by Susan Wright
As I write this final paper of my degree at VST, I am full of both gratitude for the gift of this experience and anticipation of what lies ahead. It is perhaps not too much to say I feel like a new person entering a new world. In my inner world, I have discovered a part of myself that I did not know I yearned for, a presence that has graced me with a new consciousness of ALL that is and the path of Love in Action I am to walk. In the outer world, on the other hand, I see rapidly deteriorating institutions, the ecological crisis, and global war and displacement, what some feel is impending collapse. How am I to respond in my small way to these paradoxical realities?
What follows is a reflection on one aspect of my response, focusing on my field placement at Circles in the Square, where we have been, what I have learned, and some possibilities for moving ahead. These are largely practical steps, grounding the whole in a small part, but with the knowing that these small parts also embody and express the whole as I myself ground the whole in my own leadership and life.
Looking Back: What’s So?
As we come to the one-year mark at Circles in the Square, I see five themes emerging that have contributed to our success. These themes are not new; churches have embodied them for centuries. However, it is affirming to see that as spaces of soft spirituality form, these same principles are true, and they will sustain and grow this space as well as future similar spaces.
1. Localization – the neighbourhood level seems the right scale for building community. In South False Creek there is a sense of belonging, one sees the same people regularly at the café, out on a walk or at a community event. Circles in the Square has become one of these gathering places for neighbours to come together for conversation, connection and creativity. As Margaret Wheatley says, “A community that turns to one another creates a spirit of welcome for all its members.”
2. Gift Economy – hosting many of our offerings free of charge has encouraged inclusiveness, allowing everyone to access programs and processes. The facilitators in the Inner Circle of colleagues and friends have offered their workshops without payment. And we have provided a free space to those looking for a place to hold their own gatherings. This has differentiated us from commercial offerings and opened the way for those who wished to donate to feel they were helping to promote the learning and connection that we provide.
3. Creative Action Reflection – our creative processes have moved participants out of their heads into their hearts and hands as they craft and sing and imagine. We have built an action/reflection model that encourages a deeper shared conversation, an awareness of presence, a new learning or insight, based on the creations that expand participants’ awareness of themselves and others. Readings, poetry, writing have all enhanced these processes.
4. Love in Action – the core of who we are is reflected in this phrase which is posted centrally in the space and reflected consistently in the leadership and ways of being expressed in Circles in the Square. It is embodied in our soft spirituality, a sense of the sacred which people feel when they are there. It is the invitation in the colours, the art, the circle of chairs, and the care of the space. And each conversation or creative process is led by someone who personifies love in action.
5. Holding Hands with Spirit – reflecting on my leadership and its contribution to our success, I am hesitant to claim much more than setting the table for the feast. I bought and prepared the space for use, I invited interested friends and colleagues, I hosted two open house events for the community, and then I have facilitated three offerings over the last eight months.
I have gathered the Inner Circle and created a sense of belonging and responsibility which the Inner Circle members and participants have added to immeasurably with their energy, enthusiasm and wisdom. I have set a tone of shared leadership where others are encouraged to play meaningful roles and take joint responsibility for maintenance and development of the space and the ideas it represents.
Brene Brown uses three elements to speak about the work of shared leadership: “power with, power to, and power within.” I have attempted to use these principles in leading over the last year, sharing power, encouraging others to lead, and embodying love in action myself. Beyond that, just as I have been called here, I feel that others have felt the same call and been drawn to lead and participate. Spirit has been at work in Circles in the Square as much as I have.
Looking Now: So What?
As I see myself now, coming to the end of my field placement terms and the end of my degree, how do I evaluate the whole experience? First and foremost, I feel a deep gratitude for the privilege of being able to respond to the call to return to school, to study in the field of applied theology, and to create a field site where I could practice what I was learning. That in itself is a huge gift and a beautiful blessing.
Further, through the catalyst of my studies, I have had several mystical encounters where I have been shown the path to follow and how I might share it with the world. I was shown that the missionary work in Mexico was not my calling but a small storefront in my neighbourhood was; when I wondered how to frame my space theologically, I was shown the phrase Love in Action; and when I worried that I was not up to the task, I was surprisingly drenched in divine love and affirmation. These and other examples have guided me, taught me to trust that Jesus is standing right in front of me, showing the way, and given me the confidence to move forward.
What this means is that I have done none of this alone. I have provided leadership, but as a servant and a friend, looking both inward and outward for direction and support. My consciousness has grown as I have taken on a broader more spacious view of ALL of the cosmos through my studies, and as I have claimed and proclaimed the experience of connection with the divine One.
An important source of support through these last months has been my mentor, Tim Scorer, for whom I feel a great appreciation. He has not only been endlessly kind and supportive, encouraging me to stretch into my new consciousness, but has asked two questions that have been a beacon I have returned to many times. They are:
“Where is God in all this?” and “Are you willing to be transformed?” The first has kept me returning to the deeper meaning of my experience at Circles in the Square, taking it beyond a collection of programs for neighbours into the spirituality behind it. And the second has encouraged me to take on, take in, the mystical encounters and allow them to do their transformative work on me, in me. His wise counsel has been invaluable.
Finally, the Inner Circle of dear friends and colleagues as well as the many neighbours who have been curious and willing enough to join in has been fundamental to the joyous conversations and creative endeavours we have offered. Without this willingness to pitch in, to risk, to come and see, we might have been a largely empty space. But there has from the beginning been a hum of something ineffable in the space. In music, it is called a drone, a continuous audible undertone that supports the melody, not dominant but harmonious, the musical and metaphorical key to the music. Spirit has been our drone throughout and will hopefully continue to underscore the space.
I feel the start-up phase of Circles in the Square is now complete. I have engaged the community in the development of consciousness in a variety of ways that have been successful, and I have provided the necessary leadership for its launch. However, I also see that there are gaps that need to be filled. For example, I have not done a formal needs assessment to discern the appetite for the kind of soft spirituality I am offering. I haven’t done any formal marketing or communication beyond the open house events and short pieces of advertising in the local newsletter. I have not brought a younger person into the group whom I could mentor and who might take on the management of the next phase.
I am a visionary, a contextualist, a dreamer. The need for the kind of leadership I can provide is coming to an end and a different kind of management is necessary for the future, a day-to-day supervision of the space, a broader outreach into the community, and more engagement of community members in shared development of programs and processes.
I will, of course, stay close and guide the next phase of purpose, people and programs, but at a step back from the running of things. I recognize in this my creative restlessness, my yearning for the new and different, and with it a sense of urgency that there is work in the world that calls me to take what I have learned and use it as a template for other places where consciousness can grow as a counterpoint to our turbulent times.
And what of myself as a leader? I have studied and practiced leadership for decades and follow a “tried and true” set of competencies that seem to work well. However, each new challenge brings with it new learnings and Circles in the Square has been no exception. I have learned that I am seen as far more courageous than I am. I am courageous within certain boundaries of safety that protect me from real hurt or harm to myself or others. I am not a big risk-taker. Circles in the Square was set up for success with all the required human and financial resources. The real work is to come, and I am stepping away from that hard sustaining work to continue to feed my creative interests.
Because I have done inner work for years, I recognize this urge as the need to affirm my own self-worth, my identity as the good, not the evil, person I know also exists there in the depths. I use Ken Wilber’s phrase, “transcend and include” to work to maintain a healthy ego that recognizes but hopefully doesn’t often express the dark side of my own human nature.
I have also learned, or perhaps been reminded, that I am not a patient leader. I want things to happen and will continue to stir the pot if they get a little stale or repetitive. The result is that those who are travelling with me are always challenged by the next thing before they may even fully understand the current interest. This works for some team members who look to me for what’s next but not for those who are seeking a more stable flow of activity toward a stated goal. This is a moveable feast!
I can say after many years of practice that I love leading when I can be engaged with others in work we find meaningful, when together we can make a contribution to the world. That is the sweet spot for me as a leader, the both/and of both accomplishing something worthy and doing it collectively.
Looking Ahead: What’s Next?
As I look ahead, I see along with many others the breakdown of civilization on a global scale, including what Otto Scharmer calls “rupture, fracture, and absencing.” It is not only a political and social upheaval but also a spiritual crisis that robs us of our humanity, breaking human connections and resulting in isolation, loneliness and despair, particularly among the young. What can I do in the face of this approaching behemoth to prepare and protect those of the next generations?
Because I am a believer in the evolution of consciousness as a potential path to a more self-aware inclusive future, in fact the path that Jesus himself walked, I can in my small way contribute to this evolution through gathering people together in places where they can explore their humanity in groups in a whole variety of ways, expanding their consciousness, deepening their awareness, and perhaps, if we are successful, creating the better world we know is waiting.
That is the goal of the Humanity Centres Network, using Circles in the Square and other retreat, renewal and co-creative spaces as templates to rehumanize our neighbourhoods, to combat isolation and depression, to educate and inform in ways that today’s issues demand, and to do this at all three levels of awareness: me, us and ALL of us.
Many current retreat and renewal centres focus on the self, personal growth and wellness. These are critically important starting points, but they are not enough. We must also come together in small and large groups, learning and teaching each other, creating what Scharmer calls “islands of coherence” amidst the chaos around us. And humanity’s flourishing demands even more – we must expand our awareness to the planetary crisis and beyond, to our whole cosmos, the original template for how we are to be in the world, connected, caring for each other, evolving together through ups and downs, based on love in action. These are the values, the underpinnings of everything we do, that drone that hums along in the background guiding, shaping, showing the way.
If this is the task, how is it to be accomplished? The short answer is, I don’t know… yet. I will take the first few tentative steps with trusted colleagues and see what emerges. I will secure the future of Circles in the Square so I can focus on the creation of new gathering places. There are two possibilities for Humanity Centres now unfolding, one on Vancouver Island and the other in Surrey. These are the close in sister sites, testing the waters, before we move further afield in Canada and abroad.
There are five fundamentals that emerge from my experience and learning over the past year that I will take with me as we experiment with growing these centres.
1. Understand the context:
I have been part of my South False Creek neighbourhood for fifteen years. I know people, I belong to the neighbourhood association. Still, I feel the need for a more formal needs assessment and wish I had done it sooner. I will, from now on, make a community needs assessment part of each new space we create, reaching out first to see what might fit within our vision and values to ensure there is a resonance we can draw on. Many times, we will be joining an already existing group, a neighbourhood gathering place, a church group, a community hall. We will need to identify the possible friction points early to avoid unnecessary conflict.
2. Get to know the people:
Part of our early assessment will be to identify the current leaders and influencers. Again, at Circles in the Square this was simply calling together key people in the neighbourhood and my circle of friends and colleagues, all known to me from the outset. As we create new circles, we will need to spend time with contacts who know the territory and can point us to those we need to share stories with, those who will be influential in different ways. We will want to know who is in favour of the idea and who is not, who we can draw on for leadership and facilitation, and who might be our closest allies.
3. Set the tone:
Having identified key people and before making a final commitment to a space, we will host a 1 ½ day gathering, a core Humanity Centre program, where we will share our vision, our values and our way of working together with our potential partners. We will share our three-level approach, examples of the offerings we would like to include, and their values underpinnings. This will be the final choice point for commitment to moving forward with resources and timelines. It will educate our partners about our Humanity Centre vision and outline the fundamentals for being part of it, also giving them a chance to see into our culture and decide if it is right for them.
4. Experiment:
The final step is to set a timetable for experimentation that both gives enough flexibility to adequately assess the fit between the partners and sets a boundary for final decisionmaking. Depending on the context, this might be six months to a year. During this time, we will get to know our partners as we share space, leadership and facilitation of programs, and as we work through differences and unforeseen issues. Monthly check-ins with key partners will ensure that conflict is raised early and addressed. At the end of the experiment period, a commitment by both partners to a longer-term contract will signal our promise to each other and our larger Humanity Centre network.
As we add new centres, we will hold quarterly gatherings to share experience, issues and ideas, continuing to evolve the concept and share learnings in our different contexts. We will encourage leaders and facilitators to visit each other’s Humanity Centres across the network to co-create new ideas and opportunities. We will offer newer centres mentoring by more experienced leaders particularly during the initial phase. And we will focus on the distinct competencies necessary for creating new spaces and then managing them day to day, identifying early who might best play each role.
With these practical steps in mind, I return to Tim’s question: Where is God in ALL this? The answer is of course everywhere, in each new connection, each new participant who is excited by a new idea, each new learning that adds to consciousness, that sparks a new thought and a new action. Love is the core value of Humanity Centres. It may be expressed differently in different contexts, but it must be a felt presence, an authentic value in everything we are, say and do. It is in the kindness, the generosity, the inclusion and the joy we find in being together doing good work for the sake of the world.
Scharmer, Otto. “Nine Observations On Civilizational Rupture and the Social Soil of Renewal.“ Presencing Institute, Field of the Future Blog, March 24, 2026.
Siebert, Jared. Gutsy: (Mis)adventures in Canadian church planting. Mississauga: New Leaf Network. 2016.
Read the full paper Susan's original document, with her footnotes and bibliography.
Circles in the Square