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About every five hundred years the empowered structures of institutional Christianity, whatever they may be at that time, become an intolerable carapace that must be shattered in order that renewal and new growth may occur.” – Phyllis Tickle

Following her hypothesis of 500 years from the current 21st

century to the Great Reformation of the 16th century; back an additional 500 years to the Great Schism of the 11th century; back another 500 years to the Fall of the Roman Empire and the early Church Fathers of the 6th century; back another 500 years to the 1st century and the turmoil of the councils that would struggle to define Christianity as either an ethnic or a global faith.

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Death

Lifecycle of a Church

Visioning

Structure

Ministry

Nostalgia

Polarity

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2021 TIIMSA Gathering WEBINARKeynote: Dr. Gil Rendle

For more info, go to TIIMSA.org

April 20-21

GIL RENDLE is former vice president for the Texas Methodist Foundation (TMF) as well as former senior consultant and director of consulting for the Alban Institute. As an ordained minister with a PhD in organizational and group dynamics, he has worked with congregations across denominations for more than 30 years.

Find out more about TMF at https://tmf-fdn.org/Find out more about the Alban Institute at

https://www.congregationalconsulting.org/wheres-alban/

Video Segment (see p. 273, #14): “The Forum on Wesleyan Potential” by Rev. Mike Mather/TMF -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOET3FReOfM

Books by Rendle: Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations; Journey in the Wilderness: New Life for Mainline Churches;Back to Zero: The Search to Rediscover the Methodist Movement; andDoing the Math of Mission: Fruits, Faithfulness and Metrics.