The Use of Appreciative Inquiry to Help a Congregation Through a Crisis Towards a More Positive Outlook: Reemphasizing Discipleship and Leadership Development

Abstract

This portfolio was originally intended to research Discovery Church’s journey to multisite. Over a four-month period just prior to launch of the second site, the church dealt with a leadership and financial crisis brought on by a drop in attendance. These changes necessitated putting multisite on hold and refocusing energies on discipleship and mission. The original research question proposed the use of an Appreciative Inquiry model intended to help the congregation deal with the emotional and social shifts to become one church with two locations. Facing new circumstances, the Appreciative Inquiry model was modified to help the church deal with the emotional and social concerns they had around the dramatic change in their attendance and vision for multisite. This exercise gave an opportunity for the Church to recall why they started as a church plant, some of the great things that God had already done, the courage to risk once more, and step into a new future. Out of the Appreciative Inquiry, Discovery Church embarked on the rebuilding process that focused on clarifying their existing vision, developing disciples making disciples, and a missional leadership development process, eventually leading them back to the potential for multiplication.