THE LOCAL CHURCH EXPERIMENT

INCLUSIVE DESIGN OF THE SIX­YEAR EXPERIMENT

PHASE 11: 1970­1976

December, 1970

INTRODUCTION
	1. The Church today finds itself in a worldwide revolution which is more fundamental than any other revolution in the history of man. The revolution of our day is the cultural revolution which is calling into question and radically altering the structures that hold and mediate man's basic self­understanding. At the same time this revolution has thrown human responsibility into a global context which demands a universal style be developed that will allow unity of spirit across the globe. The whole earth belongs to all the people, and all economic, political, and cultural relationships must be ordered and administered to implement this global vision. Although this is a secular task, it is also a deeply spiritual or religious task as men of the spirit must recover a new mode of self­consciousness that gives contemporary man the opportunity to come face to face with life's deep mystery and there do what is necessary to meet the global and particular need of his neighbor. The Church today is on the threshold of a giant step in the renewal process. As she grasps herself anew as the People of God she sees the key role of the Local Church wherein sensitivity to human need becomes grounded in the lives of particular people. The Local Church serves as the uninterrupted presence of the People of God in a particular location. To effect the renewal demanded of her the Church must take a genuine step toward massive Local Church reconstruction. It is only in this way that she may regain her morale and effectively engage the troubled times of our globe. 2. This is the fourth of the five papers which describe the comprehensive experiment in the reconstruction of the Local Church and set the context for the application of the thirty­six tactical systems. The three papers preceding this are the Prologue, Master Index, and Policy Statement on the Initiation of The Local Church Experiment (Council V document). The Prologue lays out the context of the experiment in the sense of delineating the situation in the world and in the Church which demands renewal. Next, it explains the project, explicating the role of the Church and the strategies, tactics, and time scheme required. Lastly, procedures are briefly laid out concerning training, data needed, prerequisites for the project, and the financial support required. The Master Index lays out a construct of the issues that must be considered in such a reconstruction project. It begins with a statement of the general situation of man today and points to the key to an effective response. Basic strategies which form the practical milieu are articulated, and the step­by­step tactical procedures are recapitulated. Next, the comprehensive instruments or tools which support the step­by­step process are described. Finally, the directives for local forces which enable them to stand as resolute and creative enablers are laid out. The third paper is the document prepared during Council V by a group of churchmen who met on behalf of all local congregations across the continent of North America. This fourth document lays out the various phases of the experimental project and describes the construct necessary to actualize them. It symbolizes the decision of the movemental forces to reconstruct the Local Church. A fifth document will describe the tactics necessary to apply to the Local Church the thirty­six tactical systems, twelve each for congregation, cadre, and parish. 3. This fourth paper now adds to the context and data provided by the other three papers and moves on to lay out the inclusive design of the six­year intent of the Local Church experiment. As such it describes the support machinery and forces for the experiment. It delineates the part of the overall project that comprises Phase II the experimentation and demonstration phase. Phase II is six years (1970­1976) of the eighteen­year project which tests the workability of the tactical system relative to the generally accepted criteria of a renewed Church. After laying out the context of the experiment which describes the total project, its intent, characteristics, and supporting framework, the document then lays out the field complex, auxiliary forces, and back­up system. The field complex describes the design and operations of the experiment which range from construct to statistical data. The auxiliary forces describe the composition, type, role, function, and training required of the leadership forces necessary for the effective operation of the project. The back­up system spells out a training network and regulation centrum that are required to continually feed trained personnel and relevant data into the life­stream of the project. Finally, a financial model is laid out that is necessary to enable and support the project to insure that it does not lack the needed money and equipment.
CONTEXT OF THE EXPERIMENT
	4. This section deals with the project's temporal design and setting within the broad sweep of Church renewal in the twentieth century. It outlines the intent of the experiment and its anticipated results. It demonstrates the delimiting characteristics which are essential to the reconstruction of the Local Church herein conceived. And it describes in brief the operating schemata of the particular experiment.
	I. THE INCLUSIVE PROJECT 5. The purpose of this section of the paper is to locate in time the context of a specific experiment within a larger project of the reconstruction of the Local Church. It puts in perspective the whole of the twentieth century movement of Church renewal and indicates the particular role within that perspective that the experiment under consideration will play.
GENERAL SETTING	6. The present moment is lived in the midst of an eighteen­year project of the reconstruction of the Local Church. However, this project is itself set within a broader ninety­year context of Church renewal which, starting in 1917, focused for forty years on re-articulating the eternal Word in twentieth century thought forms, followed by ten years of searching for adequate ways to manifest that again­relevant Word in sociological form. We now find ourselves in a forty­year period of structural reconstruction undergirded by spirit rebirthing. This project is the seed reconstruction, encompassing research, experimentation, and replication, which will then grow to global harvest at the end of this latter forty years in 2007. The research phase, now complete, took the four years, 1966­1970. The experimental phase, using an extensive tactical model, will occupy the present six­year span, 1970­1976. The eight years of 1976­1984 will be concerned with controlled replication of the experiment.
RESEARCH PHASE	7. In the past fifty years renewal has taken place primarily in the theoretical dimension of the Church's life. In 1966 the decision was made that a corporate direction of renewal could be forged. In 1967 a group of churchmen gestalted the vast store of theoretical wisdom that had been gathered over the years, and in struggling to retrace the history of man's journey toward full humanness a vision of future possibility was birthed. This resulted in the Declaration by Council II. In the following year the articulation of a movemental strategy of renewal on a global scale was written by Council III. The focus moved in 1969 to the dynamic of the Local Church, and the research in this area is contained in the working paper created by Council IV. This paper served as a springboard for the Research Assembly of 1970. The work of the assembly of five hundred concerned clergy and laymen culminated in a concrete, detailed, comprehensive tactical plan for reconstructing the Local Church for our time. This period is referred to as Phase I or the Research Phase of the project.
EXPERIMENTAL PHASE	8. The tactical model formulated by the Research Assembly is designed to enact a four­year model for each Local Church situation in staggered stages across three two­year operations. The first operation, 1970­1972, is actuating the experiment. It is setting up the experiment, establishing its operational machinery, selecting the signal local churches and beginning work in those congregations. The second operation, 1972­1974, is developing the experiment and is highlighted by the completion of the four years of the tactical model by the first sixteen churches. The third operation, 1974­1976, is the period of demonstration in which local churches from every part of the continent complete the tactical model of reconstruction and stand as signs of possibility. This period is referred to as Phase II, or the Experimental Phase of the project.
REPLICATION PHASE	9. The third phase is a self­consciously programmed, controlled replication of the model of tactical reconstruction. During Phase II the tactical systems will have undergone constant evaluation and refinement. At this time the project will be available to thousands of churches across the North American continent. The year 1984 marks the end of the eighteen­year controlled project. This should lead to a non­catalyzed replication of the experiment in a myriad of local churches. This period is referred to as Phase III, or the Replication Phase.
	10. This, then, is the context and scope of the experiment in the Local Church. It is conceived of as part of the broad stream of renewal that God has called forth in Century Twenty and will stand as the sign of the practical direction of reconstruction which will bring that movement to full flower. It remains now to examine the essential intent, the delimiting character, and the supporting framework which compose this experiment and together are the total context within which the experiment will be conducted.
	ESSENTIAL INTENT 11. The essential intent of the experiment is to employ a detailed, thoroughly researched tactical system, created by hundreds of concerned churchmen, to the end that the core objective may be accomplished. The experiment intends to test the workability of the tactical model through the operating scheme. This calls for the pulling together of groups of local churches who will actualize the model and further to evaluate the results of this experiment by the application of a specific set of evaluative criteria spelled out in Section C of this document. In this way, during the next four years it is the intent of the experiment to determine whether or not such a model can reach its core objective and at the same time make such a plan available to the most remote congregation in order that every churchman may participate in the new age of the People of God. Secondary results are also a part of the essential intent in that the systems designed for the experiment will in themselves have a metamorphic effect on the entire Historical Church.
CORE OBJ ECTIVE	12. The core objective is to achieve the practical, sociological, intellectual and spiritual reformulation of the Local Church in our day. In light of the present cultural revolution, we find ourselves in the midst of the dramatic collapse of our symbolic life. Therefore, renewal or the attainment of the core objective must take place through the self­conscious awakening of the spirit deeps that are present in every man.
OPERATING SCHEME	13. The operating scheme calls for diverse local congregations across the continent to participate in the active stage of the experiment, implementing the tactical system in order to enable the metamorphosis of renewal to take place. An integral part of this scheme provides for the training of local leadership to enable them to operate corporately, functioning as auxiliaries and consultants at the local level, so that the responsibility of the renewal of the Church can be assumed at the grassroots level. The operating scheme also includes a research network which continues to keep abreast of needed alterations, feeding the necessary refinements of the model into the experiment.
EVALUATION CRITERIA	14. Built into the experiment is the means by which to evaluate the core objective, and secondary objectives, by a giver, set of criteria which will objectify the workability of the tactical model. There are four major criteria: 1) relevant mission, 2) sustaining symbolism, 3) enabling reflection, and 4) strengthening discipline. Relevant mission indicates that the Local Church shifts its focus from concern for itself to concern for the world, seen concretely in the actualization of the parish. Sustaining symbolism includes the symbols that point toward a decision having been made about the Church's mission, and that the ancient symbols of the Church are being reappropriated as the symbols that hold the spirit dimension of life. Enabling reflection points to the theological and cultural understanding that the congregation members exhibit, and an indication of spirit insights and ability to solve problems. Strengthening discipline includes the re­imaging of goods, plus the building of structures that enable viable spirit care and decision­making to take place.
SECONDARY RESULTS	15. In addition to the socio­spiritual renewal of the Local Church, the intent of the experiment is designed to give birth to several secondary results. One of these is the social reformation of local communities in which members of the community are enabled to forge new forms of social justice in the context of a new social vehicle. This is to say that visible participation of members of the congregations involved in eradicating the social inequities of our day will be a sign to both the Church and the world. Second, the back­up machinery of the experiment will demonstrate the possibility of the metamorphosis of the regional church to be the comprehensive enabler of the Local Church. One concretion of this will be the large body of churchmen equipped to train the Local Church. Third, the experiment will result in the intentional reordering of the economic life of the congregation, so that the basic images and structures for getting the economic power of the Church clearly behind the missional demand will be present. Fourth will be the local reservoir of trained, disciplined, committed spirit churchmen available for the renewal of the whole Church.
	16. The essential intent of the experiment, then, is that the foundational renewal of the deeps of the human spirit shall be made possible in the socio­religious context of the Local Church. This objective shall be tested through a specific operating scheme, with carefully selected, commonly accepted criteria, which shall result in beneficial secondary results. The possibility has been clearly researched and now must be tested and proven in the crucible of the Established Church.
	DELIMITING CHARACTERISTICS 17. It is essential to the nature of an experiment that the delimiting boundaries be clearly drawn to provide the concrete characteristics by which the experiment can be evaluated and to build the signal congregations that will stand as signs of possibility of global replication of the experimental design. The delimiting characteristics of the Local Church experiment are that it shall operate wholly within the Established Church, that it shall be continental in its scope, and that it shall be based on the emergence of local leadership.
WITHIN ESTABLISHED	18. The Local Church experiment is created to enable the Established Church to recover and demonstrate its greatness by signaling the possibility of the principle of renewal, that is, the historical movemental dynamic, being actualized as a continuing dynamic in the Historical Church. Therefore, participation of local churches in this experiment shall be limited to those which stand squarely within the Established Church. Leadership within the experiment shall be limited to those who have decided to love the Church in the concretions of involvement in their own local situation. Participation shall also be limited to local churches where it is clear that support has been given by their own historical traditions. Only in this way can the experiment demonstrate that the Established Church is renewable from within.
PRIMAL ECUMEN-ISM	19. The thrust of the experiment in the reconstruction of the Local Church is comprehensive and ecumenical. As a primal ecumenical project the experiment finds its unitive thrust at the level of grassroots, Local Church mission. While honcring the historical traditions and denominational gifts of the local congregation, the experiment enables the local churchman to see the possibility of affirming the oneness of the global Church in its common mission to the world in catalyzing a new human system of sociality. Local congregations will be given a new vision of community cooperation and interchange of ideas and social thrust in the parish. The experiment births a new possibility for ecumenism that will give strength to the global Historical Church engaged in mission for the sake of all men.
	20. The Local Church experiment will be continental in its scope; that is, it shall be located in the North American contir,ent and inclusive of the geographical, social, economic, and religious diversity within the continent. Concretely, this means that the experiment shall include local churches of many denominations, both Protestant and Catholic, in diverse sociological settings, including inner city, suburban and exurban, embracing various ethnic and racial and economic compositions. It shall involve 528 local churches, in 108 metropolitan galaxies, in all thirty­six regions of North America and shall be serviced by thirty­six religious houses, including seventy­two outposts related to these religious houses. By the end of the six­year experiment, 256 local churches will have been involved in the development stages, of which eighty will have completed development. The scope and diversity of the experiment will enable the creation of an adequate sign of the possibility of the renewal of the Church, and will sufficiently test the design, model, and method of the experiment.
LOCAL LEADERSHIP	21. The Local Church experiment will be based on the emergence of local leadership. It is built on the premise that each Local Church already has within itself all of the leadership needed for the task. The experiment will enable this indigenous leadership to emerge with the theoretical and practical training, the corporate discipline, and the spiritual determination required to be the leadership of the Local Church. Outside forces shall be simply for the purpose of catalyzing this indigenous leadership. The local leadership shall be both clergy and lay, men and women, youth and adult. While being firmly grounded in the Local Church, this leadership must be clearly operating out of a global vision, collegiality, and responsibility. 22. With these delimiting characteristics the Local Church experiment, operating within the Established Church, giving form to primal ecumenism, embracing the diversity of the continent, and enabling the emergence of local leadership, shall be a sign to the People of God of the whole earth that the Church is renewable from within, and that in its great historic tradition the Church can recover its historical function of enabling all men to be fully human before God.
4. SUPPORTING FRAMEWORK
MASTER DESIGN	23. Without an enabling structure, no matter how opportune are the times, or clear the purpose, or circumscribed the activity, an experiment will founder in good intentions. This section, and in larger detail the following parts of this paper, delineate the support machinery necessary to carry out the experiment successfully. The tactical systems for the Local Church are spelled out in another document, consisting of the thirty­six booklets. This document enumerates the support mechanisms required to enable the tactical system to operate.
FIELD COMPLEX	24. The relationship of many churches, each bringing to the experiment the gifts and rich heritage of its particular denomination, the varied geographic locations, the diverse socioeconomic makeup of the congregations, plus the sharing of data will guard against the danger of parochialism. It is the intimate interconnection of local, regional, and continental structures that keeps each local situation global in perspective and the global dynamic relevant and powerful. The local design shows the stage of development any particular congregation is currently experiencing. The regional construct demonstrates the forms of interconnection of local churches at varying stages of development and the relationship to the catalytic forces which provide the hub around which local experimentation takes place. The backup system provides the continental coordination and comprehensive training the will provide each local situation with the tools necessary to enact and enliven the tactical model. All of this is held together by the continental phalanx of auxiliaries: the catalytic forces, continental, regional, and local, that stimulate local leadership in every congregation. The total field complex will contain common components in developing configurations during the six years of the experiment.
BACKUP SYSTEM	25. The field complex concerns those who are working directly and regularly in the local churches. A sheet of procedures for the selection of congregations details the movemens from preliminary interest to heightened preparation to actual development, focusing in the first two years on the tactical development of the congregation, then turning to the cadre and finally the parish. These local congregations will be related to staff of the Ecumenical Institute who will function in hubs of these galaxies of congregations. These hubs will either be religious houses (eighteen are now formed with eighteen more planned during the six years of the experimental phase) or metropolitan outposts related to those houses. Those hubs will work directly with varying configurations of galaxies. The combination of houses and outposts in any one area will operate as a regional cluster.
AUXI LIARY CONSTRUCT	26. The backup system, or the continental frame, of the experiment is that which maintains the experiment as one thrust in the reconstruction of the Church instead of a series of disparate experiences, and at the same time it maintains the sharpness of the edge research and common methodologies. The training network provides intensive drilling in the tactical model and the spiritual remotivating behind it. It provides the quarterly outside consultation that brings objectivity to each local situation. Depth training in the total curriculum and methodology is provided by the eight­week Church Academy; Specialized skills to enact particular tactics will be provided in a diversity of specialized educational opportunities. The regulation centrum is the dynamic of continuing research in new methodologies and models. It provides the coordination for the entire project. It is the focus for the interchange of discoveries from each local situation and from its vantage point is in a position to evaluate the experiment by applying criteria designed to bring objectivity to the local situation. This training and coordination is the basic function of the backup system.
AUXILIARY CONSTRUCT	27. The auxiliary construct is the organizing rationale for the trained leadership of the experiment whose task it is to catalyze the leadership of the congregations. In any Local Church the auxiliary dynamic will be embodied in the pastor and his wife, two cadremen, and the symbolic prior couple, resident in a religious house or metropolitan outpost, assigned by the staff of the Ecumenical Institute. 1 he auxiliaries from all the churches in a galaxy comprise the galactic auxiliary-eighteen persons in a fully developed galaxy. The corporate auxiliary will play the roles of prior, pedagogue, guru, and model builder as they enact their primary function of catalyst to the whole experiment. It is their responsibility to lay the groundwork for the tactical model, to train the leadership, enable the tactics, and maintain the integral relationship with the spirit movement as a whole. The training of the auxiliary dynamic will involve special initiatory and continuing training for the auxiliary priors, inclusive training for the entire galactic auxiliary, and individualized training for those couples who might become auxiliary priors. In such a construct the leadership of the entire experiment is enabled to move with unified power. 28. These are, in brief form, the structures required to enable the six­year experiment in the reconstruction of the Local Church. Without these, renewal is condemned to a poverty of the parochial and the weakness of the isolated. The following portions of this paper will spell out in greater detail and depth these structures and their functional operations. 29. The glory of the Church, in these times of severe tribulation, is that she has for over fifty years been seriously engaged in her own self­renewal. First of all she has step by step thought herself through to an articulation of the good news in Christ that is relevant to this present age. This has brought her to the point of radically redoing her spiritual forms and social patterns. That is what the project of Local Church reconstruction is all about. It is the practical part of the renewal in the Church. The experiment is to set up large enough groups of local churches in highly controlled situations willing to make the effort to discover the possibility of socio­political reformulation of the local congregation according to the criteria generally accepted by the Church at large as a sign of a renewed local congregation.
1. THE FIELD COMPLEX A. COMPONENT PARTS
	30. The key factor in any serious undertaking concerned with the structural renewal of tr Local Church is the means by which the theoretical and practical constructs a implemented. In an undertaking of this nature, the quality and durability of the operation machinery is of utmost importance. The following section deals with the major five machineries which are the foundation of the experiment and demonstration Phase II. The first component is the schemata by which individual churches are established and prepare in the project. This includes two parts of the machinery entitled Levels of Preparation an Procedures of Selection. The second component, entitled Stages of Development, deals with the movement of congregations through the intensified period of actualizing the tactic model. The third component is an explanation of the basic organization of churches by central metropolitan structure. This includes both the machinery of the Galaxy and tt Galactic Hub. Finally, the Regional Cluster is that machinery which coordinates sever groups of participating congregations.
5. PREPARATORY LEVELS
	31. A crucial factor in Phase II of the experiment is the means by which numerous variables in each possible experimental church can be singled out, evaluated, and at the same time related to the progress and success of the entire experiment. A methodological analysis of each church is required to delineate both its situation as an emerging congregation and to illuminate the direction of preparatory development. The schemata of preparatory levels the tool of analysis. Preparation levels are defined as a means of describing the basic process of preparation in each church in the experimental design and as a series of formal criteria for evaluating and selecting churches to enter the project. The four preparation levels are Level A, B, C, and D. Each of these levels specifies a group of qualities to which we point as a sign of a given level of preparedness of a particular church in the experiment.
PREPARATIONS CONTEXT	32. The basic operational image for the levels is preparation. The criteria used for deciding whether a congregation is at Level B or Level C, for instance, is established not for the process of determining if a particular congregation "measures up," but rather as a model for preparing a congregation to eventually enter Stage 1 of experimentation. The particular arenas where preparation must take place are the clergy family, the cadre, the congregation the regional movement, and the denomination. The particular areas of preparation in each of the above arenas are objective, training, decision, and support.
LEVEL D	33. Level D is the preparatory dynamic necessary for becoming a part of the self-conscious experiment in Level C. At this level of preparation the clergy should be concerned about th future of the congregation and have participated in either a PLC or RS­I. There must be self-conscious cadre of at least four persons who have taken RS­I. The congregation should have eight or more persons who have taken RS­I and there should be a possibility a participating in a galaxy. There should be within the cadre an awareness of the movement and a concern for the renewal of the Church. The denominational structures should begin t' be self-consciously interested in the project initiated in those denominational structures. No financial support of concrete decisions relative to the experiment, movement, o congregation are required during the preparation for Level C.
LEVEL C	34. Level C is basically the dynamic of becoming Level B. At Level C there are the criteria of preparedness for the clergy family: first, they are beginning to think serious! about participation in the experiment; second, they give evidence of understanding the teas; directives of the PLC; and third, they envision themselves as movement colleagues. Then a Level C there are three criteria of preparedness for the cadre: first, the cadre consists of minimum of six persons; second, it has laid out a plan for its own training through advanced courses; and third, the cadre has taken responsibility for that congregation as its care dynamic. Further, there are three criteria of preparedness for the congregation at Level C: first, the congregation shows some signs of readiness for the experiment; second, the congregation has at least ten RS­I grads (or 2 per cent of the congregation where the congregation is less than five hundred members); and third, the development of the galaxy is well under way. Also at Level C there are three criteria of movemental relations preparedness for the clergy family and the cadre: first, they are involved in the movement; second, they have a direct relationship to the regional structures; and third, they actively participate in RS­I recruitment. Finally, there are three criteria of denominational relations preparedness for Level C: first, there is interest in the denomination; second, the denominations lend support regionally; and thirdly, there are possibilities of support from national structures.
LEVEL B	35. Level B is basically the dynamic of becoming Level A. At Level B of preparation there are four criteria of preparedness of the clergy family: first, they are prepared to participate in the auxiliary dynamic; second, they have already participated in advanced courses and the Local Church experiment training; third, they have offered a direct invitation to the movement to have an auxiliary assigned to the galaxy; and fourth, the clergy family have agreed to participate in the financial obligation. Then at Level B there are four criteria of preparedness of the cadre: first, the cadre consists of twelve or more persons of which there are at least three couples; second, they have participated in, or have scheduled the Academy on their timeline; third, they have self-consciously decided to participate as a cadre in the experiment; and fourth, they have committed themselves to financially support the experiment. Then Level B names four criteria of preparedness for the congregation: first, the galaxy criteria are present; second, there are at least fifty RS­I grads or five per cent of the membership; third, the congregation gives some concrete sign of authorization; and fourth, the congregation has decided to financially support the experiment. Further for Level B there are four criteria of movemental preparedness for the cadre and the clergy: first, they provide leadership in the regional movement structures; second, they participate in regional councils; and third, they participate in continental councils and have secured movemental approval; and fourth, financial support for their congregation's participation in the experiment has been obtained. Finally, Level B denominational relations preparedness includes the following four criteria for the congregation, cadre, and clergy: first, there is established support in the denominational structures; second, at the national level there is significant support of the congregation in its experimental decision; third, the congregation has sponsors of the decision to participate in the experiment at the regional denominational level; and fourth, there is some sign of financial support at the national denominational level.
LEVEL A	36. When all of the above preparations have been completed the congregation would be a Level A congregation ready to enter the first stage of the four­year development. That is to say when Level B has been completed the preparation period is finished and the congregation is prepared to participate in the experiment. This does not necessarily mean, however, that the experiment will immediately take place. This is dependent first of all upon the relationship the particular congregation decides to take to the total experiment, and secondly, the particular complex of galactic and cluster structures available in its particular area. Finally, it can be said that when a congregation reaches Level A this simply means that a decision has been made by the congregation that they, when approved by the national movement, will be related to the total experiment as it is coordinated nation wide over a four year period.
6. DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES
EMPHASIS PRINCIPLES	37. The levels of preparation previously dealt with are the prelude to direct and self-conscious congregational participation m the experimental phase of the project. We shall now turn to a description of the stages of development through which a Level A congregation shall progress (i.e., a congregation having met all the criteria suggested in the levels of preparation and intentionally involving itself in the entire project). The stages of development are the necessary ground to be covered in order for the project to enter Phase III, or controlled replication. It will be important in the following paragraphs to be attentive to the interior development of the delineated stages and the progression from one to another. 38. Congregations involved in the four stages of development clearly will be the primal experimental group in the actual implementation of the tactical model for the reconstruction of the Local Church. Level A churches are the critical focus of the experiment and clearly will have assumed the burden of the historically necessary task of Church renewal. It becomes apparent that the four stages of development described here form the core of the renewal dynamic on the local level, as they comprise fully 2/3 of the experimental phase. The four stages of development focus progressively on the congregation, cadre, and parish and are intended to create signals of the renewed Church structurally manifesting the mission and spirit of the People of God. These stages are designated within the document as A­1, A­2, A­3, and A­4; each is one year in duration.
STAGES A­1 & A­2	39. Foremost concern is given in the tactical model to the development of the congregation. Consequently, Stages A­1 and A­2 focus upon the congregation and its maturation. Fully half of the time involved in the stages of development is focused upon this task. This emphasis is a reflection of the conviction that the congregation is the key in the task of the radical reformulation of the Local Church. Stage A­1 stresses the training of the congregation and Stage A­2 focuses upon the implementation of programs for the internal life of the congregation. The task of congregational training undertaken in Stage 1 will not involve any fundamental reprogramming of the congregation, but rather the development of systematic training processes operating parallel to and designed to enable the ongoing program of the congregation. Stage 2 is the implementation of the total congregational section of the tactical model.
STAGE A­3	40. Stage 3 of the experimentation phase focuses upon nurturing the corporate leadership dynamic within the life of the congregation. The task here will be the further development of a disciplined congregational cadre which acts as the catalytic leaven providing ever new visionary contexts, depth training, and religious guidance. This involves building the structures of disciplined care within the life of the cadre that sustain its missional role within the congregation and continually deepen and enrich its grasp of this role. The fundamental aim of this stage is enabling the cadre to actualize effectively its potential as a sustaining force and spiritual leaven in the Local Church. Here it becomes practically clear how the cadre must function as the corporate clergy of the congregation acting to strengthen and refurbish its self-conscious participation in the project.
STAGE A­4	41. Stage 4 focuses attention and resources of the congregation upon its involvement in the local community. This stage stresses, therefore, the development of the parish. It is the concrete sign of the Local Church's missional engagement in the local community and an indication of the decision to assume responsibility for the comprehensive care of a particular community of human beings. No longer is the congregation's involvement in the community for the sake of creating signals and signs of hope, but now is a direct and well planned attack upon the basic structures of the community. During this stage a tactical model involving all dimensions of the parish dynamic as spelled out in the analytic model of the Local Church must be implemented. The task of rebuilding in depth the form of grass roots community will then be in full operation. 42. During the experimentation and demonstration phase, congregations involved in the stages of development shall be the focus of the project. At the end of this six­year period we shall stand on the verge of a significant shift as the project enters Phase 111. At this point we must have before us a concrete picture of the new social form of the local manifestation of the Church. The imperatives such a picture provides will necessitate moving dramatically to building a programmatic model for the controlled replication of the new Local Church.
7. GALAXY DESIGNS
	43. The galaxy is that operation design within the Local Church project which enables the local unit of the Church to involve itself structurally in a common experiment with churches in different geographical locations, various denominational backgrounds, and at different levels and stages in the reconstruction process. Here we will describe the design of the galaxy plan, the types of galaxy configurations which include churches at all developmental levels, the hub structure which cements the galactic model together, and the principle of expansion which will be used to spread the experiment under rationally conceived guidelines across the North American continent.
GALAXY PLAN	44. The galaxy plan is designed to allow four local churches to coordinate their functions around the hub, which is also the context in which a local church relates to a wider range of churches. This plan allows for a corporate direction and level of achievement which no church operating independently could accomplish. Through common planning and evaluation, the gifts and discoveries of each experiment are shared, thereby allowing all voices to contribute to the work of the project in each local situation. The galaxy requires ecumenicity based on the presupposition that effective and authentic ecumenism is possible where local churchmen gather in common mission under the Word in Jesus Christ. Each galaxy will have at least two different denominations among its four churches. Further, the galaxy plan allows for inclusion of churches located in different socioeconomic areas. It occasions a rare kind of development of corporate mission among city, suburban, and exurban peoples experimenting in a common experimental thrust. The importance of this arrangement is illustrated again by the need for free­flowing interchange of ideas and expertise among different types of congregations. This allows the experiment to be a representative one, that is, one which any church can identify as being helpful to its own particular community and church. The rational consistency of this plan lies in the placement of the galaxies and in their denominational and geo­social makeup.
GALAXY TYPES	45. Within every region where the experiment will operate, there will be a certain number of churches selected to participate in the experiment at the A, B, and C preparation levels. Depending on the variables which occur in auxiliary staff demands and readiness of local churches, a galaxy will consist of four churches operating in conjunction with trained auxiliary personnel who reside in the regional religious house. There are three types of galaxies which will exist initially in the project. The first is the Alpha type galaxy which requires that the auxiliary relate to two Level A, one Level B, and one Level C churches. Secondly, a Beta type galaxy configuration consists of one Level A, two level B, and one Level C churches; and thirdly, the Gamma type galaxy has two each of the B and C level local units. The Alpha, Beta, and Gamma configurations are only valid wherever the galaxy experiment is first initiated. These three types do not account for variables in the time which it takes for a congregation to move through the various stages of the project, neither does it cover the situation which develops as congregations become stage A­2, 3, or 4. In this context the galaxy serves as the operational key to the movement of churches through Phase 11, and the function will not alter appreciably even though the designation will change.
GALACTIC HUBS	46. At the very heart of the galaxy structure is the hub. It is that trained, sensitive couple designated to be the auxiliary to the local congregation which provides the methodological skill, the coordinating focus of the galaxy, the priorship consultation, and the spirit support. Whether the hub is in fact the religious house or a metropolitan outpost, it is the source of the primal auxiliary unit and the coordinating centrum for all auxiliary components. The religious house relationship is critically important because it gives possibility to the oft­mentioned need for spiritual re­motivation, continuing sustenance in the Word, and practical undergirding. The metro outpost is a separate galaxy of four churches centered on an auxiliary in that metro, and is necessary to avoid overloading the primal auxiliary of the religious house hub. The metropolitan outpost exists in a larger auxiliary relationship with the central hub and other outpost hubs. To demonstrate the outpost function, the Chicago experimental design presently contains two metro outposts which are responsible for regional galaxies. These galaxy configurations will begin operation in every region where religious houses are currently located.
GALAXY DISTRIBUTION	47. In 1970­71, twenty galactic hubs will exist. These will be broken down into four Alpha, eight Beta, and eight Gamma configurations. The rational distribution of the galaxies across the continent follows the religious house placement rationale which is based on need, local support, and strategic location. The basis, therefore, for the systematic expansion of the project lies in adding more religious houses and metropolitan outposts. The outposts which will also be a disciplined, corporate body working in unison with the religious house, will increase gradually from a first­year experiment of two in the Chicago region to seventy­two outposts across the continent by year six. Accordingly, the religious house expansion will cover the twenty­four regions in the United States with the addition of six houses in years one and two. The Canadian total will be four with the addition of two houses in the first two years. Therefore, by 1975­76, thirty­six houses and seventy­two metropolitan outposts will be in operation, serving 108 galaxies in North America. 48. The importance of the galaxy concept does not reside in forging cooperative relationships among churches, but rather in the basic organizational design through which every man can participate as a global churchman. It gives new life, power, and possibility to churchmen across the world to self­consciously participate in corporate mission. It stands as a pioneering sign of hope in our time for disciplined corporate mission to occur on behalf of all men.
8. REGIONAL CLUSTER
		49. As the experimental Phase I I progresses through its six­year forms, numerous metropolitan galaxies will be added within the thirty­six continental regions. Of paramount importance is that each metro galaxy and each individual Local Church understand themselves as integral parts of a total experimental thrust throughout the North American continent. The regional cluster is the coordinating construct within each region which relates metropolitan galaxies to the entire experiment.
CLUSTER ORGANIZATION		50. In order to insure the rational ordering of the galaxies across the North American continent, a comprehensive picture of the continent has been designed. All of North America is divided into six geographic areas, four in the United States and two in Canada; each area is divided into six regions; and each region is divided into six metropolitans. This geographic breakdown is the abstract tool by which the galaxies are established systematically through the six­year experiment. The basic organization of a regional cluster consists of three or more metropolitan galaxies operating in the same region. One of the metro galaxy hubs is a religious house, and the other hubs are outposts. The auxiliary prior of the religious house coordinates the metro galactic auxiliary and serves as the auxiliary prior for the cluster auxiliary. A total of six hubs form a complete cluster in a region. The expansion progresses from one religious house hub to two outpost hubs and then adding one or more hubs each year until the regional cluster is completed. The regional cluster is the organization which coordinates the several metro galaxies and the component auxiliary units of each galaxy.
CLUSTER ROLE		51. The role of the regional cluster is to give form and focus for the Local Church experiment on a regional basis. The cluster is to locate new galaxy configurations systematically according to the comprehensive experimental plan for the North American continent. The cluster localizes the sign of renewal in every metro while at the same time exhibiting ecumenical renewal work on a regional basis. The cluster coordinates the diverse galactic configurations into one renewal thrust. The cluster provides the means by which every local auxiliary unit participates in the total experiment. Thus, the cluster embodies the experiment on a regional basis.
REGIONAL FUNCTION		52. The regional cluster is the form by which the overall Local Church experiment develops and flows on a regional basis. The cluster integrates the operations of several metropolitan galaxies into one coordinated experiment. The cluster relates each separate metropolitan galaxy to both the regional work of the spirit movement and to the continental backup systems necessary for the renewal of the Church. The cluster enables the training of churchmen on a comprehensive and ecumenical basis for the practical renewal of the Local Church. The cluster cultivates new churches in as yet untouched metros for their preparation to move into the experimental system at a later date. In this capacity, the cluster is the construct equipped with the rationale of the total project insuring the systematic timing of the project's work throughout the region.
CONTINENTAL RELATIONSHIPS		53. The regional cluster is developed within a set of relationships designed to provide maximum experimental flexibility. The cluster is the link between the metropolitan galaxies and the continental coordinating centrum. The cluster serves as the data exchange system between the Local Church experiment and the backup systems. The cluster is responsible for the common training sessions for the experiment and sees that the training is coordinated on a common model. The cluster provides the forum for ongoing evaluation of the Local Church experiments and participates in the overall evaluation gestalting of the continental backup systems. Therefore, the regional cluster is the fundamental construct upon which the whole of the Local Church experiment maintains a single thrust.
		54. The impact of numerous galaxy configurations related to an extensive schemata at the regional level is a critical aspect of the regional cluster configuration. The serious ecumenism and objectivity of the project only become a part of its inclusive and interrelated experiment in the reconstruction of the Local Church. The regional cluster provides this possibility and allows the project to be an experiment on behalf of the entire Church. 55. Within the experimentation and demonstration phase of the project the operational designs form the foundation for both the six­year experiment and the eight­year replication phase. These operational designs, in whatever form they finally are given substance, are the machinery which shall build and direct the various experimental congregations. They are the administrative and operational core of the experiment upon which rests the success of the continental project.