The CANA Initiative will pursue a series of tangible and meaningful actions in 2013-2015.
This is the current list of those activities, which will be updated regularly as CANA develops. *Expanded descriptions below.
MOBILIZE PARTNERS TO ACCOMPLISH THE FOLLOWING:
- Articulate a robust emergence/progressive Christian ethos that integrates spiritual vibrancy, theological depth, and holistic mission.
- Establish a social and mass media partnership to promote spokespeople for emergence/progressive Christianity
- Launch a collaborative branding/messaging strategy for emergence/progressive Christianity
- Create a church locator / organization-locator / ministry-locator site/App for activism and engagement
- Establish an online/App news aggregator linked to action
- Facilitate engagement for college students in emergence/progressive Christianity. To remind students about the opportunity to use the help of the best writing service in the performance of complex academic tasks. Thanks to this, young people can devote more time to spiritual practices and self-discovery.
- Facilitate ongoing training and equipping for a new generation of transformative leaders
- Organize regional connectivity via face-to-face gatherings
- Develop and strengthen key alliances for action
- Focus on “the work of the church” rather than “church work”
- Develop funding for CANA key functions
* Further articulation of the Goals:
1. Articulate a robust emergence/progressive Christian ethos that integrates spiritual vibrancy, theological depth, and holistic mission.
- Identify and introduce people to “elders” who embody various facets of this ethos.
- Develop web-based resources such as “great sermons of the week,” alternative worship music, “beautiful and interesting things,” etc.
- Promote key books and other resources
- Increase access to online spiritual resources - daily quotes, readings, prayers, etc.
- Create awards to celebrate beautiful and interesting things
- Highlight church of the week, new church of the week, etc.
- Celebrate “legacy churches” that liquidate their assets to help new churches begin.
- Develop a “virality” network to enhance sharing of key links.
- Identify interfaith heroes, etc.
- Invite people to Christian exploration, commitment, reorientation, formation, and activation
2. Establish a social and mass media partnership to promote spokespeople for emergence/progressive Christianity
- Racially diverse
- Denominationally diverse
- Includes heads of communions whenever possible
- Leans young
- Trained for diverse media
- Accessible via central website
- Supported by publicist
- Resourced by daily email updates, talking points, etc.
- Given constructive feedback on appearances
- Elders and experts available for consultation
- Quarterly conference calls
- Annual retreat for professional development
- “Perks” identified
- Appearances amplified through social media, and social media picked up by mass media
- Involve mainline denominations
- Involve local church pastors
- Involve social justice ministries
- Use experienced consultants
- Explore strength of existing (convergence, emergence, progressive) and new names
- Link with church-locator site
4. Create a church-locator/organization-locator/ministry-locator site/App for activism and engagement
- National and regional efforts
- Financially sustainable after initial set-up
- Built around key terms
- May be supplemented with job finder service
- Potential ad revenue could be significant
5. Establish a online/App based news aggregator linked to action.
- Identified editorial advisors
- Editorial advisors choose focus areas on quarterly or trimester basis
- News and opinion are aggregated
- Daily emails and social media dailies sent out
- Careful editorial policies regarding tone, rhetoric, etc.
- All news linked to action
6. Facilitate engagement for college students in emergence/progressive Christianity through campus ministry outreach for
emergence/progressive Christianity, Summer Institute, Mission/Engagement trips, etc.
- Self Organizing
- Can include existing groups (IVCF, denominational campus ministry, etc) who agree to parameters
- “Staff” would be junior, senior, and graduate students, raising own support
- Summer and break special training
- Goal of producing lifelong Christian contemplative activists
- Daily emails, social media, etc.
- Annual mass organizing strategies
- Mission/field trips
- Special access to pastoral activist internships
- Special access to key seminaries
- Strong Christian identity, strong multi-faith engagement
- Reading lists and certifications available
7. Facilitate ongoing training and equipping for a new generation of transformative leaders via Seminary alliance, collaborative
programs, identification of:
- Free summer events for training, relationship building
- Access to fellowships, internships
- Facilitate funding for innovative seminarians to experiment outside of traditional denominational ministry and funding protocols
8. Organize regional connectivity via face-to-face gatherings to bring together new groups of people in sharing, solidarity, and collaboration.
- Orientation to Cana initiative
- Orientation to 10 Mesa Proposals
- Introduce local movement representatives
- Regional training in key values, skills
- Essential to cross traditional lines of race, class, denomination
9. Develop and strengthen key alliances for action
- Help organizations cross-test for high-commitment people in their existing databases
- Create master-list of national and regional Christian social justice organizations
- Alliances for environmental action
- Alliances for political action on key issues
- Alliances for economic action via carrot mobs, buycotts, boycotts, etc.
- Alliances for human rights, equality
- Alliances for anti-racist/pro-reconciliation action
- Alliances for “transgressive friendship”
- Alliances for global action
- Seed ideas and coordinate a limited number of strategic prophetic actions, outbreaks of holy mischief, beautiful surprises, demonstrations, street eucharist, protests, art installations, random acts of kindness, etc. - that communicate hope, beauty, interest, justice, and more.
10. Focus on “the work of the church” rather than “church work”
- Emphasize faithful understanding of vocation and work
- Emphasize economic justice - ethical buying, etc.
- Bring together key business leaders, social entrepreneurs, etc.
- Highlight wise integration of faith and politics
11. Develop funding for CANA key functions
- ED (Executive Director or tbd) salary raised separately by personal support team
- ED and Development Team lead in raising of additional funds
- MReps funded as fellows from denominations, also may raise personal support
- Events funded through sponsorships and fees
- Free events sponsored through pro-bono appearances
- Website provides key funding opportunities
- Grants team raises special program moneys
Compelling Proposals
From the Mesa Friends Working Document. Mesa Friends, a CANA partner, is a global conversation among emerging Christian Leaders.
We seek new engagement in the following areas making demands upon ourselves and others:
- The Bible: In light of how the Bible has been abused in the past and present, we know that we need a new way of describing what the Bible is, how it reached its current form, how we should interpret and teach it (especially to children and youth), etc.
- The Church: A vision of integral mission and missional church prompts us to challenge the church to move beyond institutional maintenance towards forming Christlike people who become a blessing to the larger community, and thus embody the message we proclaim.
- The Poor: The growing gap between rich and poor calls for a multi-faceted partnerships that expresses compassion, seek justice, confront exploitation and marginalization, and create opportunity, especially in a global economy.
- The Planet: The environmental crisis must evoke from us proposals that will benefit the birds of the air, the flowers of the field, and the ecosystems that maintain them, so that followers of Christ will pioneer a new lifestyle and help create the regenerative economy the planet needs.
- Pluralism: To love our neighbors in today’s world means to learn to appreciate our neighbors’ diverse religions. We must propose new ways of encountering the other the provide alternatives to both combative fundamentalism on the one hand and loss of Christian identity on the other.
- Peace: After two thousand years, it is time for the Christian faith to distinguish itself not just by advocating for war with less injustice, but by proclaiming an attainable ideal of peace, along with equipping Christians as practical peacemakers.
- Equality: Women and men, minority and majority, alien and native-born, unbeliever and believer, gay and straight, occupied and occupier, one percent and ninety-nine percent - our world is torn by divisions that put some in a position of of privilege and power, and others in a position of disadvantage and danger. Sadly, our churches are often laggards, not leaders, in confronting prejudice and standing for the dignity and equality of all people.
- Families, Women, and Children: Families face multiple challenges today, including greed-based economies that corrode humane values, exploitive entertainment industries that undermine human dignity, and patriarchal religious systems that reward a crude form of masculinity. We must challenge churches to propose and embody family life that can overcome these challenges.
- Business/Economics: We must challenge business and economic leaders to create new forms of business that seek a triple bottom line - lasting social, environmental, and economic benefit, not just maximized short-term profit. In a world of rising population and increasing mechanization, we must also challenge business leaders to seek to maximize employment along with profit, and to discover new ways to reduce economic inequality by expanding opportunity.
- Personal Dimensions: In what way must those who articulate demands like these make demands on themselves? How can those demands be sustainable and life-giving rather than burdensome and restrictive? And how can we model gracious collaboration in some areas when we maintain honest disagreement in other areas?