history
While Seeing Things Whole as an organization began in 1993, it draws upon a rich tradition and history that have shaped the current thinking and work.
It was in the 1950s when Dick Broholm (eventually one of the founders of STW), George Bauer (IBM) and others at the Delmar Baptist Church in St. Louis, MO began a conversation seeking to make the ministry of the laity explicit, visible and active in the world. They felt that the real battles of faith and conscience were unfolding in the midst of the organizations where people went to work every day - in factories, shops, laboratories, schools, hospitals, banks, offices and government agencies.
In the 1960’s Dick, George, Jitsuo Morikawa (National Council of Churches) and others engaged in an action research effort known as MAP (Metropolitan Associates of Philadelphia) whose purpose was to explore how institutions from various sectors of metropolitan Philadelphia might contribute to the renewal of the city during this time of social unrest.
In the 1970’s, Dick Broholm, George Bauer, David Specht and others led a research task force at Andover Newton Theological School to explore how church congregations might better empower lay people for their full ministries as change agents within the communities and organizations where they lived and worked.
In the 1980’s, the Center for the Ministry of the Laity and The Robert K. Greenleaf Center were founded. Dick and David, now in collaboration with Bob Greenleaf (AT&T and Servant Leadership), George Bauer, Jitsuo Morikawa, Bob Lynn (The Lilly Foundation) and others began to focus on developing a theological understanding of institutions capable of informing the way we think about and engage organizations and those who lead them. Two research task forces anchored this effort. One was focused specifically on developing a theology of institutions. A second explored how we might best support organizational leaders as they sought to draw upon their deeply held religious beliefs and moral convictions as they grapple with the complex dilemmas facing their organizations.
Seeing Things Whole is a direct descendent of these efforts, emerging in the 1990s, and continuing today to accompany organizations and organizational leaders who desire business dialogue that is informed as powerfully by moral reasoning and spiritual imagination as it is by the press of economic reality.