Open Space!

What is Open Space all about?

Open spaces are not meetings with agenda's or minutes or outcomes, but about the process of allowing God's ermerging gifts to be recieved. 

Some Open Spaces will have a specific focus already discerned beforehand, and some may be a practice of listening to see what is going on under the surface of our routine ministries.

If we discern any next steps in an Open Space, these can then be fleshed out in our ministry task group workshops, or among our leadership or serving teams.  

How do we prepare?

Preparing ourselves for an Open Space is as important as showing up to the right Zoom space.

Applying our energy to prayer is a great way to get ready. If there is a specific focus already discerned beforehand, taking that focus into our daily prayers makes our hearts ready to recieve direction and guidance. If there is no pre-discerned focus, praying for open-ness and recieving is often helpful.

As with all our Open Space gatherings, we invite our whole community to come together to share using the principles of Holy Wondering and Respectful Listening. 

Holy Wondering:

We wonder together what God is calling us to attend to in our midst. By giving voice to where our energy is and what we are feeling excited about, we often find that there is an invitation to try something new, or refresh our ministry focus, or to perhaps even let go of what is no longer serving us. 

Holy Wondering is a challenging practice. We can be best served when we take ownership of what we share, using 'I wonder..." as a start to naming aloud what is on our hearts. If we ground what we present as belonging to us, it makes room for others to have different feelings or experiences or perspective. We make more room for being together and exploring, without the challenges of fixed positions becoming opposite to others and disunity creeping in.

Respectful Listening:

Using the R.E.S.P.E.C.T ethos as listed on our Safeguarding page we ensure that all voices are given opportunity to be heard and recieved in our online space.

Sharing on Zoom can always be a challenge, with different devices and timing of internet connections representing a challenge to natural communication (which is hard enough when we are all sitting in the same room for Open Spaces).

By trying to actively listen to one another, listen to what someone is sharing without thinking of a response, we make room for the pauses and silences that sometimes happen when we are attending to this work of the Body of Christ.

 Silence is welcome!

It can be an uncomfortable experience for many of us who enjoy being part of a hearty discussion and getting things sorted, but silence is a key ingrediant to a healthy Open Space. 

Letting the pauses come and sit in the between moments is a practice which takes a lot of intention. 

We weave silence into our space as a devotional commitment to allowing God to speak through each of us.

Curiosity!

Nurturing curiosity is also a great way to engage with one another in Open Spaces.

Sometimes Open Spaces can take us to places we never imagined or thought about before, and being curious might make us more receptive to these new ideas or questions.

If something someone has shared has spoken to us, we may like to voice that as a curiosity or simply name what has emerged in our thoughts or feelings as a result of that. 

Questions are great and welcome - and often are the answer!

Sometimes sharing a question into the space might give room for something to arise.

They may also just be there as part of an unraveling process, so letting them be un-answered is often the thing. 

Playful

Most of all, if we come along with joy and playfullness, we may just have the best time in Open Space! 

Not taking ourselves, or the Space too seriously is a gift.