Positive Deviance

hey here is an article from Jason Clarke of deep church. I am enjoying his look at reimaging the holy spirit and his work therin.

Here he describes positive deviance as means of seeing the HS at work.
(the original is at deepchurch.org)

There are basically 8 steps to the process of positive deviance.

Step 1: Don’t Presume You Have the Answer: Approach the change issue with a beginner’s mind, ready to listen deeply.
Step 2: Don’t Think of It as a Dinner Party: Involve only those that are a part of effecting the change locally, instead of a broad, diverse audience. This is about core momentum…
Step 3: Let Them Do It Themselves: (otherwise known as give-up-your-colonialism) Set up a situation in which people can discover, on their own, a better way to do things. Setting up sacred space is great, but don’t pre-determine where the Spirit is going. Raise questions but the let the group come up with its own answers.
Step 4: Identify Conventional Wisdom: Establish the norms and associated boundaries of activity.
Step 5: Identify and Analyze the Deviants: Allow the positive deviants to emerge as it becomes clear that they have found a better way.
Step 6: Let the Deviants Adopt Deviations On Their Own: Don’t teach new knowledge – encourage new behavior.
Step 7: Track Results and Publicize Them: Post the results, show how they are achieved and let other groups develop their own curiosity about them.
Step 8: Repeat Steps One Through Seven: Make the whole change process cyclical.