The second keynoter at the Synod Gathering was Iain Chester, ELCA Director for Innovation. For some folks, innovation might be a strange word to use when referring to worship and church, but Iain works with leaders and teams across the ELCA in exploring new ways to experience community, justice, and love.

During his presentation, Iain shared statistics regarding hardship, loneliness, and stress—three situations that permeate our society today. In a national survey of people between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-nine, the majority reported that life is harder than they expected and loneliness has been labeled as an epidemic. He shared a comparison of pre- and post-pandemic stress levels which revealed that adults between the ages of eighteen to sixty-four had been adversely impacted by the pandemic. Only older adults, over the age of sixty-five, reported no change in their stress levels.

So, he asked the question: What is the role of the church in a world that is increasingly stressed? Iain said congregations and leaders must use “design thinking and empathy” to address issues, defining “design thinking” as a method for creative problem-solving. The steps involved include understanding the experience of others, determining the process to improve the problem, brainstorming possible solutions, developing a prototype—or, as he said, “getting the idea out of your head”—and then putting it into practice. Participants were invited to discuss with their seated neighbors to dig into some of these new ideas.

Iain said, “We should start with empathy.” He shared a YouTube video by Brené Brown explaining the difference between sympathy and empathy. (Author’s Note: I highly recommend you check it out!)  Some of the video’s main points are that empathy is feeling with people, empathy never starts with the phrase “at least,” and what makes something better is connection.

Concluding his remarks, Iain presented five steps or actions for congregations to take:

1. Think about things you can do.
2. Start with empathy.
3. Try something new.
4. Remember we have an abundant God.
5. Ask “How might we…?”