Greetings from Indianapolis, where my Epicenter colleague Beth Estock and I are leading a ministry track focusing on social evolution in the United States and the future of the church. A few years back, Beth introduced me to a comprehensive theory of social evolution called Spiral Dynamics. Spiral Dynamics is based upon the work of a social scientist named Clare Graves. It is similar to faith development theory (a la James Fowler in the mid 80s) but it looks beyond the individual's own human development to consider changes in cultural values paradigms over time. We are finding it a very helpful framework for making sense about what on earth is going on in the United States regarding church participation of late.
