“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.” (Genesis 1:9)

“Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 506:15-21)

Now is a time when we can gather together and have the place and time to think deeply about the more complex issues we are facing since our collaborative beginnings.

In preparation for this sacred gathering, let us pray that our eyes will be open to see these petals of a holy purpose.

Our convening conference for 2024 has four sessions - three Zoom sessions and one in-person session, for a total of four sessions over a two-month period.

The idea behind this set-up is to maximize the amount of time we have together at the in-person session in St. Louis for small group discussions. Instead of having presentations, training, and reports at that time, we will have those sessions online during the Zoom sessions. We encourage anyone interested in the work of the Collaborative to attend the Zoom sessions regardless of whether you can attend the in-person session.

All three Zoom sessions are open to all who are interested in hearing about our progress and the current needs of our collaborative work. However, we still need you to register for all Zoom sessions so we can ensure our ability to handle a large group.

The in-person session in St. Louis is the only one that requires a registration fee for attendance (as well as travel and hotel costs).

The registration form will be requesting some information from you so that we know what topics of the six topics are of most interest to you. This information will help us better organize the conference agenda to meet the needs of as many attendees as possible.

The two-hour portion of the presentations session will include:
1. Overview of how the Collaborative is organized and a brief history.
2. Update on the status of working groups (accomplishments and current work).
3. A review of the six topics of focus for the discussion session in St. Louis.
4. An optional one-hour segment following the two hours of presentations has been added to allow the convening participants, who will not be attending the in-person session, to share their ideas and ask questions about the six topics.

The type of discussions we will be having at our in-person small group discussion session will require special training in order to get the maximum benefit from our time together. We will have a professional expert to facilitate the session segments and guide us through the process. So, we will receive training during session 2 (training) that we will use in session 3 (discussions). The live training session will be on September 26 and a recording of that session will be viewed on October 3.

An online resource available from our Collaborative website, developed by the Leadership and Management Working Group, titled "Mental Models" should prove helpful in understanding the context for our discussions.

Also, please download the manual of resources for this training here.

The purpose of the in-person session is to give us time, that we would never otherwise have, to deeply discuss the more challenging issues we have yet to resolve.

This kind of discussion takes some preparation and a good bit of professional facilitation. This is why it is highly encouraged for each participant of the in-person discussion session to have participated in the two prior Zoom sessions - understanding "The Collaborative Yesterday and Today" and "Small Group Collaboration Dynamics and Techniques." These two sessions would naturally have been conducted at the in-person conference session. Using the model we have chosen greatly reduces the cost of attending and allows for more participation by others in the convening conference.

The two preceding Zoom sessions will be recorded for those who can't attend the live Zoom presentations at their currently scheduled times.

Our fourth and final convening session will consist of a report on the proceedings (outcome) of the discussion session held in St. Louis.

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Here is a power point presentation on the topic of "Mental Models" that could be helpful in understanding the context of our discussions. In our in-person discussions we will be digging deep, trying to get a better sense of what is influencing our view of the challenges we are facing. This presentation compares current research on mental models from both academic and Christian Science perspectives.