The Local Church Experiment

The 1970 participants in the Ecumenical Institute's summer program created the "tactical system" for the renewal of the local church. The tactical system focused on the Cadre (congregational leadership trained in the methods of the Ecumenical Institute), Congregation, and Parish. A later revision of the tactical system substituted "Guild" for the Parish, a change which shifted emphasis from geography to community leadership in the geography.

When the resulting documents were readied for use by congregations in the United States of America, they filled a three-inch thick binder. Participating church members soon became familiar with the word "tertiary", that is, an action that was doable and which moved the group--whether cadre, congregation or guild--toward a resolution of underlying problems that frustrated genuine care. From the perspective of the local church, the tactical system actually achieved what it was intended to do.

A primary slogan was "The Local Church, the Hope of the World".

-- ThomasMorrison - 15 Nov 2006