Photo by Lauren Manning

By Angela Ryo 

A couple weeks ago, as part of our staff retreat, we attended an improvisation workshop led by MaryAnn McKibben Dana. MaryAnn told us that improvisation is really more of an attitude with which we live life rather than something that is performed on stage. It’s embracing everything — both good and bad –that comes our way and building on it before we throw it back out into the world. Improvisation starts with saying “yes” to what lies in our path and working with it to create something of our own before we hand it off to someone else.

This basic principle of improvisation can be expressed in two words: Yes-And. When life is seen in this way, there is no such thing as failure or mistake — everything is an event that happens to us (yes) and our creative reaction to it (and). In fact, when ministry is approached with the Yes-And attitude, we are able to engage with situations in ways we could not have imagined before. If “yes” is the acceptance of our situation, “and” is the imagination that leads us to grow as people and ministers who can help usher in the kingdom of God.

I believe the gospel, God’s kingdom, prophets — they all have one thing in common: they all point us toward imagining an alternative world that is here and is yet to come. Jesus continually pointed to a different world instead of combating to establish his kingdom on earth.

The basic principle of improvisation, Yes-And, made me think about how church needs to recognize our current reality and engage our imagination about how we are to react to it. Are we allowing safe spaces for questions and opportunities to live out those questions rather than spoon-feeding the “right” answers? Our ministry can only be as good as the stories we tell, questions we ask, and risks we take to imagine a new world (i.e. God’s world) while we acknowledge our current predicament.

McKibben Dana writes in her book, God, Improv, and the Art of Living, “When we improvise, we take a risk, not knowing where Yes-And will take us. In this sense, improv provides a different spin than the traditional “taking a leap of faith.” As TJ and Dave write in their book, “Faith is not jumping from point A to point B. Faith is jumping from point A.” Likewise, when we allow our imagination to drive our ministry toward how our world ought to be rather than maintaining status quo, we run the risk of running into strong oppositions. But if we don’t dream, continue to use our imagination, and say Yes-And, I’m not sure how long our ministry will last.

Angela Ryo currently serves as the Assistant Pastor for Christian Formation at Kirk in the Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She enjoys taking long walks, reading, listening to NPR, and drinking good coffee with friends and strangers alike.