Living an Attitude of Abundance is Indeed a Paradigm Shift

Exploring a different vision for creating community

“Whatever the problem, community is the answer.”

This quote from Margaret Wheatley could have been the mantra for “Engaging Community.  Narrating Change.” last fall with John McKnight, Peter Block and Walter Brueggemann and continues to be the mantra for the people who seek to create community everywhere in their daily lives.

Building upon what 350+ Memphians learned about creating community last November, Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) invited participants to continue the conversation and explore a different vision for creating community - one that changes perspective and emphasis from problems to possibilities.  The vision supports an abundant, satisfying, and strong community that emerges from naming and building upon the existing gifts and assets of individuals living in a neighborhood. 

Drawing upon the methodologies of discussion and community building (i.e. knee-to-knee three person groups of “strangers”) introduced by Block, McKnight and Brueggemann, CTC continued to introduce participants to various conversation methods to engage in a lively dialogue about community at a recent gathering at The Commons.  Participants shared moving and interesting stories about how an assets/gifts approach has been applied to build and strengthen community in their neighborhoods along with concrete ideas for learning and sharing “practices of community.”

Here are a few insights from the evening.  (To read the full notes from the meeting, click here.)

• Our culture often mistakes the event (the gala, the luncheon with a keynote speaker, the conference, etc.) as community.  In our modern era, the event has taken the place of community.  We need a re-imagining of events as an experience of and catalyst for ‘true’ community.
• Storytelling moves individuals from being reduced to sound bites (or a recital of a resume) to seeing other, deeper dimensions of our humanity.  Crafting agendas and space for small group conversations and for people to share their story at a more personal level brings healing and connection – necessities of life.  In sharing and hearing our individual stories, we begin to get a glimpse of the universal story in which we are all interrelated.
• Living an attitude of abundance is indeed a paradigm shift.  And, it is living out of this paradigm shift that deep community is experienced.  It requires a shift of values and language from doing for or giving to another person to values and language that recognizes everybody as having gifts to contribute.

There is more to come!  We are just at the beginning of what is possible when we support each other in being intentional about community.  There will be more invitations and opportunities to explore a different vision for creating community.  Visit the CTC website for more information or to sign up for our enewsletter at www.ctcmidsouth.org.

Until the next gathering, you can join the discussion by sharing your story in several ways:

• Below in the comments section, or
• Contacting us at info@ctcmidsouth.org or
• Linking your story to our Facebook page and/or Twitter feed.

‘It’s so important to get the questions right,’ says Carrie Brooks

Deep engagement sparked as people define their commitment to Memphis

Building community networks and connecting the passions of people working in various community development capacities is a key focus of Carrie Brooks and the organization she directs, Making a Difference in Memphis.

So, gathering with 300 community members to discuss a new Memphis narrative was familiar territory for the veteran scholar, but this truth and the fact that she was already deeply familiar with the works of the three facilitators — Peter Block, John McKnight and Walter Brueggemann — did nothing to lessen the impact of the day, however.

From the very beginning, when the first questions were posed by Peter asking people to define themselves in groups of three strangers not by their experience, but by their commitment, she was steadily intrigued.

Groups of three.
Carrie Brooks (right).

The follow-up asked people to consider what gifts they received from the other two people they met, and Carrie could see people instantly gleaning a deeper understanding of their role in the greater narrative, simply because of the nature of the questions they were answering.

“The questions (Peter) posed were so different for so many people than what they’re used to at a conference kind of setting,” Carrie explains.

“These are incredibly different questions and that’s my main takeaway. Their questions really changed the conversation, and it’s so important to get the questions right.”

The buzz and energy she felt throughout the day was a direct result of deep engagement sparked instantly through the prompting of all three facilitators, she adds.

Brooks is an expert in adult education and development who, through her work with Making a Difference in Memphis, has helped a plethora of people working in a wide variety of community development realms – from elder abuse to infant mortality to domestic violence – discover new understandings of who they are as learners, and what they can do to be more successful in their work.

People come to her program thinking, “ ‘I’m going to meet some people who are different from me, people I don’t know, and maybe I’ll have something in common with them,’ ” Carrie says, “but at the end it seems that they feel that they’re part of a learning community and they don’t feel that they’re working in isolation anymore.”

The people who attended the CTC event came bearing the gifts and commitment to transformation in ways large and small, yet many may have felt they, too, work in isolation at times. The new connections made there hold much promise.

The follow-up to the mid-November event as these various levels of commitment translate into on-the-ground action is something Carrie looks forward to, beginning with a meeting of some of the key organizers on Dec. 3.

“It’s definitely an exciting time,” Carrie says. “It’s a great time to be here.”

- Kristian Partington -

If you have a story to share, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Memphis Faith Community Inspires

At a crossroads between deep commitment and finding their voice, Peter Block observes

“I was inspired by a faith community, by mostly Christian churches, who’ve decided to extend their property line to include the neighborhood and their local community.”

That is how thought leader Peter Block says he left a gathering of about 300 Memphis residents who had come together to discover the resources and wisdom already existing in their neighborhoods and how those can be connected for greater productivity.

The gathering was facilitated by the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC), which has been working primarily with faith congregations to have similar conversations on a smaller scale across the city.

Peter Block

“The idea that the churches are forgetting about their certainties and instead asking the question, ‘How can we engage everyone in a neighborhood, regardless of their religion, regardless of their beliefs or their economic situation; how can we create a social fabric in this place?’ I think brings a Christian message into the world as strongly as all the preaching and broadcasting and missionary work in the world,” says Peter.

“Instead of saying we’re going to send missionaries out to expose people and bring them into the fold they’re saying, ‘We, as a church, are going to live out our beliefs or Christ’s message, since they’re mostly Christian, by embracing and just being connected and getting to know the people in our neighborhood’ — and that’s very inspiring.

“That creates space for every belief system and it creates space for the work of the faith community, I think, at its best.”

Peter was invited by the CTC to join the event, along with John McKnight and Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann. Each brought a unique gift to the conversation: John’s lifetime of experience making sense of how community can care for itself, Walter’s years of work reinterpreting the Bible and Peter’s commitment to the idea that if there is a gathering then it is possible to create the future in that room.

In addition to being inspired, Peter says he learned a few things, including the power of connectors, such as Amy Moritz, executive director of CTC, who has now been part of eight neighborhoods across the city that have begun actively creating a new future for themselves together.

He also observed a phenomenon he has seen in second-tier cities across the U.S., which is a desire to “win the race for what’s wrong with us,” an observation he says he is still uncertain of what to do with, but it dawns on him that it reconfirms that a city is its narrative.

“It’s not so much its geography or its built environment or its historical development.

“Basically what’s decisive is the story a city tells itself, and every second-tier city in this country is competing to have the most problems, which tells me it’s not accurate. It’s just story.”

The CTC and its extended community are looking to help change that story, with these conversations being a key part in that.

Amongst the work — inviting people to identify four capacities they have, including their gifts, their skills, their passions and what they can teach.

The premise in this — never take labels seriously for people; discover what they have to contribute to their community, and people who seem useless or problematic will step up to make a difference.

“Our research indicates that what makes strong neighborhoods is when what people have to contribute is made visible — which is what we were doing that day — and then connected to become productive,” says John.

“It’s the identification of gifts and their connection for a better life.”

While connections were certainly sparked on that day and gifts made visible, and the commitment of the people shone through very clearly — nobody, for instance, was paid to be there — Peter says he sensed the crossroads the community now faces is finding its voice.

“What got me is that they had some very strong leadership from the community there and I just felt that their commitment to that place and caring for that place was bedrock.

“I just don’t know if they’ve found their voices or their energy yet to know that they can create an alternative future.”

- Michelle Strutzenberger -

Feel free to comment below or e-mail michelle@axiomnews.ca.

‘Deep satisfaction’ in planting the seeds of change, says Amy Moritz

CTC director soaks in possibility, reflects on memorable conversations

Amy Moritz describes the past six months as a period of deep preparation as she and a core of volunteers connected to the Center for Transforming Communities in Memphis prepared to plant seeds of change.

Through their many connections to people in the city working to strengthen local vitality, one neighborhood at a time, they have been cultivating the soil, so to speak. When 300 people gathered for a conversation about the possibilities last week, she could see these efforts paying off. 

Thought leaders Peter Block, John McKnight and Walter Brueggemann helped guide guests through a conversation about the creation of a new Memphis narrative that looks beyond problem-solving to one that honors the gifts and possibilities.

“On Nov. 14, perhaps some new seeds were planted in some very rich soil that will take root,” Moritz said the morning after the event.

“Today, I’m still wondering what that will look like. I know it will be something amazing but that’s kind of where I am — just knowing that the soil has been properly cultivated; there’s a deep satisfaction that that occurred and some great seeds were planted.”

She talks of energy in abundance and a deep sense of commitment in the room as people from all walks of life shared the hope that comes by relating to one another in new ways and cooperating to make a difference in their neighborhoods.

She recalls Peter Block at the end of the day offering his reflections and speaking of the same level of commitment. As an influential voice in community building, he is invited to speak at many events, he told the group, and he chooses which ones to attend carefully based on the level of commitment and energy he can feel in the community inviting him.

As he shared those words, Amy realized just how deep the dedication to the city is among so many community builders, and in the quiet morning after the event, she was still soaking in these reflections.

She is careful to not rush the next steps, she says, though she is eager to see what will sprout in the next few weeks from the seeds that were planted.

“I really want to just marinate in what this is and trust that it is going to be very apparent where this takes us,” Amy says.

It’s about being present in the moment and open to what will naturally emerge, and considering the feeling in the room during the event and the depth of conversation, Amy says exciting times are afoot in Memphis. 

- Kristian Partington -

If you have questions comments or a story to share about your experience with community transformation in Memphis, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.

CTC to Spark New Story

Three weekly news stories to focus on gifts and possibilities

Starting today, stories exploring the gifts and possibilities of Memphis neighborhoods will be posted on this site three times a week.

Amy Moritz, director of the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC), says stories of transformation abound in our local neighborhoods. Working alongside church and community members in Memphis, Amy sees what happens when people shift their focus from deficits and problems to gifts and possibilities. It is those stories CTC will be sharing.

Stories will show how people and organizations came together to create The Commons on Merton. These stories will follow how the organizations in The Commons, all with different mission, are working together toward the common good.

A second theme of stories will follow changes in eight neighborhoods connecting through Communities of Shalom activities.

“I’m hoping that some larger momentum or energy comes from us sharing these stories,” Amy says. If stories aren’t shared we won’t know what other possibilities might be sparked in the greater Memphis community,” she says.

CTC is working with Axiom News, a team of generative journalists who are also committed to the gifts and possibilities narrative. The two organizations were connected by Peter Block, who will be visiting Memphis in November. CTC invited Block and his colleagues John McKnight and Walter Brueggemann to host a conversation about building community capacity in neighborhoods. The gathering on November 14, 2012 is already getting more attention than organizers had expected.

Axiom News works alongside organizations and communities throughout North America to explore and amplify their strengths and dreams through high-frequency news stories. The company shares stories between communities so people can learn from and inspire one another.

“Having a partner who can hear our story through the lens of the principles we seek to nurture in community is such a complement to what we are doing,” Amy says.

“We connected instantly with CTC’s values,” says Peter Pula, Axiom News. “Our hope is to provide an easy way for CTC connectors to get their stories told. So many people are doing amazing things. Usually they are so busy doing those amazing things that they don’t get around to writing or publishing stories. That can be hard work unless you are doing it all the time. Our gifts are in that domain.”

Peter anticipates new people will also come forward to co-create media and stories.

“Whether its individuals, journalists, photographers, videographers, social media activists, or organizations with their own story-telling capacities, by working together we can co-create many stories and weave them into a new narrative,” he says.

Peter expects the community will soon find ways to sustain a possibilities narrative independent of Axiom’s involvement.

“When that happens we will continue to point people to the stories of Memphis neighborhoods for inspiration.”

If you know someone who has a gift and whose story could be told please get in touch with Amy Moritz at the Center for Transforming Communities, 901-324-3005, or write to Kristian@axiomnews.ca.