Imagine what life and our world might look like if we could learn to love our enemies, forgive those who have hurt us, stop worrying and share our wealth with the poor. Jesus Christ lived and taught a revolutionary way of love, a whole new way of being, that we can embrace by learning to put his teachings into practice. Christ called this the reality of the kingdom of God and invited his followers into a renewed sense of identity, purpose, security, community and peace.  Anger, fear, worry, anxiety, striving, compulsive behavior and difficulties in relationships are each signs that we have not yet fully come to experience the greater wholeness of life under God’s care. We are challenged to find a way to close the gap between how we want to live, and how we actually live. Transformation comes to us as a grace and gift from our Creator. Yet there are practical steps we can take to cooperate with the healing work that God desires for our lives and for our world. In the Christian tradition, spiritual disciplines and shared spiritual formation practices have provided a reliable path to experiencing the transformation that makes us fully alive to the way of love. 

What we do:

1. We live deeply in search of the reality that Jesus embodied and proclaimed. 
2. We create resources and transformational processes that help others on this journey.
3. We use our local context, (San Francisco), to pilot and promote these resources. 
4. We seek opportunities to see these resources and processes widely utilized by groups through live speaking and training events. 
5. We mentor and coach leaders that we identify along the way who can help others experience greater wholeness. 

Values:

• The life and teachings of Jesus, (as documented in the New Testament) provide a reliable guide and vision for what it means to be fully alive. 
• We seek to learn by taking new risks, reflecting on what we experience and consider how we can integrate what we learn into the ongoing rhythms of life.
• Increasing self-awareness is essential to this journey and we need the solidarity and support of others in this process. 
• We strive to teach and lead others from a place of honesty, self-awareness, lived experience and broad knowledge of theology, psychology, culture and social context.. 

Offerings:

For Individuals: we offer leadership training, coaching and spiritual direction. 

For Groups: We partner with organizations and churches to offer learning experiences, workshops and retreats. 

Online and in print: We offer resources that help groups and individuals take life-giving steps of practice (books, podcasts, web articles and online courses).

ReIMAGINE is a 501 C (3) non -profit organization supported by the generosity of our donors, and supplemented by program service fees and honorariums.

The world is changing. Globalization, massive shifts in technology, trade and communications are giving birth to a new consciousness about what it means to be human. Some refer to this as a transition from a modern to a post-modern paradigm for life. Others suggest that what is emerging is a more ecological view of the world. We are learning to pay more attention to how all aspects of our lives are related, connected and interdependent. This shift in how we perceive our lives has brought up new questions about the role of religion in the emerging culture. We hunger for a spiritually integrated way of life that acknowledges the sacred and empowers us to love.  

To live an integral life requires finding meaningful connections between our personal stories, a larger story and the story of the times and places where we live.  Jesus often referred to this larger story as "the kingdom of God," the reality of the Creator's care, presence and activity in our world and the gradual fulfillment of all that God desires for our world.  

In my mind’s eye
I am flying high across the sky
Swooping in and out and dropping low,
Touching the ground of city streets
Like a spirit of God hovering over primordial waters
Of lump clay earth.
I am waking up
I am daring to dream again
I hear the voice
I hear the voice
I hear the voice over the waters saying to you and to me:
I am here.
The hidden whisper of love.
That beautiful and terrible story you hunger to hear.
Be still!
Be still sacred scared child.
Awake!
Awake from your stubborn numb slumber
Open those sleepy eyes to my morning daylight
It will not burn away any good it finds in that hungry cracked heart.

ReIMAGINE!
Life with me
Taste and see the splendor of my blooming spring garden rest weary home
Weep while you can.
While you still feel
While the pain is still real
While my love still heals’ 

ReIMAGINE!
Nonfiction in full color
Humanity and divinity live in concert together.
The “I” and the “we” making sweet synergy.
It’s the song we all long to hear
Let the aria resound, may the earth shake with the reverberation of your ancient apocalyptic prodigious creativity.

ReIMAGINE! All our voices in harmony with yours, Lord.
Samba, Romba, Rhimba
Afro-Cuban beats
Italian Opera
Salsa Latina
Tai-Chi Mariachi
Three Chord Punk Rock bleats and the symphony
The Trance, Trip Hop, Hip Hop, Do wop, Swing
Big Band Bleeding Heart Acoustic Folk Middle Eastern Dirge
Zeideco, Howling Blues and the Salvation songs of plantation slave spirituals singing,
“We shall overcome.” “We shall overcome.”

ReIMAGINE!
A spiral, whirling miracle, of you and me and us swept up in the Creator’s remaking.
ReIMAGINE!

CITY BASED LEARNING AND SERVING INTENSIVES.

Our location in San Francisco provides a rich and diverse context for learning. We design 1 to 7 day "Jesus Dojo" intensives for groups that include neighborhood based learning and serving experiences. (High School, College and Adults) Contact us for details and availability. For more information download our brochure. 

CREATE SPACE: A CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER RETREAT

Silence and solitude help us become aware of the presence of God in our lives. Throughout history earnest spiritual seekers have created space for contemplation and prayer, following the example of the prophets and Jesus, who often withdrew to lonely places to pray. The hurry and distractions of our hyper-connected culture have renewed interest in classic spiritual disciplines and the "Desert Spirituality," of the Egyptian Fathers and Mothers of the 3rd and 4th Century. For many of us, the practices of contemplative prayer and reflection are best learned within a supportive group experience. On this retreat we’ll explore 6 classic prayer practices: Silence, Solitude in nature, Stillness prayer, Breath prayer, Contemplative Reading, and Examen. Join us for a weekend of discovering greater self-awareness and deeper intimacy with God-- a great way to begin the new year! Dates for 2016 TBA.

MISSION DISTRICT NEIGHBORHOOD ENGAGEMENT.

We invite you to learn and serve with us  in actions that care for needs and concerns in San Francisco's Mission District.  Currently we are involved in faith-rooted organizing around the police killing of our neighbor Amilcar Perez-Lopez. Please sign the petition and join us twice a month for Mission Night Walks, a group of neighbors and faith leaders praying and working to end violence in the Mission District. 

WORKSHOPS

We offer 1-3 hour practical workshops and training events for groups. Below are some of our most popular topics:

• Using the Enneagram as a tool for personal transformation.
• Introduction to Life in the Kingdom of God: an integral vision
• Seeking the Kingdom within: An Introduction to Stillness/Contemplative Prayer Practice
• Enter the Jesus Dojo: Creating shared paths for spiritual formation and neighborhood engagement
• An invitation to simplicity
• Developing a heart of compassion: An introduction to Christian Community Development
• Belonging and Becoming: How families can take steps to practice the way of Jesus
• Naming What Matters Most--Developing a guiding vision for your life
• Valuing and Aligning time-- How to manage time well and live without hurry, worry, stress or striving
• Becoming the Beloved: Practical steps for making repairs in relationships

LEARNING LABS.

For the past 10 years we have facilitated multi-week practice-based groups called Learning Labs, designed to help participants apply the teachings of Christ to everyday life. Some people like to refer to these labs as "Jesus Dojo's,"(as described in Practicing the Way of Jesus), to emphasize a focus on group action, . We make the curriculum for our Learning Labs available to interested groups around the world, on a donation basis. We also design and facilitate customized Learning Labs experiences for groups and churches in the San Francisco Bay Area. Below are several of our most popular Learning Labs. 

Experiments in Truth. The master invites us to rethink or reimagine our whole lives in light of the promise of greater wholeness for our world.  This lab explores the physicality of spiritual formation. If I change what I do in mymind and body, how will it effect my capacity to flow with the Creator’s energy and love? (what eat? how I spend my time?  The media I consume? How I use my money? Who I spend my time with?) This practical workshops seek to deal with the disparity we often feel between how we want to live and how we actually live.  Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and facing his greatest shadows and temptations. Participants in this lab engage in practices aimed at confronting the false self and other obstacles to the spiritual life through “experiments in truth.”

Simplify: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most. "How you spend your time is how you spend your life. And how you spend your life is shaped by your financial choices." We were made to flourish and do good in a world full of abundance. Yet many of us feel crunched for time, stressed in our finances or perplexed about what makes life meaningful. There is a trusted path for recovering the life of meaning, freedom and compassion were were created for. This journey invites us to adopt soul practices like gratitude, trust, contentment and generosity and practical skills like time management, goal setting and living by a spending plan. 

Awakening Creativity: Exploring the hidden story of your life. Many have observed the vital link between imagination, creativity and spiritual transformation.Since ancient times spiritual seekers have expressed their longings and questions through poetry, art and song. Jesus invited his listeners to reimagine or dream up their whole lives again, which is a profoundly creative act.  This Learning Lab helps participants weave together creativity, personal narrative and theology through individual and group exercises that culminate in a public art event.

Becoming the Beloved Community. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, believed, as did Christ, that together we can become the "beloved community." The teachings of Jesus dare us to believe that it is possible to learn to love our enemies and “be at peace” with all people. In this learning lab we support one other to takes steps to make repairs in our relationships, forgive those who have wronged us, seek healthy boundaries and practice honest, direct and loving communication.

Mark Scandrette, Executive Director

Mark Scandrette is the founding director of ReImagine. He leads an annual series of retreats, learning labs, conversations and projects designed to help participants integrate the teachings of Christ into every aspect of life through shared practices and community experiments.  A sought after voice for creative, radical and embodied Christian practice, he speaks nationally and internationally at universities, conferences and churches, and offers training and coaching to leaders and organizations. He currently serves on the adjunct faculty of Fuller Seminary and Pittsburgh Theological seminary. Mark is the author of FREE: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most (IVP 2013) Practicing the Way of Jesus (IVP 2011) and Soul Graffiti (Jossey-Bass 2007). 

Lisa Scandrette, Administration and program facilitation

Lisa Scandrette has devoted herself to a life of care, hospitality and teaching. She regularly facilitates workshops and provides administrative support for ReIMAGINE and is the co-author of FREE: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most. Currently she is collaborating with Mark on a follow up book on creative and intentional family life. In her spare time she loves spending time with family and friends and creating with her hands. 

Lisa and Mark have raised three children in San Francisco's Mission District where they have lived over the past 17 years. 

Our Board of Directors:

Alex Schweng, Keith Klassen, Jarrod Shappell and Sean Randall. 

Mark travels and teaches with the goal of inspiring and training groups to take new life-giving steps of action. He frequently teaches at universities, conferences and churches and leads practical spiritual formation retreats and workshops. Weaving poetry, stories and group exercises into his talks, Mark often speaks on themes from his books and on spiritual formation, social justice and the essential message of Jesus.. Groups that invite Mark to speak can receive a 50% publishers discount on any books purchased for the event. For his itinerant teaching and retreat work, Mark often partners with Compassion International, who cover a significant portion his time and travel expenses when there is an opportunity to present an invitation to child sponsorship. To maximize time, resources and impact, Mark often books multiple events in a particular city or region. See our events page for a list of upcoming dates and cities.

Since the publication of their book, FREE: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most, Mark and Lisa and have co facilitated retreats and workshops. They are currently accepting bookings for workshops, conferences and retreats based on their forthcoming book on family life set to be released by IVP summer 2016.

Invite us to speak to your group

Become a leader of practice. Mark teaches a semi annual Doctoral Course through Fuller Seminary based on his book, Practicing the Way of Jesus. The course is designed to equip students to initiate their own group formation practices and includes a one week city immersion intensive in San Francisco. It can be taken for 4,8 or 12 credits or can be audited at a reduced rate. The next course intensive will be October 19-23, 2015. For more information and to apply contact the Fuller Seminary Doctoral Office.  

Start a spiritual formation program in your church. Mark has helped churches and groups around the world develop practice-based spiritual formation programs. Usually this involves an onsite visit, weekend workshop for leaders and congregation teaching, followed by skype coaching. 

Grow as an integral leader. Mark offers monthly coaching and spiritual direction sessions, via skype or in person, for leaders who want to take new steps in their lives as they seek to lead and guide others. 

I'm interested in learning more about how ReIMAGINE can help me develop as an integral leader in my context. 

So many of us want to live in the way of Jesus—pursuing a life that is deeply soulful, connected to our real needs and good news to our world. Yet too often our methods of spiritual formation are individualistic, information driven or disconnected from the details of every day life. If Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated and taught a revolutionary way of love that is actually possible, alive with healing and hope, then we need a path for experiencing that revolution in the details of our daily lives. This book explores how we can rediscover a sense of immediacy and action in our spiritual lives.

"Mark Scandrette has been a great inspiration to me for years now. This book gave me goose bumps just thinking about the possibilities that could arise if a group of people really did find a space where they could work out the vision and teachings of Jesus together in real life. Practical, wise, thoughtful and grace-filled, this book is a gift."  --Michael Frost

"Mark Scandrette helps us move our faith from a thought to a lifestyle. He offers us an irresistible invitation to open our lives to the many ways in which we can follow Jesus. Reading about his 'experiments' in faith makes you close the book and think, 'I can do this! I want to do this!'"   --Nancy Ortberg

Mark Scandrette is fascinating. He lives with imagination and beauty. This book is an invitation to love creatively and recklessly, so that we might do something to interrupt the status quo, surprise the world with God's goodness and fascinate the world with grace.'  —Shane Claiborne

"It has been a long time since I was this stirred and humbled by a book. Mark Scandrette is a voice for all who are 'sensing a pull towards a spirituality that is more holistic, integrative and socially engaged."         --Gary W. Moon, Ph.D.

We were made to flourish and do good in a world full of abundance. Yet so many of us feel crunched for time, stressed in our finances or perplexed about what makes life meaningful. There is a trusted path for recovering the life of meaning, freedom and compassion were were created for. This journey invites us to adopt soul practices like gratitude, trust, contentment and generosity and practical skills like time management, goal setting and living by a spending plan. How do you want to be more free?

"In a word? REFRESHING! Mark and Lisa remind us of the seismic power in radical contentment, gratitude and generosity. You don't see that message in many places. Here is wisdom for the complexity of these issues and a simplicity that enables action. The result: free indeed." --Nancy Ortberg

"This book is an invitation to embrace the radical way of Jesus, to repent and rejoice, to foster simplicity and generosity, to open our lives to love, and ultimately to be free. The Scandrettes have produced the kind of practical guidebook to simplicity that we could return to again and again over the coming years." --Michael Frost

“My wife and I, along with ten of our friends, spent eight weeks working through Free and, quite honestly, it changed all of our lives. Unlike other books that simply offer time and money management techniques, this book takes readers on a journey of depth and reflection that reconciles our deepest values with practical steps on how we spend time and money.” —Ben Younan 

What was the essential message of Jesus, and what might it look like, in the 21st century,  to make a life in his way?  In this book Mark explores these questions through personal stories and creative reflections. SOUL GRAFFITI is  a practical tool for exploring a more holistic and integrative understanding of the life and teachings of Jesus.

 “Soul Graffiti is not so much a book as it is an encounter--a deadly serious encounter--with a Christianity that is urban, American, un-institutionalized, and now. If you truly like your own Christian walk just the way it is, you definitely should not read this book.”--Phyllis Tickle

“Mark Scandrette guides us in this beautifully written and brilliantly illustrated book along a path towards actualized spirituality in a postmodern world. The book provides new avenues to ancient truths.”--Tony Campolo

“Through Mark’s rich insights and reflections, and especially through his stories, you’ll get an honest and inspiring view of [the future of faith].”                          --Brian McLaren

Animate: Faith, An imaginative exploration of Christianity's big questions. 

Sparkhouse/ Augsburg Fortress brought together seven leading Christian voices to create an accessible, captivating exploration of big questions of the Christian faith – designed to spark conversation in faith communities like yours. From what we hear, it’s working. Voices including Mark Scandrette, Nadia Bolz-Weber and Brian McLaren.

​

REIMAGINE PODCAST EPISODES

Using the Enneagram as a tool for transformation.
Mark Scandrette & Dani Scoville

How to Create a Formation Experiment
Mark Scandrette & Dani Scoville

Why We're called ReIMAGINE
Mark Scandrette & Dani Scoville

Experiencing Personal Transformation
Mark Scandrette & Dani Scoville

ARTICLES

• Becoming the Beloved Community. (Conversations Journal)

• Excerpt from the introduction to FREE

• Practicing the Way of Jesus, Chapter 1

VIDEOS

Tax deductible donations can be mailed to:

ReIMAGINE P.O. Box 411601

San Francisco, CA 94141

Federal ID #: 31-1783556