were missing, not what gifts they had.
After developing a new asset mentality,
we sat down and talked with Adele and
others about what their gifts were. Ironi-
cally, we learned that she is a great cook,
and we did a series of things to showcase
and support her cooking. She became a
successful food entrepreneur!
BJ: How should the structure of the
church—including governance and the
way congregations conduct worship—
reflect this new asset thinking?
MM: At a governing council, instead of
hearing reports from all the other com-
mittees that don’t do much anymore, you
can invite people from your congregation
and your community to take five min-
utes to discuss the gifts they have. The
next logical question for the congrega-
tion is: what should we do now, given
what we know now about these gifts? In
other words, how do we as a congregation
make sure to make room for the gifts of
people? At Broadway, we are ready to say
to people: “Go and do what you want.” If
you need money for it, then there are
some things you’re going to have to do.
But if you just want to do something here
in the name of the church, and it fits with
the broad outlines of our mission, then
you don’t have to get our permission to
do this. You have our permission.
BJ: How does Partners’ work fit in?
MM: Partners has done a good job re-
minding people that there’s a whole wide
world of abundance around you: people
who care about some of the same things
you care about, the business owner down
the street who may really love the thing
you’re doing—say gardening, for example
— because that may be her love or his love
too.
BJ: I think what’s easiest for people to
understand, because your stories are so
compelling, are the gifts of our members
and our neighbors. But we want congre-
gational leaders to take the next step:
“Let’s think about the building as a bun-
dle of assets, too.” The whole congrega-
tion can sink if that building is not better
utilized, if it’s not maximized. How has
Partners’ work influenced your thinking
on this?
MM: It has shaped my thinking! More
and more I’ve seen all the possibilities of
our building. Now almost everything that
happens in Broadway’s building comes
from those outside our congregation. We
have a floor that is entirely made up of
artists. We have an architecture firm that
rents space in our building. Our nine
kitchens (yes, nine!) are used by food
entrepreneurs. Many neighbors teach
classes in our building: everything from
capoeira to building rain barrels. Our
building is used by a local public high
school for its baccalaureate and a large
organization of early childhood educa-
tion centers uses our space for their train-
ing days. The Metropolitan Youth Or-
chestra offers lessons and a local Acro-
Yoga group meets here. Neighbors who
play video games have a monthly video
game night here at the church. We have
concerts and viewing parties for different
events as well as theater production
groups who use our space. Much of this
has happened because, as we have paid
attention to the giftedness around us, it
has led us to build on the connections we
have, leading us to people and organiza-
tions that have become tenants.
BJ: I see what you are saying – maximiz-
ing the building is an opening to work
with the community to do ministry in
new ways. Thank you, Mike!
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