What is Flower Model?

Because SPEAK is a network and not an organisation, it has a participatory structure where those involved can input in to the campaigns, actions, gatherings, resources and general development of SPEAK. We call this Flower Model because when you draw it out, it looks like a flower.

The teams that make up Flower Model are like petals and the team facilitators act as a core team to ensure there is good communication. This Core Team existed before Flower Model and each member was responsible for a different area of SPEAK’s work, such as campaigns, arts or prayer.

As the network has grown and developed we've looked for a model that more effectively draws vision from throughout the network, allows people to express their diverse gifts and callings, gathers different opinions for decision-making, but which doesn't lead SPEAK to become institutionalised and committee focused. And Flower Model is the result! Each team will include people from the Network: local groups, students, young adults, in fact, anyone who wants to input into SPEAK and feels called to that area of work.

The Petal teams that are in operation at the moment are Arts, SPEAK groups/links, Campaigns, Prayer, Faith & spirituality, International and the London Network. Click on the name to see their page and find contact details for the petal team coordinator, or see the contact page.

Flower Model Gatherings

Twice a year a 'Flower Model Weekend' happens. Everyone involved in the different Petal teams will gather at the same location for a weekend of vision sharing, decision making and planning. The weekends are structured in three parts:

• The people involved in each Petal team meet together to talk about their area of work, and plan and think about how they need to collaborate with other teams.
• Petal teams that need to work together or share ideas then have 'cross-pollination' meetings. For example the arts team meets with the sharing faith and discipleship team to talk about planning for a festival; the prayer team and the campaigns team meet to discuss prayer at Soundcheck and the Day of Action. After these meetings the results are again fed back to everyone.
• Any remaining decisions or ideas that need everyone's attention are then discussed as one large group or a few mixed smaller ones for example events such as Soundcheck that need a lot of planning input and involve everyone.

The central part of the flower functions to enable communication between the different Petal teams and keep the process in overview. The people in this team will also hold some of the core responsibilities for any decision making required between Flower Model weekends.

Flower Model is now a firmly established part of the SPEAK year. Weekends happen in April and November, and between these Petal teams have been communicating and meeting to carry forward the work they have agreed on.