Learning Process

Three Rivers Collaborative seeks to provide an opportunity for churches to enter into a yearlong collective journey of exploration and application with a core group of strategic leaders (pastors and lay leaders from their own and other churches) who hope to understand, translate, integrate and multiply the 7 Marks to Movement into their ever-changing cultural contexts. TRC is designed to come alongside churches as they consider paradigmatic shifts and develop a practical plan of action.

Three Rivers Collaborative is not a pre-prescribed, plug and play approach to church ministry. Each church will have different needs and will consider unique strategies. Some churches might make a move toward strengthening leadership, some might consider innovative ways to gather together, some might become aware of the needs of the city in a way to would move them into a dynamic missional expression, and some might make the move to co-vocational or bi-vocational staff. This collaborative effort is not designed to train churches with a particular end in mind, but to educate them in the process of pivoting and adapting to the ever-changing needs of their cultures and church communities, especially in the continuing wake of the Covid-19 crisis. To be very clear, the goal of Three Rivers Collaborative is not designed to make better pastors. Instead, the focus is equipping the entire church to grasp the overarching mission and vision for their church and engage in a learning process that will affect the entire faith community. This will help them to cultivate an ecosystem centered on mission.

And so, to help cultivate a collaborative learning community centered on mission, TRC is built around a series of one-day conferences (3), cohort retreats (2), immersion trips, and ongoing coaching with learning communities working together through these phases of reframing mission, relearning the ways of Jesus, and releasing the church’s potential.

Each fall, we hope to
form the following:

1  Learning Community

3  Cohorts in each Learning Community

4  Churches in each Cohort (12 churches)

5  Leaders from each church (60 leaders)

What Does a Year Look Like?

We are currently in the process of finalizing dates for the 2022-2023 Learning Community, but the rhythm of the year will resemble the schedule below:

September

First Gathering of all 12 churches, facilitators and coaches at Johnson University.

Friday, 6pm-9pm and Saturday 9am-1pm

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November

Each cohort of 4 churches will have one 36-hour retreat in November.

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January

Second Gathering of all 12 churches, facilitators and coaches at Johnson University.

Friday, 6pm-9pm and Saturday 9am-1pm

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March

Each cohort of 4 churches will have one 36-hour retreat in March.

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April

Third Gathering of all 12 churches, facilitators and coaches at Johnson University.

Friday, 6pm-9pm and Saturday 9am-1pm

Also included in the year-long Learning Community will be regular coaching calls and possible immersion experiences. Other opportunities to learn together will be available, but will be scheduled according to the needs and availability of each individual cohort.

Commitment, Covenant, and Cost

The learning process of Three Rivers Collaborative is a 12-month commitment (September through August).  As stated above, this learning community is built around a series of one-day conferences (3), cohort retreats (2), immersion trips, and ongoing coaching.

There is no cost to participate in this 12-month learning community.  There is an application process where we will select and place churches into cohorts that are similar to each other in multiple ways. There is a 12-church limit on this first learning community, so not all churches that apply will be able to participate.  To apply, simply contact us here.