What is the role of power in the new spiritual landscape emerging today? This season, we are exploring the themes we believe are glimpses of what will be critical guideposts for the future church.

This week, host Rev. Lisa Greenwood and co-host Rev. Kathi McShane speak with Vipin Thekk and Rabbi Elan Babchuck. Vipin Thekk, Founder of the Changemaker Communities initiative, is an experienced facilitator, coach, design consultant, public speaker, and serial entrepreneur. Rabbi Elan Babchuck is co-author of Picking Up the Pieces: Leadership After Empire and serves as the Founding Executive Director of Glean Network and Executive Vice President at Clal, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. Listen as Lisa, Kathi, Vipin, and Elan explore how relational power can emerge from trust-based collaboration, slowing down, and togetherness practices while transforming leadership and faith communities.

Guests

Vipin Thekk is an experienced facilitator, coach, design consultant, public speaker, and serial entrepreneur. He is the founder of the Changemaker Communities initiative, which weaves together influential institutions in cities to support the next generation of changemakers. He is constantly creating new programs that help people connect and bring their whole selves to their work and discover their power to become changemakers. His most recent, incredible contribution to the world is the Togetherness Practice.

Rabbi Elan Babchuck is the co-author of Picking Up the Pieces: Leadership After Empire. He is committed to leaving behind a world that is more compassionate and connected than the one he found. In pursuit of that commitment, he serves as the Executive Vice President at Clal, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, and the Founding Executive Director of Glean Network, an incubator and network for entrepreneurs who are building new models of faith in action.

 Quotes

• “The more that we speak about the aspirational model of shared power publicly, honestly, vulnerably, and using terms like this is how I aspire to lead in the world, the better that our community, those who we hold in power and love, can invite us to live into those values, to live into that vision." -Vipin Thekk [17:23]

• “I was asking people essentially, to trade in the things, the engagements they already had in their lives for something that was really about my project in the world, which was the institution of the church. When we as leaders of the church, need to question that. How can the church help people do things with a different character as a person of faith, becoming a compassion-driven change maker like Jesus?” -Rev. Kathi McShane [24:33]

Episode Highlights  

• Relational Power: Power is found and formed between individuals, manifesting through relationships, trust, and collaboration rather than hierarchical structures.
• Shared Leadership: Emerging spiritual landscapes are moving away from lone leadership towards collaborative and shared leadership models.
• Formation and Practice: Leadership in the future church involves deep personal and spiritual formation, often cultivated through practices like Vipin’s Togetherness Practice.
• Vulnerability and Trust: Effective leadership and power dynamics depend heavily on vulnerability, trust, and authenticity within relationships.
• Cultural Observations: Examples from popular culture, such as Taylor Swift’s fanbase, can provide insights into new forms of collective power and relational dynamics.

Timestamps

(00:10) Exploring Power Dynamics in the Emerging Spiritual Landscape

(05:48) The Role of Power in Leadership After Empire

(23:14) Shifting Church Leadership Toward Collaborative Spiritual Innovation

(28:09) The Shadow Dimension of Leadership and Personal Roles in Drama

(31:48) Becoming More of Yourself in Leadership

(34:19) The Togetherness Practice: A Framework for Changemakers

(37:45) Transformational Change Through Relational Spaces and Togetherness Practice

(41:53) Courageous Leadership and the Importance of Relational Focus

(47:37) Finding Gifts in Every Room and Within Ourselves

(50:47) Small Boats and the Future of the Church

Links

Visit our show’s website at www.ignitingimagination.org.

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