Cohorts/Learning Communities

By Tim Conder

Geoff Holscaw, Andrea Summers, Mike King, Rick Bennett, Laci Scott, and I have been working to lead Emergent's effort to develop regional learning communities and local gatherings that we call "cohorts." Geoff has graciously accepted the leadership mantle for this group.

We are enthusiastic and optimistic about the "localization" and "regionalization" of Emergent. Local conversations provide unique support, intimate knowledge of a ministry context, and relational learning opportunities that can be gifts for ministry leaders and spiritual travelers in a specific location. Regional communities offer opportunties for collaboration that might be too resource intensive for local communities. Each day we are hearing of new cohorts developing. We apologize as well that many have written looking for a local community only to find that one does not exist in their area. A common question we receive from those living in areas without a group concerns how to start a cohort.

There is no blueprint or template for doing so. I'll share a bit of our experiences in starting a new community ("Ekklesia") in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. We started with just a handful of friends (about 5) who were interested in discussing issues related to the emerging church. In our case, the original core were pastors and church planters who connected through national events like the Emergent Convention and Soularize. As we have started to grow, we have been intentional about searching our community for ministries that have emergent interests and inviting their leaders and participants to attend Ekklesia. As our group has started to grow just a bit, we have resisted the urge to be overly programmatic — "to do something together to legitimize our existence." Our initial focus has been relational and dialogical explorations. Since we didn't know each other at all, we often focus on the narrative of a specifc community in our monthly gatherings. We also have committed to learn and read together since this small group allows for comfortable dialogue and discussion. We began with Brian McLaren's "Generous Orthodoxy" as a common text. Even in our neophyte stage, many easy collaborations have occurred. Several of us have spoken at each other's ministry gatherings. Two of the communities in our original core are sharing space. Relationships are forming quickly that are becoming the basis of a thriving community.

This past month in San Diego at the Emergent/YS Convention, I had the privilege of connecting three folks in our cohort with Tim Keel, Mike King, and Ivy Beckwith who have all been very involved with Emergent on a national level. It was a delight to watch Tim Keel, a generous and gifted church planter, share his experiences with my friends from Raleigh. As a new church planter myself and in a cohort with several other beginning church planters, we have little experience to pool on the subject in our local gatherings. These kind of local/national relationships are part of Emergent's dream in developing local conversations. We hope that Emergent will be deeply effected by and responsive to the transitions of the church, innovations, and creative movement's of God's Spirit on the local level.

We're just starting out in Raleigh-Durham with our group. I'm sure there will be challenges and frustrations ahead. And certainly I understand that just finding a few interested folks in some communities may be difficult. But, this experience of community, learning, and collaboration has been a exciting and fruitful journey in our context.

What's Ahead with Cohorts
•I encourage you to scroll below to Tony Jones' post on February 3 to get a bigger picture of our development and dreams for cohorts.
•We will soon be listing contact information for cohorts around the country on our new web site. If you have a group meeting that you would like to listed please let us know.
•Down the road, look for regional gatherings to develop in areas where we have several cohorts.
•Those of you who have attended "The Gathering" in New Mexico know that this annual reunion pilgrimmage is one of Emergent's most casual, familial, and worshipful events. We hope that the Gathering (and other events as they develop) will become a meeting place for cohort leader and a time where local communities can learn from each other.

Comments

[doug pagitt]

I wonder if we could list someplace where current cohorts are running?

Not sure how we do that technically, but i someone could figure it out.

Good work on this ya'all

[bob]

hey all-

I'll echo doug's comment. There's a listing on the emergent village site, but it only has three cohorts listed, not even including the one doug's in :)

I'm very interested in participating in or starting one in the portland area...

[susie]

a number of us at Crossroad UMC in Ashburn, VA are interested in starting or being part of a No. Va cohort...is there one yet, if not, we are willing to begin it! (how exactly is that done?)
shalom, susie

[Tim Conder]

Our growing list of cohorts should be posted on the emergentvillage.com site today or tomorrow. Susie, feel free to contact Geoff Holsclaw at or me at if you want to talk more about starting a cohort. I think there is a group in Richmond but not Northern VA yet.
Tim

[Donna]

What is the geographical distance for most of the cohorts? For the larger events it is reasonable to have to travel a fair distance but are the face to face groups within an hour or so of each other?
And how do you introduce your self to a group?