Creating a Brave Space for Writers to Flourish

The V3 Movement is pleased to host this guest blog from our Praxis 2023 Partner, Missio Alliance. Thank you for your support!

You’re a church planter, and you care about the way the church shows up in the world. You understand that church is about so much more than what does or doesn’t happen on a Sunday, whether it’s in a building, or in a home, or in a park. We think that matters too!

For more than 10 years, Missio Alliance has been serving the (largely Protestant) Church in North America by curating content and conversations that invite diverse church leaders to engage in generative dialogue at the intersection of formation, justice, and mission. That is, we seek to help church leaders develop a holistic theology and practice through culturally-attuned, theologically-robust and missionally-minded resources predicated on the core conviction that God is at work in the world, reconciling all things to himself unto the ultimate aim of new creation.

As we help shape the church’s witness in the world we do so through a number of offerings. One of the primary channels of content curation is our Writing Collectives, comprised of three integrated writing teams.

• Leading Voices – Seasoned, wise, sages who write from a deeply defined perspective with a humble, settled voice, often to the global Church.
• Featured Writers – Grounded, distinct, mature leaders who are facilitating significant transformation in their local context while connecting with the broader Church.
• Writing Fellows Cohort – Emerging, developing, maturing voices who are finding their feet and honing their voice as they root within the space God invites them to flourish within.

Our Writing Collective creates a brave space for theological reflection and thought leadership via weekly articles that center on cultivating imagination to address the most pressing issues facing the church in North America and beyond.

As we faithfully steward this valuable resource, we have an emerging vision to walk with writers as they find their voice and begin to flourish in the vocational mission God is inviting them to cultivate in the world. These are the characteristics of the space we envision curating:

• We seek to create a diverse space – One where voices and perspectives that emerge from a place of historic Christian orthodoxy, and yet tend to be marginalized within broader Christian discourse, can be clearly heard: In particular, those of women, BIPOC, and voices from the Majority World.
• We seek to create a hospitable space – One that winsomely, yet poignantly, invites robust discussion as opposed to shutting it down, even while holding to core truths and deep-seated convictions. This hospitable space can foster a prophetic witness that heals the local church everywhere.
• We seek to create an integrated space – One where substantive theological reflection emerges from and is oriented toward healthy ministry practices, with a particular emphasis on the integration of a maturing spiritual formation, a holistic pursuit of justice, and the reimagining of healthy missional postures.

• We seek to create a resourceful space – One where Christian leaders who minister in diverse, localized contexts can find tangible tools, reflective practices, and a robust developmental community that is maturing in all aspects of their Kingdom engagement.
• We seek to create a hopeful space – One where the deeply perfect love of God, our Friend, is at work within us, the Church, in this cultural moment, in a manner that bears faithful witness to the story of restoration that has taken place throughout human history, and is bending towards an integrated wholeness in the age to come.

Anchored by a diverse group of Leading Voices and a featured Writing Team, Missio Alliance will launch a refreshed, second Writing Fellows Cohort in Winter 2024, expanding our Writing Collective to three integrated writing teams once again. We are praying for a second cohort of 8-12 emerging writers who wish to develop and mature their voice through the art and craft of writing that will commit to a shared journey together over the course of a year. Particular emphasis will be given to inviting historically marginalized voices within the Church to be developed through this cohort initiative: Women, BIPOC, and Voices from the Majority World.

As Parker Palmer writes, “Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks – we will also find our path of authentic service in the world. True vocation joins self and service, as Frederick Buechner asserts when he defines vocation as ‘the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.’”¹

Do you feel God stirring your soul, inviting you to find your voice, and to express this desire through a shared community of maturing writers? If so, I can think of no better space to grow, than within the brave space of our second Writing Fellows Cohort. I urge you to prayerfully consider this opportunity, and to reach out with any questions you have by emailing editor@missioalliance.org.

I cannot wait to listen to your heart, and to begin a shared dialogue together.

Chris Kamalski
Editorial Director
Missio Alliance

We also invite you to check out Missio’s Learning Community launching next week on Formation, Justice, & Mission. View the video below for more information:

¹ Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak, 16.