“Rivers carved stones, not by force, but by showing up day after day until Earth remembers.”

We went to Dunrovin Retreat Center in St. Croix with four intentions: slow down together, encourage through reflection, dream about the future, and claim our next right work.

What happened was we actually did those things. Not the polite version. The real version.

The Ground We Broke

Picture this: teams scattered around tables, sharing their stories – not the clean sanitized versions they tell at board meetings, but the messy truth. The breakthroughs mixed with grief. The celebrations tangled up with the spaces where they’re stuck.

Someone said the word “ecosystem” and suddenly we weren’t talking about neighborhoods as problems to solve anymore. We were talking about soil – what feeds growth, what determines what can actually take root. Climate – the forces that decide who belongs. Water – the relationships that connect everything, and what happens when they dry up.

Then we walked outside.

When the Trail Became Teacher

There’s something that happens when you stop theorizing about interconnection and start looking at it. Actual roots. Actual water flow. Actual evidence of what thrives and what doesn’t, and why.

Standing there in the heat that made us grateful for shade, pointing at trees that couldn’t survive without the fungi they’re connected to, talking about how nutrients in soil literally determine what grows – the metaphor stopped being a metaphor.

We came back inside with dirt on our shoes and feet – some people had taken their shoes off to ground themselves in the earth – and something shifted in our bodies.

The Moment Everything Got Uncomfortable

Arts and crafts materials everywhere. Big sheets of paper. Cut-out trees and clouds and rocks. People mapping their actual communities – the power holders, the connectors, the resistance, the beautiful mess of how things really work.

Then someone asked about invasive species.

The room went quiet. Because suddenly we had to name things. Put labels on community groups. Say out loud what we usually only think privately. The discomfort was thick enough to touch.

And instead of managing that tension away, we stayed with it. Let it teach us something about the difference between comfortable conversations and honest ones. About how growth happens when we finally look at what we usually can’t bear to see.

Bodies as Maps

Someone literally laid down on paper and let themselves be traced. Their body became the template for understanding how their church actually works.

Brain – the visionaries and tactical thinkers. Heart – the compassionate ones. Hands – the church basement ladies who get things done. Muscles – the power holders. Digestive system – yes, we actually assigned the opposition folks to the digestive system, and somehow that made sense. Feet – the neighborhood connectors, the door kickers, the ones who make things happen on the ground.

Watching people write and draw in different areas of that traced body, figuring out where the blockages are, where the energy flows, where things are disconnected – it was like watching surgery on community itself.

The Truth About Change

We worked with the change formula – looking at dissatisfaction with how things are, vision for what’s possible, and actual first steps we could take, weighing all of that against the resistance, reluctance, and fear.

The question wasn’t whether resistance exists – of course it does. The question was whether our pain plus hope plus action could outweigh it.

Some people’s next right action was grief. Some needed rest. Some needed to step back for conversations they’d been avoiding. The work honored that instead of pushing everyone toward the same action steps.

What We Took Home

In the closing circle, people shared what they were taking with them. Not platitudes or good intentions, but specific clarity about what God was preparing them to become. What their next right work actually was. Where they located themselves in all of this.

We sang “Build a Longer Table” before we left. Voices mixing in the air, carrying something we’d built together back out into the world.

The Transmission

Here’s what I want you to know: this level of authentic community work is possible.

Not the version where everyone’s polite and nothing really changes. The version where people cry and laugh and name uncomfortable truths and trace each other’s bodies on paper and intense conversations about invasive species and come out the other side more connected, more clear, more ready for whatever comes next.

The version where you stop managing tension and let it carve new channels, like rivers working on stone.

It requires showing up day after day, creating containers strong enough to hold what wants to emerge. It requires facilitators who know how to ground a room when things get shaky. It requires trusting that communities can handle their own truth when they’re held well enough.

But it’s possible. We know because we did it.

The people in that room walked away different than they came. Not because someone fixed them or gave them the right strategy, but because they did the work of seeing clearly – themselves, their communities, their ecosystems – and discovered they could bear more truth and see more possibility than they thought.

That’s the kind of sustainability that actually sustains: not the kind you implement, but the kind you become.

The post When Community Gets Real: Flowing Into Sustainability Together appeared first on Riverside Innovation Hub.

At the end of October, the Riverside Innovation Hub gathered our congregations (in person and online) for our Discernment Gathering. Since we first began to gather with this community in July 2023, each congregation and individual participant has covered a lot of ground. The journey has not always been smooth and has presented folks with several surprises along the way – some welcomed and some very challenging. Leadership transition, the loss of a building, the coming and going of neighborhood relationships, coping with the ongoing changes of congregational life and the exciting (albeit sometimes uncomfortable) questions that come from learning new things.  

Each congregation has been navigating its own path in the places and neighborhoods unique to each church. These contexts span the US – literally! From our folks at Wesley United Methodist in Eugene, Oregon to our friends at Amherst Lutheran Church in Amherst, Massachusetts and a good number folks in our Twin Cities plus region. Our Midwest crew ranges from city contexts – like those at Christ on Capitol Hill, Diamond Lake Lutheran and Awaken Church – to rural contexts like Moscow Lutheran in Austin, MN. And several folks in suburban communities of Plymouth (St. Barnabas Lutheran), Eagan (Easter Lutheran), Bloomington (Christ the King Lutheran), and Roseville (Roseville Lutheran).

From all these distinct places, we have joined our paths periodically to gather, share wisdom and challenges from the road, find some renewed energy or clarity on next steps together, and to learn together along the way, practicing the artforms of the public church framework. 

This most recent gathering brought all of our paths together to focus on the artform of discernment. The beginning of 2024 started with a focus on accompanying the neighbor and listening to stories from our places. Then this spring we shifted our focus to interpretation where we examined the values and beliefs that shape the lens we use to understand the world around us. This next season of discernment is one of wondering what all these things mean? What is God’s call to our congregation, given what we’ve seen, heard and experienced this past year?

Looking ahead to the future can be overwhelming. The unanswered questions typically outnumber the things we know we can count on. Not only is it a path we have not yet traveled down, but part of the discernment in our present moment includes choosing which path to pursue. There is usually more than one option so how do we choose wisely, and faithfully?

In a world that often prioritizes urgency and productivity, we are tempted to rush ahead down the most obvious (and easiest) path to action.  But discernment is an invitation to slow down, pause and get our bearings. It is permission to breathe deeply, put both feet on the ground, and take stock of God’s activity within and around us on the journey so far. Rather than forecasting the unknown future, discernment gifts us with the question: “Lord, what have you been preparing us for?”

As we gathered together this fall, the RIH community showed up as both the guest and host of this precious question. Folks shared stories from their own lives and from their congregation of how God has been active and faithful in times of discernment. The community held space for one another, listening with curiosity and compassion. The reality of grief and change was present as those in the room reflected on the transitions underway in several of our congregations. People named the many distinct ways that they experience the holy and God’s leading in their lives. And even in the midst of people’s grief, challenges, and uncertainties about the future, hope rose to the surface in our gathered space in recognition of the fact that none of us are facing whatever is next, alone. God will be faithful. And this community of fellow travelers is in our corner. 

Some of the ways we will continue to engage in spiritual discernment together in the coming months includes: meeting with each congregation for deeper discernment together on God’s invitation to be vital neighbors, a webinar on Nov. 14 hearing from alumni RIH pastors sharing their insights on discernment in uncertain times, and cohort gatherings in the new year to share what is emerging in each congregation’s ongoing discernment. 

On behalf of this lovely RIH community, we invite you too to hold on to the question, “Lord, what have you been preparing me/us for?” From the national to local to personal level, it is clear that we live in a time with many challenges and concerns about our individual and shared futures. The highly anticipated 2024 election and its impact looms large in our lives, as do likely many personal realities that don’t make the headlines. As we move into whatever emerges in this season, we hope this question can be a trustworthy companion. We have clues, qualities, insights, skills and stories to lean into that God can use to guide our next steps. And, we have each other. 

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We asked the team at Immanuel to reflect on their experience of the weekend. One of their team members, Ruth Rinard wrote the following piece about her experience.

“There’s the Surface and then there’s the Depth”

Written by Ruth Rinard, Immanuel Lutheran Church Team member

We didn’t know you, but you came.
Curiosity lead to questions.
We began to feel a connection.
Then there was a “squirrel” moment.
And we plunged deeper.
You held space for vulnerability.
We felt a tingling of the Spirit.
Unlikely conversations happened.
We were all the richer for them.
We learned we could go as deep with others
As we go deep in ourselves.

Thank you for coming!

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Written by Brenna Zeimet

As I reflect on this event, I am awash with a sense of expectant hope. As I wandered the tables and listened to conversations and sat one to one talking with folks, I was struck by how much has changed in such a short time. 

The conversations have changed from questioning what we’re doing here and what this is all about, to finding deep connection with the neighbor’s story and searching for a place in the narrative of the community. Where do we fit? What should we be paying attention to? Who do we need to be to meet our neighbor where they are today? It was no longer a skeptical questioning of this process or a planning session for new programs, this community has begun to fall in love with the people around them and that love is driving change in our worldview and our identity as the Church. We are changing as we adapt to the heartbeat of God for people.

I am excited about what this season of Interpretation will bring as we dig deep into the beliefs and assumptions that drive our actions. We will examine how our worldview brings hope and where it causes harm or puts up barriers to authentic and vulnerable relationship. These teams are ready to engage this intense and transformative work, and the health that will flow from this time will bring change to our churches and our neighborhoods.

At our last learning event Kristina Fruge shared a letter with our RIH community to open our space both online and in person. It was written with inspiration from her friend Lauren out in Spokane, WA. It was a beautiful way to open and close our event and there are invitations she names that are good reminders on how we can create places of belonging for all our neighbors. We share it with you in hopes that it will continue to nourish your soul as you embark on this work of being neighbor in the world in the midst of all the feelings of being human. 

Dear neighbor,

This letter is your invitation. You may have already RSVPed to show up today, but this letter and these words are your invitation to be present and to participate in this gathering – to give what you have to offer and likewise to receive the gifts of others in this community. 

You are invited today, neighbor, to show up with all of you. No need to leave anything at the door today.  Our time together will include exploring the artform of interpretation. This means we will take time to wonder about the realities that shape our understanding of the world around us. This means your experiences, your stories, the places you are from, the people who have shaped you, and the realities and relationships that are currently demanding your attention, truly matter. 

Are you bringing sadness with you today? You are invited. 

Are you bringing joy with you today? You are invited.

Are you bringing worry about the uncertainties of the future – of your own, your congregation’s, your community’s, this planet’s? You are invited. 

Are you bringing exhaustion or fatigue with you today? You are invited. 

Are you bringing compassion and hope with you today? You are invited. And if that’s you, don’t be shy to share a little with those of us who are running on low…

Are you bringing grief with you today? If so, you are invited. And may you be reminded that God’s presence is ever more close to you right now. So keep an eye out.

Each and everyone of you is invited to keep your eyes and ears and hearts open, expectantly on the look out for God’s activity among us. You are invited, just as you are invited to pay attention to all the parts of you that shape the lens you use to engage and understand the world. 

Thank you for saying yes to this invitation when it likely meant saying “no” to others. Welcome! Welcome to this time of sharing, of learning, of connecting. Welcome to this time of community. Your presence and participation today is what makes this community possible. And community makes all things possible. Yours truly, Kristina

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Greetings,

In the flow of our everyday lives, finding moments of peace to hear the quiet, divine whispers can be out of sight and out of mind. Today, I’m reaching out to share such a moment with you.

This is my invitation for you to join me in a quiet reflection on the profound connections between the sacred words of scripture and the intricate details of our personal journeys. As we consider how the living words of scripture, like fresh waters, bring vitality and clarity to our lives, let us pause and be present in the serenity of this understanding. Together, let’s explore how these deeper truths resonate within our own stories, guiding us towards deeper insights and a renewed spirit.

A devotion and Invitation to Reflect on Interpretation

Peace,

In my life there is this constant movement and noise, it’s sometimes very challenging to find moments of true stillness—moments where I can pause and be deeply present with the divine whispers that my busy day usually drowns out. Today, I am extending an invitation to you, an invitation to take a moment and journey with me into a reflection on interpretation; an exploration of how the sacred word intertwines with the intimate details of our personal stories.

Ezekiel 47:9, “Wherever the river flows, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.” This verse paints a picture of life and renewal—of water that revitalizes and sustains all that it touches. Like the river, the Spirit of God moves, flows, and brings life to all areas it reaches, including the heart.

I invite you to join me in nature, or any place where you can be still. Sometimes I sit quietly looking out my window and I let myself gently settle into myself. Relaxing the body and feeling the ground beneath you, listen to the subtle sounds around you, and simply watch what’s in front of your nose. Allow the initial rush of thoughts to digest, just let the mind do what the mind does- just like our digestive system works, the mind is a kind of its own mental digester; it doesn’t need you to do anything, just let the mental chatter chat away. As the mind is processing, let yourself be more and more in the moment, embracing the beauty, the sounds and feelings that are all around you. Come to a stillness.  

In this stillness, reflect on where God’s Word meets your life. Consider how the scripture from Ezekiel might be speaking into your circumstances. What fresh waters are being poured into your life? How is everything around you full of this potential for life and growth because of this divine flow?

This letter of devotion isn’t just about understanding words on a page; it’s about letting those words transform us as they connect with our personal and interpersonal experiences. It’s about recognizing the divine movement in both the extraordinary and the ordinary. As you sit in reflection, ask yourself: Where do I see the flow of God’s Spirit in my life? How does my story reflect the greater story that God is telling?

I hope this invitation will open a possibility for you to explore and deepen your understanding of how God’s living word continuously shapes and redefines our unfolding story. May you find fresh inspiration and renewed perspective as you reflect on the intersection of holy scripture and your wholly life.

In being still and knowing that I am,

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Brenna’s Reflection

As we journey together through our season of accompaniment, our teams are learning a lot about their neighbors and what it means to be a public church. In our March cohort meeting we heard stories of engaging with schools, local police, members in our congregations, and local pastors from other churches. Our teams have begun to explore their neighborhoods on prayer walks and they’ve been meeting in local coffee shops and restaurants to listen and learn. They’ve engaged in public forums and local events and even attended Iftar dinners with their Muslim neighbors. Their curiosity and love for their neighbors is growing and it culminated in an exciting moment at our March cohort meeting where one of our team members interrupted the sharing time with an epiphany, “I have been trying to figure out this whole time what out project would be at the end of this, but I’m realizing…Relationships Are The Project”. They’re starting to catch it, knowing and loving your neighbor is the whole goal.

Geoffrey’s Reflection

Many teams are slowly and steadily unfolding how to express the purpose of this work. In a meaningful conversation, Pastor Andrea, from Diamond Lake Lutheran, one of our mentor congregations, asked team member Kurt, why does this work matter? Remembering what Jeremy Myers said, at the accompaniment learning event, Kurt emphasized that our mission aligns with the biblical narrative of accompaniment—God is a relational God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This insight compels us to genuinely live out our faith, walking with and being in trustworthy relationships with our neighbors just as Christ did.

A thread that underlies every team is embracing change, everybody is moving at their own pace but all reimagining their role as the church in today’s world. This shift has been deeply emotional, bringing up forgotten and unforgiven threads that were swept under the rug. Walking through this shift, we are carefully tending and deadheading our spiritual gardens, and we are encountering a mix of grief and opportunity. Clearing the debris; composting and making space for new growth and blooming.

Alas, all this work brings up feelings of loss and hope. Grieving has been a recurring theme and an integral part of our conversations, it reminds me of a kind of enduring, like a mother pregnant with new life and physically going through a transformation to welcome and raise a new being into the world. This process as we learn or more accepting requires us to slow down and break the agenda, to pause and deeply reflect, making space for both lamenting what was and anticipating what will be.

As we adapt, it’s clear that many teams are ready to step into this new path and some of us are struggling forward into a new possibility of a deeper and more profound relationship with God, church, and neighbor.

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In late January we hosted our learning event focused on the Artform of Accompaniment. Brenna and Geoffrey reflect below on lessons and learnings from that event. 

Trust the Process: A Journey of Connection and Transformation

This past January, a gathering took place at Augsburg University, marking the beginning of an extraordinary journey for our congregations. We embarked on a path to explore and embody the art of accompaniment, a journey aimed at not just knowing about the neighbor, actually knowing the neighbor, and unraveling a new way of being church in the world.

The Essence of Accompaniment

Accompaniment, the first of four art forms we dive into, challenges us to not just know about our neighbors but to actually really know them—to see their essence. This deep understanding is fundamental, setting the stage for the upcoming art forms of interpretation, discernment, and proclamation. Our learning event was more than an educational endeavor; it was an invitation to transform how we interact and perceive the people around us.

The Power of Practice

A pivotal aspect of our gathering was the emphasis on practicing accompaniment through one-to-ones. That’s when I really saw the importance of cultivating these connections and practice among ourselves.

During a lunchtime exercise, participants paired up with someone from a different congregation, someone they didn’t know, and then embark on a journey of discovering the essence of each other. The simple act of asking questions and just listening unveiled the profound impact of hearing and sharing stories. Returning from the exercise, the air was filled with laughter, smiles, and a sense of connection. This practice, as many reflected, was the highlight of the day, underscoring the simplicity and inspiration found in truly meeting someone new and authentically connecting.

Creating a New World Together

This event was not just about learning; it was about preparing to build a new world together. The question, “when my world and your world collide, what happens now?” captures the essence of our mission. We are preparing to step out of our comfort zones, to listen and share stories, to connect our narratives with those of our neighbors. This is the groundwork for a new world—a world as intended by God.

The overarching vision of our journey is rooted in the belief that we are created for connection. It’s our stories with those of our neighbors that we find the blueprint for this new world. Through connecting, listening, and truly hearing, we step into a realm of mutual understanding and empathy. This connection goes beyond mere interaction; it’s about engaging with stories on a deeper, heart level, being with and allowing the stories to move and transform us from within.

A Transformed Perspective

The learning event taught us that true connection involves more than just knowing each other’s stories; it’s about letting those stories resonate within us, altering our worldview, our thinking, and how we engage with the world. This process of connection with others, leaning into their story, and allowing it to transform our mind and heart is what prepares us to embrace a new perspective, living in a world that we’ve collectively reimagined.

As we continue on this journey, we continue leaning into the knowledge that our shared stories and connections are not just pathways to understanding but the very fabric of the new world we seek to create together

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Geoffrey’s Reflection

Peace friends,

So far, in our shared journey of faith and community, an essential truth emerged: real change begins within. As Lauryn Hill insightfully puts it, “How you gonna win when you ain’t right within?” This feels like it resonates as a deep undercurrent with our congregations’. .

We’re on a mission, not just to extend our sacred influence into the neighborhood but to first cultivate it within our own teams. It’s a process of aligning our hearts and minds, ensuring our internal compass is set towards genuine humanity.

This isn’t just about strategy; it’s about soul-searching. We’re engaging deeply with each other, understanding that to truly touch our neighborhood, we must first be united and aligned in our purpose and vision.

As we undertake this internal journey, we’re igniting a transformation that extends beyond our walls. We’re becoming the change we want to see, equipped to be sacred spaces in our neighborhood’s story, whether it’s filled with joy or echoes with grief.

This path we’re embarking on is and will be progressively challenging, yet incredibly rewarding. As we align within, our capacity to impact our neighborhoods grows exponentially. We’re not just changing – we’re evolving, ready to make a real ripple in the world around us.

Brenna’s Reflection

October brought the first of many cohort meetings for this round of the Riverside Innovation Hub journey. We met at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Bloomington, sharing in the rich history and context of their space. We heard their team members tell stories of teen lock-ins and Sunday school classes held in the room where we met from multiple generations in the past to today. Over the next year, each of our congregations will get a chance to host a cohort meeting in their space so that we can all get a taste of their place and story as we build relationships together.

This first cohort was centered around learning how to build relationships both with each other and with our neighbors. We discussed moving past surface conversation with deep listening and intentional questions to discover the essence of the person we are talking to – their passions, their strengths, their story – what makes them a unique and irreplaceable force in this world. 

Team members interviewed each other and then brought their findings back to the group through an introduction of their partner to the rest of us. The cohort members engaged really well and built relationships quickly with one another, many of them complaining when they had to stop building relationship and come back to the group. Hearing them share the strengths and passions of someone they had just met was really amazing, they dug deep and got to the essence of the other person so well. The room felt like family by the end of the night with playful banter and genuine appreciation for each other. 

I am incredibly excited for this journey with this group of people. They are ready to grow together and invest deeply in knowing and being known, both with each other and with their neighbors. The gifts and talents that each of these individuals bring to the space makes their teams stronger and, when invested in their communities, will make their corner of the world better.

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Our new Thriving Congregation Learning Community has launched for the 2023-2025 RIH Journey. We have 3 cohorts, two local groups made up of Twin Cities Metro churches and one distance cohort made up of churches from coast to coast. We have a great mix of large suburban churches, smaller outstate churches and everything in between, giving us a diversity of experience and perspectives that will make our learning communities deep wells for growth and change.

Geoffrey Gill has returned as a congregational facilitator. He is at the helm of our distance cohort and will also facilitate one of our local learning communities. His passion for connection and deep relationship allows him to bridge geographical and cultural differences to create a welcoming space where churches from Massachusetts, Oregon, and rural Minnesota can find commonality and bond over the love for their neighbors. This distance cohort combines passion for racial justice in Oregon, innovative ministry to unhoused folks in Massachusetts, and community building across the small towns and cornfields of Southern Minnesota.

Geoffrey’s local cohort includes churches from St Paul to Plymouth who are passionate about doing work in their neighborhoods – amongst immigrants and politicians, for affordable housing and environmental justice, with students and community partners. These churches are joined by a team of mentors from Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in Minneapolis who will share the wisdom they gained as participants in our last round of RIH learning communities.

Brenna Zeimet has joined as our new cohort facilitator and she will be leading the other local cohort as well as piloting a new program for our alumni churches that helps them continue this work and weave the love for the neighbor into the culture of their congregations.

Brenna’s local cohort spans the Twin Cities Metro area, from Roseville to Eagan and St Paul to Bloomington. The churches in this group come from different denominations and neighborhoods, some are historic churches with a long legacy in their communities while others are young congregations who are growing and innovating in their new spaces. They all share an excitement for this work and a desire to live into being vital neighbors who make a difference in the people around them.

This learning community has proved to be passionate and excited to jump into this work. They already have great ideas and partnerships and seem to enter the space with a heart that beats for the neighbor. The feeling as we launch into this two year journey is one of hopefulness and anticipation. These churches are going to be forces for good in their respective communities and they can’t wait to get that ball rolling. For the full list of congregations, check out our RIH website. 

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On September 16th church leaders from across the country gathered in person and via zoom to embark on a two year journey towards becoming vital neighbors in their communities. Riverside Innovation Hub launched three cohorts of churches, two of them composed of local congregations from the Minneapolis/St Paul metro area, and one distance cohort that will meet online with congregations from Oregon, Massachusetts, and rural Minnesota. We’re inspiring the flourishing of our neighbors from coast to coast!

Cohort participants got the opportunity to learn from our own Jeremy Myers about the Art of Becoming Public Church; diving deep into the cultural impacts of postmodernism, church outreach models, and what our neighbors want and need from us in our post-pandemic world. Jeremy helped our congregations think through what the public church framework is and why it is important to engage our neighbors in a different way than the Church has before.

Next our congregations explored their “why” with the help of our program director, Kristina Fruge. She walked through what it means to engage in “place based vocational discernment in the public square for the common good”, and then invited congregations to talk about their own places and the common good they long to work for in their particular public squares. Congregations also heard from each of our staff members about our own personal “why” that drives us to do this work of investing in our neighbors and building relationships for the flourishing of others. Over lunch, cohorts talked with each other about their personal “why” and began to build relationships with the co-laborers that will walk beside them on this journey.

After filling up on pasta, breadsticks, and brownies, it was time to do some hands-on learning. Our Communications Guru, Ellen Weber, led the congregations in a fun game with the simple objective of completing a puzzle, with the caveat that your team was missing several pieces and had to go get them from the other teams. Fetching those stray pieces came with rules – some participants couldn’t move, others couldn’t talk, others had to sing every word or communicate as a 1950’s robot, still others could only give encouraging high-fives to aid their team in the task at hand. Our congregations played this game with gusto and had lots of fun.

Afterwards our participants shared about how it felt to do a task where they didn’t have all the pieces necessary to complete it and where they had to rely on their team and their neighbors to be successful. The insights from the crowd were brilliant. One team realized early in the game that they had the right pieces, but the wrong framework to put them in, so instead of trading pieces, they switched out their frame for one that their neighbors gave them and then everything fell into place.

Another team had a puzzle that one of the team members just happened to have at home and completes with their kids regularly. Because of that previous knowledge, they weren’t confused by the upside down tiger that didn’t seem to belong and finished their puzzle faster than the other teams. They talked about the power of privilege and knowledge of systems and how those little benefits can impact who wins and loses.

Others talked about their individual roles and how they got stuck on not being allowed to talk and felt like they weren’t very useful until they read the description of their role again and realized that they could walk from table to table which was a very helpful thing. They realized that focusing on what they CAN do instead of what they CAN’T do is how they will best contribute to the flourishing of the team. Our participants are some deep thinkers and our RIH team is excited for what will come of this journey as these cohorts engage new ideas and new perspectives on being vital neighbors.

To bring everyone back together after our game, Cohort Leader – Brenna Zeimet, walked our teams through the “how” of the next two years, emphasizing how we will show up in our cohorts and how our learning will take place across large events, smaller cohort meetings, team lead meetings, and online through our Riverside Collaborative space. Brenna emphasized the power of vulnerability and openness to change in this process, reiterating that “the energy you put into this journey is the energy you will get out” – how we show up matters to our success.

We finished the day off with a panel of RIH Alumni. Pastor John Pedersen of Diamond Lake Lutheran Church and Pastor Eric Howell of Shiloh Temple in Brooklyn Park talked to our teams about their experience and allowed the group to ask questions. Their insights were candid about the struggles the teams will face but also incredibly hopeful about the power of these concepts when they are understood and implemented. 

The launch was a wonderful experience for our congregations to get a glimpse of the work they will be doing and begin to build relationships with the cohorts they will journey with. The energy in the room was awesome and the RIH team left very excited about the next two years and the growth we see on the horizon.

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