[Oe List ...] Jon Jenkins

[jlepps at pc.jaring.my]

Jon Jenkins lived his life as a symbol of what the Order stood for. 
He came across as thoughtful, outspoken, and skillful in the use of 
consensus-building methods. His role in the development of the LENS 
strategic planning process and of the Human Development Projects was 
exemplary.

Jon's contributions to history include helping make the social 
process triangles and the Other World chart accessible to a wider 
audience, and helping to transpose the NRM into Nine Disciplines of a 
Facilitator. His co-authorship of the International Facilitator's 
Companion and development and management of the IAF Methods Database 
provided access to innumerable resources for those of us engaged in 
encouraging organizations to adopt a collaborative, participative 
style of operation. One cannot hope to name another's contributions 
to history with any degree of adequacy, but these are a few of Jon's 
that are notable.

Jon lived the transestablishment style, always working to transform 
society. He came to that perspective from the disestablishment 
posture, and never quite relinquished that perspective. Conformity 
was anathema to Jon. The perversions, distortions, and contradictions 
of established institutions were intolerable to him, and he voiced 
his perceptions without hesitation, whether the object be ICA, IAF, 
or society at large. But you always sensed Jon was not simply being 
negative; rather, he had cherished values he was protecting and 
promoting. While Jon often seemed such a serious person, he would 
often surprise us with a wild burst of creativity, like the request 
to find a go-cart track in Kuala Lumpur so that he could bring a 
client group there for team-bonding.

It seems strange to think of Jon as an evangelist, but his passion 
for making available to a wide audience the insights, methods, and 
practices that promote full humanness certainly qualifies him for the 
title. The task of teaching facilitation at university level in 
Groningen is just one more way in which he played out the role.  We 
were so impressed seeing Jon's students help organize a recent IAF 
Europe Facilitators' conference in his university in Groningen.

It's with the utmost respect and appreciation that we bid farewell to 
our colleague and friend, Jon Jenkins, and commit him to the Mystery 
which he served.

In gratitude,

John and Ann Epps