February 18, 2021

Transformative Communities:
Passionately Committed to Learning (Part 2)

By Mark Clarke, Community Works, Inc.

The by-product of being a learning community is the consistent development of new competencies and action-oriented approaches. It leads to the establishment of a flexible and adaptive organization. Thus, in our context, learning communities must become transformative communities. Transformative Communities live by the Talmudic precept of “grow, grow, grow.” They foster a pioneer spirit through establishing an internal culture of learning and ongoing transformation.
Communities that engage in a continuous discernment process become mediums of God’s co-creative process. These attitudinal anchors create underpinnings which direct their collective energy toward society's renewal. They have an energetic thirst for learning that fosters a synergy for creative imagination that leads to action.

The speed of such societal disruptions as the pandemic, social unrest, technology, etc. continually raise new questions, social concerns, and opportunities to explore new models. Religious communities today must ask these questions:

How can we become transformative agents in our current culture and context?
How can we embrace God’s invitation for change in
our time of the pandemic, social unrest, and economic disparity?

The reflective exploration of these questions opens them to God's call to become representatives of transformative change. The word “transformation” is not a theoretical construct, but rather an active component within the organization. It is not wishful thinking; it is an imperative.

The significance of an evolving renewing organization is crucial in our world, which has no simple solutions to complex issues. The issues currently surfacing have been festering under the surface for decades. Thomas Friedman, an internationally recognized author, reporter and columnist on society social issues and emerging trends, comments in his May 30, 2020, New York Times editorial:

"And we're the ones who made it that way with our own hands. Just look around. Over the past 20 years, we've been steadily removing man- made and natural buffers, redundancies, regulations and norms that provide resilience and protection when big systems — be they ecological, geopolitical, or financial — get stressed. We've been recklessly removing these buffers out of an obsession with short-term efficiency and growth, or without thinking at all. At the same time, we've been behaving in extreme ways — pushing against, and breaching, common- sense political, financial, and planetary boundaries."

Friedman reaffirms the importance of having an adaptable organizational culture to explore and take the long view regarding these issues. He verifies the vital significance of Transformative Communities being life-long Learning Communities collectively searching and exploring new ideas. This zeal stimulates the imagination to seek innovative solutions.

Transformative Communities are living in a social environment that summons us to co- create with God. Illia Delio, who specializes in the intersection of science and theology, states, "the whole Creation, beginning with the Big Bang, is Incarnation. Evolution is the process of unfolding life, from matter to spirit.... The God of evolution is the God of adventure, a God who loves to do new things and is always new" (O’Leary 21). These words are the foundation of a transformative learning community to co-create with God the world ever new.

Critical Considerations and Reflections
Historical moments of significant change that create social disruptions place every organization in the cauldron of fire. The events of the past few months of 2020 have ripped open the fiber of society's soul and exposed societal wounds and scars that seek collective healing. This crisis has called on every entity to reflect on how it has contributed to the problem. Groups are induced to explore how their relationships are oppressive and to formulate a change strategy. To better understand this, it is helpful to examine the critical components of a learning and/or transforming organizational culture: Safe Emotional Container; Foresight; Capacity.