The ninth and final organizational tool that can be used in a mechanical or organic order way is resources.
This is a continuing series by Michael Fleming, working from the book "Organic Community" by Joseph R. Myers.
Previous posts in this series are:
1) Is Your Church an Object?
2) Is Your Church a Clone?
3) Is Your Church a Body?
4) Is Your Church a Scoreboard?
5) Is Your Church a Factory?
6) Is Your Church a Hierarchy?
7) Is Your Church a Collaboration?
8) Is Your Church Old Covenant?
9) Is Your Church A Noun
Mechanical plans begin with the question “Where are we headed?” followed immediately by “How are we going to get there?” They are intended to secure safety, but really they result in a plan that prescribes the “how” prematurely. They believe that all questions will be resolved by going through the process of asking and answering “How?” But many times the question “How?” isn’t a question at all. Rather, it is a comment rooted in a spirit of scarcity. It is a belief that we lack the right tools and the right methodology to know enough and be enough.
But with organic order, the question “How?” is skipped and people jump straight to the possible solutions. They don’t ask “How are we going to do this?” They say, “This is what we can do.” There are many possibilities and we can operate in whichever one is appropriate for right now. They realize that what they are to do is be who and what they are right now. With organic order, you don’t pre-determine how problems will be solved and resources will be allocated. You decide in the present how you should solve problems and allocate resources amidst the many possibilities in whatever way is appropriate at that time.
One way the church has promoted a spirit of scarcity is in its efforts to assimilate people into the mechanical plan of the church. This is a scarcity view of how the church is to be a part of people’s lives. A better way is to think about what the church should be doing to be the One New Humanity that it is meant to be, not a copy of the Old Man we see operating in the world.
Myers, Joseph R. "Organic Community"
If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment and join the conversation
This is a continuing series by Michael Fleming, working from the book "Organic Community" by Joseph R. Myers.
Previous posts in this series are:
1) Is Your Church an Object?
2) Is Your Church a Clone?
3) Is Your Church a Body?
4) Is Your Church a Scoreboard?
5) Is Your Church a Factory?
6) Is Your Church a Hierarchy?
7) Is Your Church a Collaboration?
8) Is Your Church Old Covenant?
9) Is Your Church A Noun
Mechanical plans begin with the question “Where are we headed?” followed immediately by “How are we going to get there?” They are intended to secure safety, but really they result in a plan that prescribes the “how” prematurely. They believe that all questions will be resolved by going through the process of asking and answering “How?” But many times the question “How?” isn’t a question at all. Rather, it is a comment rooted in a spirit of scarcity. It is a belief that we lack the right tools and the right methodology to know enough and be enough.
But with organic order, the question “How?” is skipped and people jump straight to the possible solutions. They don’t ask “How are we going to do this?” They say, “This is what we can do.” There are many possibilities and we can operate in whichever one is appropriate for right now. They realize that what they are to do is be who and what they are right now. With organic order, you don’t pre-determine how problems will be solved and resources will be allocated. You decide in the present how you should solve problems and allocate resources amidst the many possibilities in whatever way is appropriate at that time.
One way the church has promoted a spirit of scarcity is in its efforts to assimilate people into the mechanical plan of the church. This is a scarcity view of how the church is to be a part of people’s lives. A better way is to think about what the church should be doing to be the One New Humanity that it is meant to be, not a copy of the Old Man we see operating in the world.
Myers, Joseph R. "Organic Community"
If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment and join the conversation
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I love your blog! Mind if I link?
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