other, consider making this small group different from the community map small group.

In small groups, you have 3 minutes to create a roleplay of what Nadege’s teacher could tell her. Act out how Nadege’s behavior in school might change if she felt dignity as God’s image bearer. Then we will share each roleplay with the larger group.

➞ Highlight how the way of the world says that human beings are inferior and unable to make changes in life or in the world, but the God of the Bible says that human beings have dignity as His image bearers and can make positive changes in their own lives.

Great roleplays! Let’s applaud!

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6.

Now we are going to return to our community maps groups and share the input we heard from our neighbors. Remember, we are using these maps to recognize the good gifts God has given to us in Creation and also to see how the Fall has broken our communities, too.

You have 2 minutes to gather with your community map small group. Choose one person to be the spokesperson for your group to present to the larger group what you saw and heard from your neighbors. In

1 minute, tell us:

What did you add to your community map after further observation and listening to neighbors and community leaders?

Good work! Now that each group has shared, let’s take 2 minutes to discuss in our small groups how we might update our maps according to what we've reflected on today.

What important resources or issues might you need to add?

➞ Make sure the timeline of God’s Big Story and the Issue Tree drawing are visible for the next activity.

Let’s keep learning how to use this creative process to work toward the goal of seeing relationships improved in our community.

7.

As you remember, the Fall is when sin damaged every aspect of God's good creation and broke all of our relationships.

➞ Refer back God’s Story timeline.

We’re going to look at how the Fall has impacted problems in our community by examining the Issue Tree.

Let’s start at the top of the tree. The symptoms of any problem are usually the easiest to see. These make up the leaves and branches of the tree. The trunk of the tree is the problem we want to solve. Sometimes it takes time to determine which problem we are trying to address, as there can be many. At the bottom of the tree are the deeper root causes of that particular problem. For example: Let’s imagine a community where trash is covering the schoolyard of the elementary school.

➞ To get at the whole picture, identify who (school children & teachers) is affected, where they are affected (at the schoolyard), and how they are affected (by trash).

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What are the symptoms of this issue?

➞ Highlight that the symptoms could include: trash all over the schoolyard, school workers burning trash every week, kids throwing trash on the ground, health/breathing problems, etc.

After you identify the symptoms, you can often uncover the problem and then the root causes by repeatedly asking the question: but, why?

But why is there trash in the schoolyard? What is the problem, the trunk?

➞ Highlight that the problem could be: school children and teachers have nowhere but the ground to put their trash; no one takes responsibility But why is there nowhere to put the trash? Why does no one take responsibility? What are the root causes?

➞ Highlight root causes could be: a lack of concern about the damaging effects of uncontained/burning trash, lack of resources for trash cans, unreliable public sanitation services Root causes can be difficult to identify and address, as they always contain deep spiritual or systemic elements. Since the Fall, three causes of all the brokenness we see plague us: people’s individual sins, a broken world (natural disasters, abusive leaders, unjust laws), and demonic powers.

How might personal sins, a broken world, and/or demonic powers be at work in the root causes of this example? ● ● ●

Personal Sin: Lack of concern for taking care of God’s world; lack of concern the damaging effects of uncontained/burning trash has on others.

Broken World: Unreliable public sanitation services.

Demonic Forces: Satan distracting people from taking care of God’s world.

So, to summarize: Trash burning and littering the schoolyard might be symptoms.

No personal responsibility or trash cans available are the problem(s).

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Lack of concern for others about the damaging effects of uncontained/burning trash, unreliable public sanitation services, or Satan distracting people from taking care of God’s world might be root causes.

What questions do you have?

To bring lasting change, we always want to address the problem at its roots as much as possible. For example, if we were to just organize a day to pick up the trash, the problem will return. To prevent it from happening again, we could teach people to love God and others, and/or to reform unreliable public sanitation services. The closer your solution gets to root causes, the more sustainable it becomes.

➞ If time is limited to 45 minutes, end the meeting now with prayer and tell participants you’ll open the next meeting by examining the Issue Tree in greater detail.

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LESSON 4:

Name Community Resources and Issues, continued TIME: 45 minutes

➞ If you’re starting a new meeting here, open with a quick review of God’s Big Story timeline.

1.

To think more deeply about the Issue Tree, let’s listen to a story about a group just like us working to see the 4 relationships restored in their community. As you listen, think: ● ● ●

What are the symptoms of the problem?

What is the problem?

What are the root issues of the problem?

A Church in Asia Shows Love One church in Asia decided to promote restored relationships in their community by building coffins for those who died in road accidents. Then, they buried the bodies for the families. Many local families were scared to touch the bodies because of evil spirits that they believed were with people killed in accidents. Although they were afraid to bury the bodies, the families were also grieved that their loved ones would not be buried properly.

Local Christians knew that King Jesus was more powerful than evil spirits. After prayer and fasting, the Christians decided to show love by going to get the bodies and burying the family members of non-Christians in proper coffins. These Christians also organized funeral services where they mourned with the local families, telling and showing the community how the saving love of Jesus was more powerful than any evil spirit.

In pairs, take 2 minutes to summarize the symptoms, the problem, and root causes.

Then, we’ll hear a few summaries in the large group.

➞ Keep the summaries brief!

Symptoms: Bodies of people killed in accidents were left unburied Problems: Community families within region were afraid to bury their dead Root Causes: A belief in evil spirits that caused people to fear How else might personal sin, the broken world, and/or demonic powers be at work in the root causes of this example?

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Great work! I hope this helped in identifying symptoms, problems, and root causes!

Remember, to bring lasting change, we always want to address the problem at its roots as much as possible. These Christians told and showed the families and community that the saving love of Jesus was more powerful than any evil forces, addressing the root causes of the problem. Keep that in mind as we develop plans for our own community.

2.

Next, we need to choose an issue that we will work on in our own community. For this activity, please get back into your community map groups.

You have 3 minutes for your group to examine your map and agree on a topic you think we might work on first. Think together: what is the most pressing issue in our community? ● ● ●

First, each person in your group should say what they think is the first issue we should work on.

Second, decide which issue your small group will propose to the larger group.

Third, circle this chosen idea on your community map.

Now, we have on first. ● ●

3.

5 minutes for the whole group to agree on which issue we should work

Each group should show the issue they recommend as circled on the map. Describe it in 2-3 sentences.

After each group has presented, we’ll choose one issue that our group will address.

Great thought and collaboration here! We have chosen to address the issue of [fill in your issue]. Now that we have chosen this, we need to ask others in our community about this issue. We’ll ask questions like: ● ● ●

4.

How does this issue affect your life?

How have you seen people creatively solve problems related to this issue?

What would you like someone to do about this issue?

We will now practice asking our neighbors questions about this issue. Please get in pairs and take answer.

4 minutes to ask each other these questions about the issue and listen to the

Before we meet again, each of you should talk to at least 2 other people in the community about this issue and ask them these questions. Remember how they respond so you can share it with us next time!

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Although the Fall has damaged every community, Jesus is bringing all things back to the way God meant for them to be when he created the world. What a joy to have His resurrection power, to be His hands and feet in the world! If you feel the joy of Christ Jesus in this, raise your hand and call out: hallelujah!

5.

Let’s close in prayer, asking the Lord to help us as we listen to people in our community.

King Jesus, Thank you for making us Your body. We see the good in your Creation and the needs suffered because of the Fall. We trust that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead gives us the power to be Your hands and feet in the world. Give us the courage and faith to live this out among our friends and neighbors. Amen.

In our next meeting, we’ll talk about the feedback we heard on our issue. Have a great week!

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PART C: MAKE

Brainstorming Ideas and Making a Prototype PART SUMMARY: The group will brainstorm ideas and create a roleplay of how they can help their community by addressing their chosen issue so that relationships are improved (in 2-4 hours with little or no money). This is part of the second step of the process: Make!

By the end of this part, we will have: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Roleplayed the significance of our relationship to others Analyzed symptoms, problem, and root causes of our chosen issue Practiced creating challenge questions to address our issue Brainstormed and ranked ideas for addressing our issue in the community Created a roleplay prototype of our idea for action Planned to share the roleplay with leaders and neighbors in the community

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LESSON 5:

Brainstorm Ideas and Create a Prototype TIME: 45 minutes

Preparation and materials needed for this lesson: ● ● ● ● ●

Flipchart papers for participants to draw and label Issue Tree during the session Flipchart: Challenge Question (drawn in advance, see the activity under Point 7 below) Flipchart: Brainstorm (see the activity in Lesson 6, Point 2) 2 seeds, beans, or stones for each participant (see the activity in Lesson 6, Point 3) Tape and markers

Welcome back everyone! Who can pray for us today?

Thank you for praying!

1.

Before we begin, who can remember our group guidelines for interacting together?

Thank you for sharing!

Today, we’ll explore the third part in God's story—Redemption! This began when King Jesus came to earth and it will be fulfilled when He comes again to finish His work and make everything new!

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➞ Briefly review all 3 parts of God’s Big Story.

As we learn more about our role in this story, let’s review the 4 key relationships that Jesus is restoring. Let’s all stand up and do the hand motions for these 4 relationships. As we do each motion, let’s also say the chant: God: Delight in His love and truth!

Oneself: I am made in His image!

Others: Put each other first!

Creation: Care for His world!

Thank you so much for your enthusiastic participation!

2.

Let’s think specifically for a moment about the relationship with others. Listen to this story about Reine: Reine sells fish to support her family. Sometimes the fish are bad and could make the customers sick. But the customers cannot tell the difference between good and bad fish. So Reine decides to sell the good fish to customers from her tribe and the bad fish to customers who are from a different tribe.

In pairs, discuss the following question for in the large group.

3 minutes, then we will share our thoughts

How do people in our community view people who are not from our family, group, or tribe?

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➞ Make sure to highlight that human beings can sometimes see people from outside their own community as threatening or bad.

3.

Let’s read two verses from the Bible that will help us better understand how we should think about others. These are the words of Jesus:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength and with all your mind, and, Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” (Luke 10:27) “Love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you.” (Matthew 5:44) Let’s take

2 minutes in the large group to discuss the following question:

According to the Bible, how should we treat others?

➞ Make sure to highlight that God loves all people, so we should as well, including our enemies.

4.

Can I get five volunteers to prepare a roleplay on what Reine could do differently with the bad fish. Actors have group.

3 minutes and then they’ll share their roleplay with the large

➞ Highlight how in the way of the world, outsiders are sometimes viewed as potential threats or looked down upon, but Jesus says we should love all people, even our enemies.

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What a great roleplay! Let’s call to mind the third part of God’s story--Redemption.

5.

As agents of Christ’s redemption, we’re now going to think about ways to address the brokenness in our community. While King Jesus rules over all things right now, the redemption of His kingdom is not yet fully complete, so He has given us an important role in telling and showing our communities that He is King.

➞ Make sure the “Issue Tree” Flipchart is available for this part of the lesson.

The second part of this creative process is: Make! So here are our next steps: 1. We’ll make an Issue Tree for the issue we talked to our community about.

2. Then, we’ll brainstorm practical ideas for how to help our community experience restored relationships.

3. Finally, after we decide on the idea we want to try, we’ll create a roleplay of our idea to show to our community.

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6.

Review the Issue Tree that we looked at during our last meeting. Who can name the parts of the Issue Tree? Who can remind us what our chosen issue is?

Recently, you went out to ask others in your community about our issue. You asked them questions like: ● How does this issue affect your life? ● How have you seen people creatively solve problems related to this issue? ● What would you like someone to do about this issue?

Call to mind what they thought of the issue and how they said people have tried to solve it.

Together, let’s write out an Issue Tree using the feedback you received from your neighbors.

We’ll take 10 minutes to think about the symptoms, problems, and root causes. Don’t be concerned with finding the “right” ones - let’s just explore what comes to mind and do our best to identify the symptoms, problems, and root causes surrounding our issue.

Well done! Thank you all for sharing!

7.

The next step in the creative process is to form a challenge question using our findings from the Issue Tree. Let me show you how.

➞ Show the Challenge Question flip chart here.

(WHO) the user How might we help How might we help

our community

(WHAT) the issue

(WHY) SO THAT

with

so that the 4 relationships improve

with

so that the 4 relationships improve

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Here is the basic format for creating challenge questions.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Start with “How might we help...”

WHO: Add the person or group you want to serve.

Follow using “with.”

WHAT: Choose the issue you’ll address.

SO THAT: Name a goal for the idea. For our question, we want to see the 4 key relationships improve.

Create questions that open us up to several potential solutions, not ones that already have the solution built into it.

For example: DO NOT USE: How might we help our community with growing pineapples? (There is no solution except pineapples.)

DO USE: How might we help our community with the profits from their farms? (There are many potential solutions to explore.)

8.

For our first round, we’ll use the question as written in line 1 on the flipchart: how might we help our community with ________________ so that the 4 relationships improve? Knowing this, how should we complete our question, putting our issue in the blank?

Great job in creating your challenge question. So you know for the future, any challenge question you create can be put through the entire creative process! For this first round of learning, we want our question to help us move toward a solution that will: ● ● ●

Focus on our community Show the love of Christ Use only 2-4 hours and little-to-no money

The next step will be to think up some practical ideas that answer this question: how might we help our community with __________________________________________________ so that relationships are improved (in 2-4 hours using little-to-no money)?

➞ If time is limited to 45 minutes, end the meeting now with prayer and remind participants you’ll open the next meeting by creating ideas for action.

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LESSON 6:

Brainstorm Ideas and Create a Prototype, continued TIME: 45 minutes

➞ If you’re starting a new meeting here, open with a quick review of the God’s Big Story timeline before the activity under Point 1 below.

1.

Now, we’re now going to brainstorm practical ideas for how we might help our community to see the 4 relationships improve. As we prepare, close your eyes. Think about the symptoms, problems, and root causes of our issue….now, imagine the members of your community seeing these issues improve. Envision them with smiles on their faces, showing great delight. Relax for 1-minute and dream. In silence, imagine God’s kingdom fully here and his redemption complete.

➞ Make sure participants close their eyes and answer the following questions to themselves. ● ● ●

What might you see and hear in our community when Jesus restores the root causes of these problems?

What might our community feel if Christ’s kingdom were suddenly made full on earth today? What might they know?

What can we do to make our community delight in that kingdom right now?

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2.

May these dreams come true for us in Jesus name! Now, we are going to take

10

minutes to brainstorm some practical ideas based on our Issue Tree and challenge question.

Our question to keep in mind is: how might we help our community with _________________________ so that the 4 relationships improve? Let’s think of practical things we might do. Remember, the lower you go on the Issue Tree toward root causes, the more lasting your solution can be—but also, the more difficult to address. Hold this tension in mind!

As we brainstorm, there should be no judgement here. The beautiful thing about brainstorming is that there are no right or wrong ideas at this point. We’re still just dreaming!

Divide into two groups and form two large circles. One group will be the outer circle, and the other will be the inner circle, facing each other. The inner circle will rotate to the right, and the outer circle to the left until I say ‘stop!’. After you stop, you’ll share an idea with the person in front of you from the other circle about a practical idea that uses little time and money that we could do in our community to address our issue of ___________________________ and see the 4 relationships improve. I encourage you to also share ideas you’ve never seen - not just copy what already exists. Imagine something new that would delight your community!

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Ready? Rotate!

➞ Rotate and stop 5 times so that lots of different ideas can be shared. Allow each pair to talk for 1 minute. Affirm the ideas you hear, but encourage new and creative ideas.

➞ Hang Brainstorm flipchart as participants rotate and share ideas.

Great job in sharing your ideas! Let’s hear about them. What were some of the best ideas you shared and heard that would bring delight to your community members and promote improved relationships? Call them out and I’ll list each one on the flipchart.

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➞ To prompt more ideas, use this probing question: What else could we do to address this issue and improve relationships with God, oneself, others, or creation?

Wow thank you all for sharing all of these great ideas!

3.

Now we need to agree on which of these ideas we will actually test in our community. We are going to take 5 minutes to choose the idea we will try together. Remember, the idea we choose to test should: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Clearly address our issue Bring delight to the community Promote restoration of relationships Use your God-given creativity Take 2-4 hours with little-to-no money

I’m going to place this list of ideas on the ground in the middle of our group. I’m also giving each of you 2 seeds or stones which are your 2 votes. You can place your votes next to the idea you like best. Both votes can go to the same idea, or to two different ideas you like. It’s your choice!

Let’s agree and dialogue about our results.

The idea we have chosen to test is [what your group decided to address].

Wow, we have come a long way together! Give yourselves a round of applause for choosing an action to take as a group to help our community to improve relationships with God, oneself, others, and the creation.

4.

For our next activity today, we are going to create a prototype of our chosen idea! A prototype is a simple model or explanation of an idea. To make one, you can create a roleplay, make a physical model, draw a picture, or tell a story. Let’s try it by roleplaying our prototype— where we act out this idea we’ve chosen for how we are going to help our community.

Let’s take

2 minutes to discuss:

Why do you think it will help us to test our idea if we have a roleplay first?

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➞ Highlight how roleplays can help us understand an idea better, imagine what supplies are needed, discover potential problems with the idea, explore how people might respond, give us space to improve or change our idea before trying it out in the community.

As a large group, let’s consider how we can roleplay our idea by [fill in what your group decided upon here]. Let’s quickly choose 2 leaders who will help assign roles and guide us as we take

15 minutes to plan out our roleplay.

As you plan your roleplay, think about our community members and their current challenges surrounding the issue of [what your group decided to address]. As you plan, consider: ● ● ●

Key steps. Imagine 4-5 steps it would take for them to move from where they are now to a better state or solution.

Assign roles. Members can roleplay as people, but some can also roleplay as objects like a river, bucket, school, or a house.

Start and end. To make the point clear, the group should clearly decide how the roleplay will begin and finish.

Alright, time is up! Now it’s time to act out our roleplay!

Wow, that was amazing. Thank you all so much for your participation!

5.

Let’s take about

5 minutes to discuss the following questions:

1. What new ideas or learning did the roleplay provide?

2. What might we need to improve or change before we go into the community to share this roleplay?

Before we meet again, our group will share this same roleplay with members of the community. Roleplay leaders, please come up front and lead us in creating a plan for how we are going to share this with leaders and neighbors in our community.

Let’s take

3 minutes to decide:

1. Who will we share it with?

2. When and where will we share this?

3. Who from our group (choose two people) that aren’t in the roleplay can write down the feedback from the community? We will call them our scribes.

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The scribes should record these two questions: 1. What brought people delight about the idea?

2. What did people want to change?

Taking this roleplay into the community could be challenging. People might be skeptical or confused; and this can affect your confidence, too. This creative process can be tough at first, for it requires us to believe that God can use us to make this world look a little bit more like His kingdom. And, it requires us to imagine the restoration of His kingdom that we haven’t fully seen yet. Ultimately, this requires faith.

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6.

Let’s close in prayer, asking the Lord to give us confidence and curiosity as we go out into the community and get feedback on our idea:

We praise you, O Jesus, that we are not alone in this work—that You are the One who is doing it. Help us to trust Your work even when it feels long and slow to us. Give us faith and courage as we seek to fulfill our role in Your story. Give us confidence as we share our roleplay in the community. We pray for the restoration of Your kingdom to fully come and heal our relationships with You, ourselves, others, and the rest of creation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

In our next meeting, we’ll discuss the feedback you’ve collected about the roleplay so we can revise our idea. See you soon!

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PART D: TEST

Revising and Carrying Out the Prototype PART SUMMARY: The group will improve their idea and plan to go out into the community to make it happen as part of the third step of the creative process: Test!

By the end of this part, we will have: ● ● ● ●

Imagined the relationship to creation restored in our own community Shared prototype feedback from our community and revised our chosen idea Reviewed the resources recorded on our community maps Developed a plan to test our idea in the community

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LESSON 7:

Revise and Carry Out our Idea TIME: 45 minutes

Preparation and materials needed for this lesson: ● ● ● ●

Note that Part D has only 1 lesson (45 minutes) Flipchart: Roleplay Feedback (see the activity under Point 5 below) Flipchart: Carry Out The Idea (see the activity under Point 8 below) Tape and markers

Welcome back, everyone!

1.

To begin, who can remember our group guidelines for interacting together?

Thank you for sharing!

As we start, let’s review the 4 relationships. Stand up and let’s do the hand motions for the 4 relationships! As we do each motion, let’s also chant: God: Delight in His love and truth!

Oneself: I am made in His image!

Others: Put each other first!

Creation: Protect and develop His world!

Great memory!

2.

Let’s start today by thinking more about our relationship with creation. Listen to this true story about Pastor John.

The children in a village were malnourished. Pastor John visited the community and noticed that the villagers were not using adequate storage for their crops. As a result, rats were eating the harvest, so there was not enough food to feed the children. Pastor John asked the men in the village, “Who is smarter, you or the rats? Are you in charge of the rats,

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or are the rats in charge of you?” The men responded, “Nobody is in charge of anything. We and the rats just live together.”

Before we read the rest of the story, let’s read a verse from the Bible.

“God blessed them. He said to them, ‘Have children so that there will be many of you. Fill the earth and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the seas and the birds in the sky. Rule over every living creature that moves along the ground.’” (Genesis 1:28) If you were Pastor John, what would you say to the men in that village?

➞ Make sure to highlight that God has made humans to care for and develop His creation. The men are responsible to store the crops properly to prevent the rats from eating them.

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3.

Let’s hear what Pastor John does in the rest of the story.

Pastor John explained to the men in the village the human beings are created to be in charge of God’s creation, caring for and developing it to bring glory and honor to him. As the men in the village began to understand this, they got creative. Many new things happened in the village: they built better storage facilities for their crops; they put their children in school so that they could prepare to be good workers; the women learned to read; and the men adopted better farming techniques.

4.

In pairs, discuss the following questions for

3 minutes, then we will share our thoughts

in the large group.

In what ways does our community manage our resources well? In what ways could our community manage our resources better?

➞ Draw out the idea that the world says that humans are no different from the rest of creation, so we have no right to change or disturb it. In contrast, Jesus teaches that humans are unique caregivers who develop the creation for God’s glory.

Great thoughts!

To live out our role in God’s story, we have to get creative. In the final part of God’s story--Redemption--we don't always know exactly how to live out our part until he comes again and makes redemption complete. So, we have to try things out, see what works and what doesn't, and then improve on them.

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5.

The third and final step in the creative process is Test. Last time we met we created a roleplay to share with our community. Let’s take 5 minutes as a large group to hear what you learned from the community. Let’s have the scribes come and present what they observed and heard. As they talk, I will list the main points:

➞ Utilize the flip chart entitled “Roleplay Feedback.”

It should look something like this: What brought people delight about the idea?

6.

What did people want to change?

This is excellent feedback. As you see, asking our community to engage in a sample of the idea through roleplay can be a powerful way to learn before we actually perform the solution. Let’s reflect on this further: ●

What did we learn from roleplaying in our community and getting feedback prior to carrying out our idea?

Great thoughts. We need to listen carefully to the community, but then, always evaluate their feedback in light of God’s big story of redemption. Calling to mind our discussions of this, let’s reflect: ● ● ●

7.

How do the community’s suggestions help to improve relationships with God, oneself, others, and creation?

How might any of the community’s suggestions do harm to any of the four relationships?

How should we update or change our solution to ensure it better honors the community’s desires, but most importantly, aligns with God’s big story of redemption?

Now we need to plan how we are going to carry out our idea in the community! Before we do, let’s re-examine our community maps. What resources has God given to us in our community? How can we best use our gifts to help our community experience restored relationships through our idea?

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8.

In the large group we are going to take about

15 minutes to plan how we will carry out

our idea. Remember, the question we are trying to answer is: How might we help our community with __________________________________ (issue) so that relationships are improved (in 2-4 hours with little or no money)? To plan thoroughly, we’ll: ● ● ● ● ●

Write down a one-sentence description of our idea List out any supplies we might need Record when, where, and with whom we’ll carry out the idea Name the steps we’ll follow to carry out our idea; and Elect several leaders who will ensure the idea is carried out thoroughly

Everyone should participate! Raise your hand if you have something to share. Remember, we will always encourage ideas not discourage ideas.

➞ Use the flip chart entitled “Carry Out The Idea.” It should look like this: How might we help our community with _______________________________________ (issue) so that the 4 relationships improve (in 2-4 hours with little or no money)?

Supplies we’ll need:

Our idea is:

When:

The steps we will follow to do this are: 1.

Where: 2.

With whom:

3.

4.

Who will play what role: ● Project leader: ● Promoter: ● Prayer leader: ● Scribe ● Tool/Supply leader:

5.

6.

7.

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Project leader: secures any necessary permissions and keeps momentum going Promoter: gets people to come interact with the test, seeking community engagement Prayer leader: covers the idea in prayer and calls the group to do so throughout Scribe: collects feedback and takes pictures, always looking at how the community responds Tool/Supply leader: ensures that all needed tools and supplies are available for action Your plan for carrying out this idea looks wonderful. Now, it’s time to go out and actually do it! I can’t wait to hear how it goes when we meet again!

You’ve all done really well using this creative process to generate an idea for action! May the Lord give us all the faith to believe that He can use us to make this world look a little bit more like His kingdom. Even though we haven’t seen His full restoration in our community, we trust that He is bringing it about and using us as part of His big story.

9.

Let’s close in prayer, asking the Lord to be with us as we go out into our community and take action. I send you out with this prayer that God would give you courage and faith.

➞ Facilitator can also elaborate with Scripture and song, creating a powerful sendoff.

Father God, give us faith that You can use us to make this world look a little bit more like the kingdom you have set up. May we be faithful in small ways to share Your love in our community. Make Your restoration of all the relationships in our community complete, O Lord, and use us as your agents to bring it about as You see fit. For the glory of Your Name, we ask. Amen.

In our next meeting, we’ll discuss how carrying out your idea went! I can’t wait to hear about your experience.

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PART E: REFLECT

Evaluating the Process and Proposing New Issues PART SUMMARY: The group will reflect on the idea they carried out and propose new issues, deciding how they might repeat the creative process again together to continue problem solving.

By the end of this part, we will have: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Reviewed distinct goals for 4 key relationships in the biblical perspective Examined feedback from the community about the solution we carried out Reflected on how well our solution worked and what we might improve Considered new issues we could address in our personal life and as a group Decided how/if this group will repeat this creative process again Evaluated each step of the creative process

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LESSON 8:

Evaluate the Process and Propose New Issues TIME: 45 minutes

Preparation and materials needed for lessons 8-9: ● ● ●

Flipchart: New Issues Small sheets of paper or sticky notes Tape

Hello! I am excited to hear how carrying out your idea went! Who can pray for us before we get started?

Thank you for praying!

1.

Today we'll debrief the idea we carried out. I can’t wait to hear what you’ve learned! We’ll also imagine how we could repeat this process again, playing out our roles to creatively show that Christ is rebuilding all of creation as part of God’s big story.

Before we begin, let’s review the 4 key relationships. God created human beings to live in 4 right relationships—with God, oneself, others and the rest of creation—but the Fall distorted all of them. When God created us, he intended for all 4 of these relationships to be healthy and working properly.

Who can stand up and remind us of the hand motions of the 4 relationships?

Great job! Now let’s all do it together. As we do each, let’s also chant: God: Delight in His love and truth!

Oneself: I am made in His image!

Others: Put each other first!

Creation: Protect and develop His world!

2.

If we are to be the representatives of King Jesus, we must remember how the 4 key relationships are broken and work toward seeing them restored to the way Jesus intended.

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Let’s review some of the differences between goals for human relationships in the way of the world versus the way of Jesus. If we know these well, we can better understand our role in God’s big story.

1. Relationship to God: Who can retell the story of Kossi, the man with the shoe repair business? Share what you remember.

2. Relationship to oneself: Who can retell the story of Nadege, the girl in school?

Share what you remember.

3. Relationship to Others: Who can retell the story of Reine, the woman selling fish?

Share what you remember.

4. Relationship to Creation: Who can retell the story of Pastor John, the village men and the rats eating grain stores? Share what you remember.

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➞ For each relationship, the facilitator should elaborate on key points from the chart below.

The Way of the World

The Way of Jesus

Relationship with God

People live in fear of spirits and try to control them

People are meant to enjoy the love of God and seek to obey Him

Relationship with Self

People are of little value, no different than animals

All people carry the image of God and have great dignity and worth

Relationship with Others

Other people are a possible threat or worth less than my people

Other people are to be loved and served the way we love and serve ourselves

Relationship with Rest of Creation

People have no right to upset or change creation

People are God’s caretakers who guard and develop creation for Him

Thank you so much for your enthusiastic participation! The Bible tells us that we as human beings become like the things we worship (Psalm 115, 135). Only by worshipping Jesus and following in His way can we live out our role in God’s story. Our worship must not be with only words and songs, but in the way we turn our whole lives toward following Him.

3.

To start, let’s take

5 minutes as a large group and discuss the feedback you received

from the community. Let’s have the scribes come and present what you all observed and heard. They’ll share what people liked and what they’d change. Tell us: ● ●

What brought people delight about the idea?

What did people want to change?

These are great observations! Your idea has officially become a solution! Now let’s think about how we could make this solution better. With this creative process, you can always learn more and improve the solution. For example, we could: 84

● ● ● ● ● ●

Change our solution because of what someone said Adjust our solution to better improve the 4 key relationships Find ways to use less resources in our solution Find ways to bring more delight to people with the solution Look for ways to bring more glory to God with the solution Keep watching as people use the solution to keep improving it

In the large group, share: what are ways you can think of to improve our solution?

4.

Those are great suggestions! To faithfully live out our role in God’s big story, we must learn to watch and listen carefully to what He is doing in our community. Pausing to debrief and pay attention to how people responded to our solution can help us to improve it and more carefully align it with God’s work of redemption. Together: ● ●

Think back to the Issue Tree. Did our solution address the problems and root causes—or only symptoms? Why? Discuss: How well did our solution help the community experience restoration of the 4 key relationships? Which of the relationships did you see improve?

We’ll reflect on and talk about each of these questions for

5.

5 minutes.

These are great reflections! As you know, living into God's story is ongoing. As we use the creative process, we’ll keep discovering how we fit into this unfolding story of Creation, Fall, and Redemption that God is telling. To keep living out our roles as God's representatives, let's look at an example of how we can do this in other areas of our lives.

Listen to a story about Regina—a woman who went through the creative process with a group from her church: After using the creative process with her group to repair a bridge in her neighborhood, many people were able to get their goods to the market quicker and easier. People Regina didn’t even know were kind and thankful to the group after that. Seeing this got her thinking. If my church group can do this to solve issues in the community, then my family could too! she realized.

In the rainy season, Regina and her next door neighbor often quarrel as the water diverted from their roofs causes flooding on each other’s land. This year, she wanted it to be different. Regina and her husband talked to the neighbors before the rainy season - and to many others in the community. They asked everyone what they did to manage flooding.

They came up with the idea to create a rain pond to capture runoff. They showed the plans to friends and neighbors, and some even volunteered to come help dig it.

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Just before the rains came, they finished the pond. As the water pooled, they filled the pond with water vegetables and created a rain garden which also provided extra food. The next door neighbors were skeptical at first, but when the flooding decreased and the vegetables grew, they asked Regina’s family to help them design one, too.

What steps is Regina taking to use the creative process in her home and work?

Great thoughts! Remember, you can repeat the process anytime - next week, or in a year!

You can also use it anywhere — even adapting and repeating it outside of this group in your homes, churches, business or farms. You could carry out a new idea using more time and/or other resources, or with the same amount of time and resources. God has made you in His image with endless creativity!

6.

In silence, think for

2 minutes about ways you could use this creative process in your

personal life.

Then, we’ll hear from several of you aloud.

➞ If time is limited to 45 minutes, end the meeting now with prayer and tell participants you’ll open the next meeting by discussing new issues from their community maps.

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LESSON 9:

Evaluate the Process and Propose New Issues, continued TIME: 45 minutes

➞ If you’re starting again here, open with a review of God’s Story Timeline.

Now, we are going to imagine how we can repeat the creative process to improve our solution or address a completely new issue in our community.

1.

Let’s think back to our community maps. Call to mind the other issues you circled on the map.

In your community map small groups, take 5 minutes to name 1 other issue in the community that your group is passionate about addressing.

Now let’s take a few minutes to hear the 1 issue each group decided upon. I’ll write each one on the flipchart.

➞ List the issues on the New Issues flipchart.

Thank you for sharing these important issues.

2.

Now, let's imagine how this group could repeat this entire creative process. As you've seen, the process will only get better and more effective as you practice, listen, repeat and sharpen it!

In pairs, brainstorm for 3 minutes: if you could use this creative process again, what might you do? You could select one of the new issues you heard to address - or choose to improve on the solution we've already carried out! This time, instead of just 2-4 hours and little-to-no money, the group can take as much time and resources as are available to you.

Now that we've reflected, let's agree on next steps that the group would like to take.

Our three options for further action are: 1. Use the creative process again to address one of these new issues;

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2. Use the creative process to improve the already existing solution that we’ve tested: [fill in current solution here]; OR 3. Take no further action for now. Watch, pray, and learn from the solution we’ve already done. Gather again at a future date to explore using the creative process again.

Together, let’s choose what next step this group would like to take.

If the group chooses option #1: the facilitator should help the group to agree on which new issue they will address. They will then repeat the LISTEN step by hearing from the community about their new issue. Before meeting again, each person should ask at least 1 person in the community: ● ● ●

How does this issue affect your life?

How have you seen people creatively solve problems related to this issue?

What would you like someone to do about this issue?

The facilitator will then set the time of the next meeting, where the group will go through all of Part F: REPEAT, starting with Lesson 10, to repeat the creative process. This time, the group will create a new challenge question for any user (WHO) they want. Also, instead of only 2-4 hours and little to no money, the group can use whatever time and money is available to them.

If the group chooses option #2: the facilitator should set a time to meet again and go through Part F: REPEAT, skipping to Lesson 11, Point 5. From there, the facilitator will lead the group through a revised plan for carrying out their idea. Start with the question listed and dig deeper: How should we update or change our solution to ensure it better honors the community’s desires, but most importantly, aligns with God’s big story of redemption? This time, instead of only 2-4 hours and little to no money, the group can use whatever time and money is available to them to improve their solution.

If the group chooses option #3: the facilitator should help the group to set a date in the future to revisit the possibilities of doing option #1 or option #2.

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3.

Before we close, let’s now take a few moments to share feedback on the creative process we’ve used to Listen, Make, and Test ideas for improving the 4 relationships in our communities. Remember, our role in God’s story is to lovingly serve others by helping them to experience Christ’s restorative work in all of these relationships.

After each step—Listen, Make, Test—I will ask you to rate how helpful you found this step.

You’ll hold up 1 finger if it was a little helpful, 2 if it was somewhat helpful, and 3 if it was very helpful.

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Listen In this beginning step, we looked at our community and saw evidence of God’s unfolding story: His good creation, the bad effects of the fall, and the redemption that King Jesus is bringing. In this step, we chose an issue to address then developed and asked questions in our community to understand how God’s story is already at work. ● How well did this step in the creative process help you? Hold up 1 finger if it was a little helpful, 2 for somewhat helpful, and 3 for very helpful.

➞ Add up the total number of points for each step. ●

How could I improve this Listen step?

Make We can imagine what Christ’s kingdom looks like and create things that make the kingdom more visible in our community. In this step, we used the Issue Tree, brainstormed and developed an idea and built a roleplay prototype to practice in the community. ● How well did this step in the creative process help you? Hold up 1 finger if it was a little helpful, 2 for somewhat helpful, and 3 for very helpful. ● How could I improve this Make step?

Test To put ideas to action, we do small tests to try out our prototype. Everytime we try it, we can learn how to improve our solution for the next time. Trying and improving solutions quickly helps us get better results faster. In this step, we performed our roleplay in the community, revised our idea, and made a detailed plan for putting it into action in real life. ● How well did this step in the creative process help you? Hold up 1 finger if it was a little helpful, 2 for somewhat helpful, and 3 for very helpful. ● How could I improve this Test step?

Thank you each for sharing your honest thoughts!

4.

Let’s close in prayer together as we seek to keep using the creative process to live out our role in God’s story.

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Thank you, Father, for using each of us to do Your work. In your great kingship over all creation, You have also given us an important role to play in sharing and living out the good news of the gospel of Your kingdom. Give us eyes to see the work You have called us to and may we be faithful to complete it by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

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PART F: REPEAT

Listen, Make, and Test New Solutions PART SUMMARY: The group has chosen a new issue and will generate a new solution. In these 3 lessons, the group will repeat the creative process by: ● ● ●

brainstorming new ideas and creating a roleplay; sharpening their new idea and making a plan to carry it out; and Reflecting on the solution carried out and how to improve/repeat it.

Note: The lessons in Part F cannot be combined because of the action steps in the community that must take place between each lesson.

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LESSON 10:

Create New Ideas and Prototype TIME: 45 minutes

By the end of this lesson, we will have: ● ● ● ●

Analyzed symptoms, problem, and root causes of our new issue Practiced creating a new challenge question to address our issue Brainstormed and ranked ideas for addressing our issue in the community Created and shared a roleplay with the community

Preparation and materials needed for this lesson: ● ● ● ● ●

Flipchart papers for participants to draw and label Issue Tree during the session Flipchart: Challenge Question (drawn in advance, see the activity under Point 4 below) Flipchart: Brainstorm (see the activity under Point 7 below) 2 seeds, beans, or stones for each participant (see the activity under Point 8 below) Tape and markers

Welcome back everyone! I’m excited to think about how we can create new ideas and solutions to see relationships improved in our community!

Who can pray for us today? Thank you for praying!

1.

Before we begin, who can remember our group guidelines for interacting together?

Thank you for sharing!

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Let’s review the 4 key relationships that Jesus is restoring. Let’s all stand up and do the hand motions for these 4 relationships. As we do each motion, let’s also chant: God: Delight in His love and truth!

Oneself: I am made in His image!

Others: Put each other first!

Creation: Care for His world!

Thank you so much for your enthusiastic participation!

Let’s review the parts of God’s story—Creation, Fall, and Redemption!

➞ Briefly review all 3 parts of God’s Big Story.

Let’s call to mind the third part of God’s story--Redemption. This began when King Jesus came to earth and it will be fulfilled when He comes again to finish His work and make everything new!

2.

As agents of Christ’s redemption, we’re now going to keep thinking about ways to address the brokenness in our community. While King Jesus rules over all things right now, the redemption of His kingdom is not yet fully complete, so He has given us an important role in telling and showing our communities that He is King.

➞ Make sure the “Issue Tree” Flipchart is available for this part.

Like last time, we’ll follow the creative process to sharpen our idea. This follows the next step in the process: make!

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During our time together today, we’ll: 1. Make an Issue Tree for the new issue we talked to our community about.

2. Brainstorm practical ideas for how to help our community experience restored relationships.

3. Decide on the idea we want to try and create a roleplay of our idea to show to our community.

3.

Review the Issue Tree that we looked at during our last cycle. Who can name the parts of the Issue Tree?

Recently, you went out to ask others in your community about our new issue of __________________. You asked them questions like: ● ● ●

How does this issue affect your life?

How have you seen people creatively solve problems related to this issue?

What would you like someone to do about this issue?

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Call to mind what they thought of the issue and how they said people have tried to solve it.

Together, let’s write out an Issue Tree using the feedback you received from your neighbors. We’ll take 10 minutes to think about the symptoms, problems, and root causes. Don’t be concerned with finding the “right” ones - let’s just explore what comes to mind and do our best to identify the symptoms, problems, and root causes surrounding our issue.

Well done! Thank you all for sharing!

4.

The next step in the creative process is to form a challenge question using our findings from the Issue Tree. Let’s review how.

➞ Show the Challenge Question flip chart here.

(WHO) the user How might we help

(WHAT) the issue with

(WHY) SO THAT so that the 4 relationships improve

Here is the basic format for creating challenge questions.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Start with “How might we help...”

WHO: Add the person or group you want to serve.

Follow using “with” WHAT: Choose the issue you’ll address.

SO THAT: Name a goal for the idea. For our question, we want to see the 4 key relationships improve.

Create questions that open us up to several potential solutions, not ones that already have the solution built into it.

For example: DO NOT USE: How might we help our community with growing pineapples? (There is no solution except pineapples.)

DO USE: How might we help our community with the profits from their farms? (There are many potential solutions to explore.)

5.

Knowing this, how should we complete our new challenge question, putting our user and issue in the blank?

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Great job in creating our challenge question. As you’ve seen, any challenge question you create can be put through the entire creative process! Now that we have some practice using the creative process, we want our question to help us move toward a solution with practical ideas that answer our challenge question: how might we help ______________________ with _____________________________ so that the 4 relationships improve?

6.

Let’s brainstorm practical ideas for how we might help our community to see the 4 relationships improve. Let’s think of practical things we might do. Remember, the lower you go on the Issue Tree toward root causes, the more lasting your solution can be—but also, the more difficult to address. Hold this tension in mind!

As we brainstorm, there should be no judgement here. The beautiful thing about brainstorming is that there are no right or wrong ideas at this point. We’re still just dreaming!

Form pairs and share your ideas for 2 minutes. When time is up, I’ll say “switch!” and you’ll find a new partner to share ideas for 2 more minutes. We’ll repeat this several times.

Remember, share practical ideas that we could do in our community to address our issue of ________________________ and see the 4 relationships improve. I encourage you to also share ideas you’ve never seen - not just copy what already exists. Imagine something new that would delight your community!

Ready? go!

➞ Repeat 4-5 times so that lots of different ideas can be shared. Allow each pair to talk for 2 minutes. Affirm the ideas you hear, but encourage new and creative ideas. Hang Brainstorm flipchart for use while participants are sharing ideas.

7.

Great job in sharing your ideas! Let’s hear about them. What were some of the best ideas you shared and heard that would bring delight to your community members and promote improved relationships? Call them out and I’ll list each one on the flipchart.

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➞ To prompt more ideas, use this probing question: What else could we do to address this issue and improve relationships with God, oneself, others, or creation?

Wow thank you all for sharing all of these great ideas!

8.

Now we need to agree on which of these ideas we will actually test in our community. We are going to take 5 minutes to choose the idea we will try together. This time, you can use as much time and resources as are available to you. Remember, the idea we choose to test should: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Clearly address our issue Bring delight to the community Promote restoration of relationships Use your God-given creativity

I’m going to place this list of ideas on the ground in the middle of our group. I’m also giving each of you 2 seeds or stones which are your 2 votes. You can place your votes next to the idea you like best. Both votes can go to the same idea, or to two different ideas you like. It’s your choice!

Let’s dialogue about our results and agree on 1 idea.

The idea we have chosen to test is [what your group decided to address].

Give yourselves a round of applause for choosing an action to take as a group to help our community!

9.

For our next activity today, we are going to create another quick prototype of our chosen idea! Remember, a prototype is a simple model or explanation of an idea. To make one, you can create a roleplay, make a physical model, draw a picture, or tell a story. Let’s try it by roleplaying our prototype— where we act out this idea we’ve chosen for how we are going to help our community.

The prototype can help us understand an idea better, imagine what supplies are needed, discover potential problems with the idea, explore how people might respond, and/or give us space to improve or change our idea before trying it out in the community.

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As a large group, let’s consider how we can roleplay our idea by [fill in what your group decided upon here]. Let’s quickly choose 2 leaders who will help assign roles and guide us as we take

5 minutes to plan out our roleplay.

As you plan your roleplay, think about our community members and their current challenges surrounding the issue of [what your group decided to address]. As you plan, consider: ● ● ●

Key steps. Imagine 4-5 steps it would take for them to move from where they are now to a better state or solution.

Assign roles. Members can roleplay as people, but some can also roleplay as objects like a river, bucket, school, or a house.

Start and end. To make the point clear, the group should clearly decide how the roleplay will begin and finish.

Alright, time is up! Now it’s time to act out our roleplay!

Wow, that was amazing! Thank you all so much for your participation!

10.

Let’s take

2 minutes to discuss the following questions:

1. What new ideas or learning did the roleplay provide?

2. What might we need to improve or change before we go into the community to share this roleplay?

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Before we meet again, our group will share this same roleplay with members of the community. Roleplay leaders, please come up front and lead us in creating a plan for how we are going to share this with leaders and neighbors in our community.

Let’s take 2 minutes to decide: 1. Who will we share it with?

2. When and where will we share this?

3. Who from our group that isn't in the roleplay can write down the feedback from the community? We’ll choose 2 people and call them our scribes.

The scribes should record these two questions: 1. What brought people delight about the idea?

2. What did people want to change?

Taking this roleplay into the community could be challenging. People might be skeptical or confused; and this can affect your confidence, too. This creative process can be tough at first, for it requires us to believe that God can use us to make this world look a little bit

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more like His kingdom. And, it requires us to imagine the restoration of His kingdom that we haven’t fully seen yet. Ultimately, this requires faith.

11.

Let’s close in prayer, asking the Lord to give us confidence and curiosity as we go out into the community and get feedback on our idea:

We praise you, O Jesus, that we are not alone in this work––that You are the One who is doing it. Help us to trust Your work even when it feels long and slow to us. Give us faith and courage as we seek to fulfill our role in Your story. Give us confidence as we share our roleplay in the community. We pray for the restoration of Your kingdom to fully come and heal our relationships with You, ourselves, others, and the rest of creation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

In our next meeting, we’ll discuss the feedback you’ve collected about the roleplay so we can revise our idea. See you soon!

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LESSON 11:

Revise and Carry Out the New Idea TIME: 45 minutes

By the end of this lesson, we will have: ● ● ●

Shared feedback from our community and revised our chosen idea Reviewed the resources recorded on our community maps Developed a plan to test our new idea in the community

Preparation and materials needed for this lesson: ● ● ●

Flipchart: Roleplay Feedback (see the activity under Point 2 below) Flipchart: Carry Out The Idea (see the activity under Point 7 below) Tape and markers

Welcome back, everyone!

1.

To begin, who can remember our group guidelines for interacting together?

Thank you for sharing!

As we start, let’s review the 4 relationships. Stand up and let’s do the hand motions for the 4 relationships! As we do each motion, let’s also chant: God: Delight in His love and truth!

Oneself: I am made in His image!

Others: Put each other first!

Creation: Protect and develop His world!

Great memory!

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To live out our role in God’s story, we have to get creative. In the final part of God’s story--Redemption--we don't always know exactly how to live out our part until he comes again and makes redemption complete. So, we have to try things out, see what works and what doesn't, and then improve on them.

2.

Now, we’re now moving back into the third part of the creative process: test!

Last time we met we created a roleplay to share with our community. Let’s take 5 minutes as a large group to debrief the feedback you received. Let’s have the scribes come and present what they observed and heard. As they talk, I will list the main points:

➞ Utilize the flip chart entitled “Roleplay Feedback.”

It should look something like this: What brought people delight about the idea?

What did people want to change?

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3.

This is excellent feedback. As you see, asking our community to engage in a sample of the idea through roleplay can be a powerful way to learn before we actually perform the solution. Let’s reflect on this further: ●

4.

What did we learn from roleplaying in our community and getting feedback prior to carrying out our idea?

Great thoughts. We need to listen carefully to the community, but then, always evaluate their feedback in light of God’s big story of redemption. Calling to mind our discussions of this, let’s discuss together aloud: ● ●

5.

How did the community’s suggestions help to improve relationships with God, oneself, others, and creation?

How might any of the community’s suggestions do harm to any of the four relationships?

Considering this important conversation, take

1 minute in silence to reflect on this

question before we discuss it aloud: ●

6.

How should we update or change our solution to ensure it better honors the community’s desires, but most importantly, aligns with God’s big story of redemption?

Now we need to plan how we are going to carry out our idea in the community! Before we do, let’s re-examine our community maps. What resources has God given to us in our community? How can we best leverage them to help our community experience restored relationships through our idea?

7.

In the large group we are going to take about

15 minutes to plan how we will carry out

our new idea. Remember, the question we are trying to answer is: How might we help _________________________________ (who) with __________________________________________ (issue) so that the 4 relationships improve? To plan thoroughly, we’ll: ● ● ● ● ●

Write down a one-sentence description of our idea List out any supplies we might need Record when, where, and with whom we’ll carry out the idea Name the steps we’ll follow to carry out our idea; and Elect several leaders who will ensure the idea is done thoroughly

Everyone should participate! Raise your hand if you have something to share. Remember, we will always encourage ideas not discourage ideas.

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➞ Use the flip chart entitled “Carry Out The Idea.” It should look like this:

How might we help our community with _______________________________________ (issue) so that the 4 relationships improve?

Supplies we’ll need:

Our idea is:

When:

The steps we will follow to do this are: 1.

Where: 2.

With whom:

3.

4.

Who will play what role: ● Project leader: ● Promoter: ● Prayer leader: ● Scribe ● Tool/Supply leader:

5.

6.

7.

Project leader: secures any necessary permissions and keeps momentum going Promoter: gets people to come interact with the test, seeking community engagement Prayer leader: covers the idea in prayer and calls the group to do so throughout Scribe: collects feedback and takes pictures, always looking at how the community responds Tool/Supply leader: ensures that all needed tools and supplies are available for action Your plan for carrying out this idea looks wonderful. Now, it’s time to go out and actually do it before we meet again. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!

You’ve all done really well using this creative process to generate an idea for action! May the Lord give us all the faith to believe that He can use us to make this world look a little bit more like His kingdom. Even though we haven’t seen His full restoration in our community, we trust that He is bringing it about and using us as part of His big story.

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8.

Let’s close in prayer, asking the Lord to be with us as we go out into our community and take action. I send you out with this prayer that God would give you courage and faith.

➞ Facilitator can also elaborate with Scripture and song, creating a powerful sendoff.

Father God, give us faith that You can use us to make this world look a little bit more like the kingdom you have set up. May we be faithful in small ways to share Your love in our community. Make Your restoration of all the relationships in our community complete, O Lord, and use us as your agents to bring it about as You see fit. For the glory of Your Name, we ask. Amen.

In our next meeting, we’ll discuss how carrying out your idea went! I can’t wait to hear about your experience.

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LESSON 12:

Evaluate the Process and Propose New Issues TIME: 45 minutes

By the end of this lesson, we will have: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Reviewed distinct goals for 4 key relationships from the biblical perspective Examined feedback from the community about the solution we’ve done Reflected on how well our solution worked and what we might improve Considered new issues we could address in our personal life and as a group Decided how/if this group will repeat this creative process again Evaluated each step of the creative process

Preparation and materials needed for this lesson: ● ●

Flipchart: New Issues (see the activity under Point 7 below) Small sheets of paper or sticky notes and tape

Hello! I am excited to hear how carrying out your idea went! Who can pray for us before we get started?

Thank you for praying!

1.

Today we'll debrief the idea we did. I can’t wait to hear what you’ve learned! We’ll also imagine how we can keep repeating this creative process again, playing out our roles to demonstrate the healing of Christ as part of God’s big story.

Before we begin, let’s review the 4 key relationships. God created human beings to live in 4 right relationships—with God, oneself, others and the rest of creation—but the Fall distorted all of them. When God created us, he intended for all 4 of these relationships to be healthy and working properly.

Who can stand up and remind us of the hand motions of the 4 relationships?

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Great job! Now let’s all do it together. As we do each motion, let’s also chant: God: Delight in His love and truth!

Oneself: I am made in His image!

Others: Put each other first!

Creation: Protect and develop His world!

2.

If we are to be the representatives of King Jesus, we must remember how the 4 key relationships are broken and work toward seeing them restored to the way Jesus intended.

Let’s review some of the differences between goals for human relationships in the way of the world versus the way of Jesus. If we know these well, we can better understand our role in God’s big story.

➞ For each relationship, the facilitator should elaborate on key points from the chart below.

The Way of the World

The Way of Jesus

Relationship with God

People live in fear of spirits and try to control them

People are meant to enjoy the love of God and seek to obey Him

Relationship with Self

People are of little value, no different than animals

All people carry the image of God and have great dignity and worth

Relationship with Others

Other people are a possible threat or worth less than my people

Other people are to be loved and served the way we love and serve ourselves

Relationship with Rest of Creation

People have no right to upset or change creation

People are God’s caretakers who guard and develop creation for Him

Thank you so much for your enthusiastic participation! The Bible tells us that we human beings become like the things we worship (Psalm 115, 135). Only by worshipping Jesus and following His way can we live out our role in God’s story. Our worship must not be with only words and songs, but in how we turn our whole lives toward following Him.

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3.

To start, let’s take

5 minutes as a large group and discuss the feedback you received

from the community. Let’s have the scribes come and present what you all observed and heard. They’ll share what people liked and what they’d change. Tell us: ● ●

What brought people delight about the idea?

What did people want to change?

These are great observations! Your idea has officially become a solution! Now let’s think about how we could make this solution better. With this creative process, you can always learn more and improve the solution. For example, we could: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Change our solution because of what someone said Adjust our solution to better improve the 4 key relationships Find ways to use less resources in our solution Find ways to bring more delight to people with the solution Look for ways to bring more glory to God with the solution Keep watching as people use the solution to keep improving it

In the large group, share: what are ways you can think of to improve our solution?

4.

Those are great suggestions! To faithfully live out our role in God’s big story, we must learn to watch and listen carefully to what He is doing in our community. Pausing to debrief and pay attention to how people responded to our solution can help us to improve it and more carefully align it with God’s work of redemption. Together: ● ●

Think back to the Issue Tree. Did our solution address the problems and root causes—or only symptoms? Why? Discuss: How well did our solution help the community experience restoration of the 4 key relationships? Which of the relationships did you see improve?

We’ll reflect on and talk about these questions for

5.

5 minutes.

These are great reflections! As you know, living into God's story is ongoing. As we use the creative process, we’ll keep discovering how we fit into this unfolding story of Creation, Fall, and Redemption that God is telling. To keep living out our roles as God's representatives, keep imagining how you can do this in other areas of your lives, too.

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Remember, you can repeat the process anywhere—even adapting and repeating it outside of this group in your homes, churches, business or farms. You could carry out a new idea using more time and/or other resources, or with the same amount of time and resources.

God has made you in His image with endless creativity!

6.

In silence, think for

2 minutes about a new way you could use this creative process in

your own personal or home life.

Then, we’ll hear from several of you aloud.

7.

Now, we are going to imagine how we can repeat the creative process together once again to either improve one of our existing solutions or to address a completely new issue in our community.

Let’s think back to our community maps. Call to mind the other issues you circled on the map. In your community map small groups, take 5 minutes to name 1 other issue in the community that your group is passionate about addressing.

Now let’s take a few minutes to hear the 1 issue each group decided upon. I’ll write each one on the flipchart.

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➞ List the issues on the New Issues flipchart.

Thank you for sharing these important issues.

8.

Now, let's imagine how this group could repeat the creative process once again. As you've seen, the process will only get better and more effective as you practice, listen, repeat and sharpen it!

In pairs, brainstorm for 3 minutes: if you could use this creative process again, what might you do? You could select one of the new issues you heard to address — or choose to improve on one of the solutions we've already carried out! As a group, you can take as much time and resources as are available to you.

Now that we've reflected, let's agree on next steps that the group would like to take.

Our three options for further action are: 1. Use the creative process again to address one of these new issues; 2. Use the creative process to improve one of our already existing solutions that we’ve tested: [fill in current solution here]; OR 3. Take no further action for now. Watch, pray, and learn from the solution we’ve already done. Gather again at a future date to explore using the creative process again.

Together, let’s agree on what next step this group would like to take.

If the group chooses option #1: the facilitator should help the group to agree on which new issue they will address. Then, explain that they will repeat the LISTEN step by hearing from the community about their new issue. Before meeting again, each person should ask at least 1 person in the community: ● How does this issue affect your life? ● How have you seen people creatively solve problems related to this issue? ● What would you like someone to do about this issue?

The facilitator will then set the time of the next meeting, where the group will meet again to go back through all of Part F: REPEAT, starting with Lesson 10, to repeat the creative process. The group will create another new challenge question for any user (WHO) they want and can use whatever time and money is available to them.

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If the group chooses option #2: the facilitator should set a time to meet again and return to Part F: REPEAT, Section 11, Point 5, to lead the group through a revised plan for carrying out their idea. Start with the question listed and dig deeper: How should we update or change our solution to ensure it better honors the community’s desires, but most importantly, aligns with God’s big story of redemption? The group can use whatever time and money is available to them to improve their solution.

If the group chooses option #3: the facilitator should help the group to set a date in the future to revisit the possibilities doing option #1 or option #2.

9.

Before we close, let’s now take a few moments to share feedback again on the creative process we’ve used to Listen, Make, and Test ideas for improving the 4 relationships in our community. Remember, our role in God’s story is to lovingly serve others by helping them to experience Christ’s healing work in all of these relationships.

After each step—Listen, Make, Test—I will ask you to rate how helpful you found this step.

You’ll hold up 1 finger if it was a little helpful, 2 if it was somewhat helpful, and 3 if it was very helpful.

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Listen In this beginning step, we chose an issue to address then developed and asked questions to people in our community to understand how God’s story is already at work. ●

How well did this step in the creative process help you? Hold up 1 finger if it was a little helpful, 2 for somewhat helpful, and 3 for very helpful.

➞ Add up the total number of points for each step. ●

How could I improve this Listen step?

Make We can imagine what Christ’s kingdom looks like and create things that make the kingdom more visible in our community. In this step, we used the Issue Tree, brainstormed and developed an idea and built a roleplay prototype to practice in the community. ● ●

How well did this step in the creative process help you? Hold up 1 finger if it was a little helpful, 2 for somewhat helpful, and 3 for very helpful.

How could I improve this Make step?

Test To put ideas to action, we do small tests to try out our idea. Everytime we try it, we can learn how to improve our solution for the next time. Trying and improving solutions quickly helps us get better results faster. In this step, we performed our roleplay in the community, revised our idea, and made a detailed plan for putting it into action in real life. ● ●

How well did this step in the creative process help you? Hold up 1 finger if it was a little helpful, 2 for somewhat helpful, and 3 for very helpful.

How could I improve this Test step?

Thank you each for sharing your honest thoughts!

10.

Let’s close in prayer together as we seek to keep using the creative process to live out our role in God’s story.

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Thank you, Father, for using each of us to do Your work. In your great kingship over all creation, You have also given us an important role to play in sharing and living out the good news of the gospel of Your kingdom. Give us eyes to see the work You have called us to and may we be faithful to complete it by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

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