The small band of Christ followers that make up the Auxano team seriously dislike the term "consultant." Unfortunately it is a term that most people would use to capture what we do for a living. From the beginning, we have sought to turn the "consultant" terminology upside down with the term "navigator." Why? A consultant's primary value is usually knowledge expertise that they bring from the outside. At Auxano, we want to emphasize what God is doing inside the church. Our role then is to be a guide whose primary expertise is not right answers but right questions. Here is an example of a recent e-mail I received after a first-time encounter with a pastor:
"I talked with our Elders the other night and shared with them my impressions of our conversation on the phone a week or so ago. Needless to say, it was all very positive. I appreciated your questions, your responses and most importantly your willingness to listen rather than anticipate my answers and what solutions you already had in your prescribed template for how you were going to fix us."