The Seasons of Shalom
The Seasons of Shalom are not steps to complete or stages to outgrow. They are shared practices that congregations return to over time, as trust is built, losses are named, imagination is renewed, and common life is ordered faithfully. Different communities will find themselves in different seasons, often more than one at a time.
How the Seasons of Shalom Work
The Seasons of Shalom are not steps to complete or stages to move through. They describe shared practices that communities return to over time, often inhabiting more than one season at once. The work is not to progress forward, but to discern what practices are needed now.
- The seasons are not a diagnostic tool
- They are not a growth strategy
- They are not a program or timeline
- They are an aid for discernment, patience, and faithfulness
Other frameworks describe organizational life cycles; the Seasons of Shalom focus on the practices that sustain faithfulness across those cycles.
A Framework for Faithful Discernment
The Seasons of Shalom offer a way for churches and faith communities to discern where they are—not by measuring success or decline, but by attending to balance in shared life. Over time, communities move through seasons that call for different kinds of faithfulness: listening before acting, rebuilding trust, honoring loss, renewing imagination, ordering common life, and living what has been learned. These seasons help leaders and communities respond wisely to real conditions, rather than forcing solutions that belong to another moment. Communities may find themselves in more than one season at a time.