Contextual Leadership Formation provides current and future leaders the opportunity to intentionally practice and reflect within a community of supportive peers and supervision. Such a program offers participants a safe place to risk, and even to fail, knowing that they will experience grace and mercy, and will be nurtured and aided in the critical reflection that transforms brokenness into wholeness and failure into potential for new fruitfulness.

Likely components to the program include:

• Peer Learning Community: Peer group of 4-6 individuals who meet together weekly
• Didactic seminars for ongoing knowledge and skill development
• Spiritual Formation through individual and group practice and reflection
• Verbatim, Motivational Interviewing and Appreciative Inquiry group reflection
• Supervisor with training and experience in ministry, spiritual direction, and supervision
• Residential Community option (perhaps following a New Monastic model)

Over the past few months I have been in three separate conversations with unrelated groups who mentioned their interest in pursuing these ideas in their own organization.

I am proposing a summit to gather current practitioners and others interested in exploring the possibilities for their own settings. This event will be scheduled for fall 2013 in Dallas.

Among the potential conversation partners are:

• CPE programs
• Pastoral Residency Programs
• Seminary/Divinity School Field Education Directors
• Missional Church Practitioners
• Social Service Agencies
• Congregations and associations
• Intentional Community practitioners
• Leadership Development facilitators and funders
• Denominational offices of leadership development

People from other regions of the country have already expressed interest in this conversation, and that they would be likely to make the trip here in order to participate.

I am looking for individuals and groups who will do one or more of the following:

1. Participate in the summit
2. Serve as a host organization
3. Aid in planning and development
4. Serve as a sponsoring organization – providing seed money or in kind service
5. Promote the summit through your networks and encourage others to participate
6. Prayer support

We will convene a local planning team for an initial conversation. Please respond with your interest. Let me know your suggestions for others whom we could include in this discussion.