"The Rabbit and the Elephant"

..."Why Small Is the New Big for Today's Church"

Tony and Felicity Dale start their book with this signature story from its title -- the difference between rabbits and elephants. I don't want to spoil the story for you, so suffice it to say, in their words, "Something that is large and complex is hard to reproduce. Something that is small and simple multiplies easily."

The whole rest of their book is filled with the same kind of refreshingly simple and sound wisdom, astute observation and sensitivity to what God is doing among the church today.

The real movement of simple church didn't actually begin with us in the west. Many of us know it started in the east, in China, spread to Korea and is also growing south of us in Southern America. Simple churches are springing up in Greece, in Africa, in eastern Europe (where newly built churches buildings are being torn down under all kinds of pretexts), and even in some Muslim countries. How can God multiply the church in countries that are actively, and increasingly, hostile to Christianity?

And just as importantly, in our own country, where sentiment towards traditional Christianity is changing from warm acceptance to open and active dislike, how can God revive His church here?

By bringing the center of attention onto His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has managed to keep a good reputation among nonbelievers.

By bypassing the institution of church, which has lost its reputation with the general public.

By putting the gospel, worship, fellowship, and mission back into the hands of the people.

There are many excellent themes running through this book, including:
* The vital importance of Ephesians 4 unity among all believers,
* The beauty of simplicity,
* The importance of following God's lead,
* The critical necessity of prayer first and last,
* The supremacy of God's word, living and active,
* And trusting in what God is doing

Here's what's going to happen, though.

For one thing, non-charismatics may curl up into defense position because the Dales are clearly charismatic. I can tell you as someone who has never operated in any of the "sign gifts," and who could not be properly termed a charismatic, I found the Dales' approach to be completely scriptural, solid and seasoned with salt. In fact, they several times, throughout the book, reassured the reader that you do not have to be charismatic to be involved with what God is doing in the "micro-church movement."

In fact, I had to agree with them when they said, on page 82, "In our experience, God seems to be blurring the distinctions more and more between charismatic and non charismatic believers." That would describe me and all the believers I know - and I know hundreds and hundreds of believers.

For another, those who have made orthodoxy (read "my church's catechism") of supreme importance may not like the Dales' methods. In fact, the authors have made a conscious decision to allow people to discover what the scriptures mean by applying God's word first to their lives, rather than to be taught what a particular catechism would say.

Personally I see this as an endorsement! But watch out for cranky naysayers who will shrill "heresy!"

The Dales also clearly support women's involvement in every aspect of church life, which may greatly bother those who feel women have been given only a limited role in Scripture.

Finally, those who are deeply invested in traditional church -- referred to as "legacy churches" in "The Rabbit," with gracious respect -- may find this book threatening, even though the authors repeatedly express their thanks and honor for what God has done through the institution of church. Those who prefer to remain in their traditional church can still start a simple church that meets at another time than their church service (as my husband and I are now doing).

In fact, the Dales' particular ministry, House2House is being actively supported by two mega churches, which they mention on page 194, and several more churches are described in "The Rabbit" which either support and encourage house churches among their members, or have transitioned into a network of house churches.

One aspect of "The Rabbit" which I particularly appreciated was the realistic approach. What God is doing right now is breath-taking. Thousands of churches worldwide are being started every year. Hundreds of thousands of people are becoming born again, and entering into an active living by faith. This is not merely lip service to the idea of salvation. This is the real thing! Still, in real life, there is also hard work, troubles, sometimes even death.

The Dales' do not hold back on cautionary tales and words of gentle warning. There will be those who go back to traditional church because simple church won't feel "right" after a while. There will be churches that blossom, grow, then die away ("We would rather have a church without the presence of the Holy Spirit be decently buried than maintained on life support indefinitely." I wish all of us had such practical and humble wisdom concerning dead churches). There will be churches that change from simple to traditional as a charismatic leader takes the glory and the control.

But, in balance, you will find in this book everything you need to start a simple church -- as the Lord leads!!!

The methods "The Rabbit" explains come straight out of Luke 10, four simple steps. The format for the Bible study is so simple it's mind-blowing!! I will be starting an in depth look of "The Rabbit," chapter by chapter. Yet, along with warm encouragement, engaging illustrations, and statistics provided by the Barna Group, "The Rabbit" offers an exciting tale that really, you would do yourself a favor by reading.

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"Is Your Church Asking 'How'?"

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"

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"Is Your Church Under God's Control?"

How can an organic environment where community and belonging can emerge be developed? By using an organic order approach rather than a mechanical order approach. Mechanical order is appropriate when it comes to manufacturing inanimate objects. But developing something with life requires organic order.

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
10) Is Your Church Asking "How"?

Nine organizational tools that you can use in a mechanical or organic order way are:

1. Patterns
   Mechanical – attempt to force the realization of a plan that worked somewhere else by controlling people and processes to get there. You try and make people into parts that will fit together to look like what you envision creating.
   Organic – allows individuals and groups to grow and become uniquely themselves in each situation. The group looks like the body of Christ when the parts connect and do their special works for each other. This will be a literal spiritual expression of Jesus Christ on the earth in His second body. (Ephesians 4:15-16)


2. Participation
   Mechanical – trying to get people to participate in created positions that serve a plan. Participation is usually forced and people feel uncomfortable and out of place.
   Organic – individuals feel free and responsible to act uniquely as themselves for the good of the group as a whole. They find out what special graces they’ve been given by God and they use them to accomplish the works that God prepared in advance for them to do. (Ephesians 2:10)


3. Measurement
   Mechanical – value is found in numbers related to an end point to be reached. People are assessed based upon the health of the organization.
   Organic – value is found in the story of the life of the group. Success is found in the health of the organism from its individual parts.


4. Growth
   Mechanical – measured in outward evidences of numbers, resources, activities and other inanimate measuring sticks.
   Organic – takes small steps forward at the community’s own pace. Growth is based upon individual’s maturity to completion in Christ. (Colossians 1:28)


5. Power
   Mechanical – delivered through permanent positions. Man is trusted with control of the body of Christ through the assignment of permanent power, no matter where the wind (Spirit) blows.
   Organic – revolves through the parts of the whole depending on what is being demanded by the life of the organism. The Spirit gives power to the parts that need it to accomplish His will in a progressive fashion as time goes on. (John 3:8)


6. Coordination
   Mechanical – asks people to cooperate by falling in line with a plan to make it work. People become commodities to be maneuvered toward a person’s vision.
   Organic – self-organization through collaboration of parts based upon their connection. The vision is from the Head through all of the parts together. (Ephesians 4:15-16).


7. Partners
   Mechanical – accountability to hold people responsible for their actions. The focus is on performance in relation to sin.
   Organic – edit-ability to help on the journey to wholeness. The focus is encouragement toward allowing God to live in and through the person ever-increasingly. (Ephesians 5:17-18)


8. Language
   Mechanical – words are noun-centric. They turn dynamic words into static words.
   Organic – words are verb-centric.


9. Resources
   Mechanical – pre-determined allocation based upon the question, “How are we going to do this?” People assume future events can and should take place and make pre-mature decisions based upon those assumptions.
   Organic – moment-by-moment allocation based upon the thought, “This is how we can do this.” People do what they are able with the graces they’ve been given.
   
   Humans can’t build living things. When they build something, whatever it is; it is dead. It may serve a good purpose and show tremendous creative abilities, but only God can create and sustain something that is living. This is where we’re breaking down in the Church.
   At the root of who is doing the building of the Church is the issue of control. The sinful nature seems to want to take it from God and other people in an effort to deal with the fear that comes with unpredictability. The fear that if we let God have control, He won’t live up to His promises and take care of us. The fear that if we let Christ be the Head, He won’t know how to animate the Body and it will find itself in chaos and utterly destroy itself.
   
   God’s eternal purpose was to create One New Man that would be alive by the life of God with Christ as the Head (Ephesians 2:14-22). Because this One New Man is a living organism, it grows and develops organically, just like all living things. But, because of man’s fear rooted in the sinful nature, they tend to take control away from God and try to build the One New Man themselves, in their own power. This is like trying to engineer an animal in a laboratory. It just can’t be done. You can’t engineer the genetic code of God, the DNA of the Church. The best one can do is create something inanimate that looks and acts like the living thing they are trying to engineer.
   
   I’ve found that many times a conversation about giving up control gets translated into a conversation about giving up leadership. But, an important distinction must be made here. True biblical leaders don’t control. “You don’t lead by pointing a finger and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” (Ken Kesey) Then, watch and see if people do it. Many leaders today are pointing to a place of organic community and telling people to go there, and waiting for people to go there, while at the same time doing the same things over and over again in a mechanical way. They won’t admit it and they may not realize it, but they are afraid to give up control. The true leaders are the ones that are not afraid to go to a place of organic community and make a case for people to come along, even if it means going there alone.
   
   Is there order in God? Yes.
   Is there structure in God? Yes.
   Is there government in God? Yes.
   
   But God’s order, structure and government are diametrically opposed to the worlds (John 15:18-19). It’s alive and always evolving. Sadly, many of those that are considered “leaders” today are attempting to engineer the Christian life according to the world’s system, which is what we need to identify and move away from.
   
   Creating an organic environment for community to grow is just like creating the environment for any other living thing to grow. The right conditions must be met. The more you use the nine organizational tools in a mechanical way, the worse the conditions become for life to grow. When used organically, the nine organizational tools create the environment for the organism to grow, thrive and its life (Christ) to be shared with all.
   
   Myers, Joseph R. "Organic Community"
   
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"Is Your Church a Noun?"

The seventh organizational tool that can be used in a mechanical or organic order way is language.

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?
The words that we use reflect what is in our hearts, expresses social structures, shapes worldviews and shapes the way we behave and believe. Language matters. Words matter. They are symbols for ideas that we are trying to communicate. When I say the word “tree,” what you and I think of for that word will be different unless you and I are looking at the same tree at the same time and from the same perspective. But, typically our ideas are similar enough to have the same understanding of what the word means.

Another factor to remember is that language is living. Words and their meanings evolve. A word can be a noun and get turned into a verb and vice versa. “Bad” actually can mean “Good.” “Shut up!” and “That’s ridiculous!” are actually used as compliments. And “Blackberry” is not just a fruit anymore. Plus, we make up words like “internet” and “download.”

What is beginning to change is that we are moving from a noun-centric language to a verb-centric language. Words like “church,” “community” and “gospel” are becoming more verb-like because we are looking more to describe the process, the experience, and the “being.” These words are becoming more dynamic and less static.

Let’s take the word “fire,” for example. Fire is not an object. It isn’t a person, place, or thing. Fire is an ongoing process. It has no substance. However, when we talk about fire we must objectify it and make it a noun so that we can structure a sentence around it. Much the same could be said of words such as church, congregation, worship and God.

When we take words that should be verbs and turn them into nouns, we show our need to objectify, limit and even control the ideas set forth by them. God is easier to get our minds, concepts, and theology around if the Godhead remains only noun. But God describes Himself with the verb “I am.” The Trinity is not three objects. The Trinity is a dance of three verbs. Three “I ams.”

Verbs describe an ongoing process. Human beings, for example, become. We are constantly in motion; constantly changing; we are not still and unmoving.

Do you view words like “church”, “community”, “gospel” and “God” as nouns or verbs? Your answer to this question will affect your language, your processes, your structures, and your outcomes. For example, if you view the word “church” as a noun, it will allow you to treat it as an object that we can control at some level. This view gives us permission to think that if we could come up with the one way of structuring a church, then everyone would want to be involved. Everyone and every group then becomes a widget that we can mold, maneuver, organize, direct, and control.

Myers, Joseph R. "Organic Community"

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"Is Your Church Old Covenant?"

The sixth organizational tool that can be used in a mechanical or organic order way is partnerships.

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?

Accountability is the buzz word du jour. These days, any company that develops a master plan of accountability and demonstrates they can keep everyone in line and behaving well will find a receptive hearing among stockholders and stakeholders who nervously seek to protect their investments.

Accountability happens by mechanical order. An individual or group decides that accountability must be in place and then works up a plan in an effort to “create” it. It is a system where laws are in place and those that are disobedient suffer the consequences put forth by those given the power to hold us accountable. It amounts to manufacturing relationships that hold people responsible for his or her actions in a way that is:

Hierarchical – one person is obedient to another
Abrasive – the accountability partner practices “tough love” by being caustic and insensitive
Unhelpful – progress toward an integrated life does not happen
Harmful – the accountability is psychologically and spiritually damaging

In ways big and small, people get “audited.” These means of monitoring seem to work well when they are applied to business. But what happens when we apply similar measures to people? We put them under law, not grace. This is Old Covenant thinking.

Organic order is about grace, not law. It’s “Edit-ability,” not accountability. An editor’s function is very different than that of the accountant. They help wipe away errors while keeping the voice of the author. The author will submit a rough draft. The editor makes suggestions, even disagrees at times with the author. The author considers the editor’s suggestions, and will often make adjustments. The author and editor continue to go back and forth until the project is complete. The entire process is one of give-and-take collaboration lived out in the moment.

An accountability partner focuses on sin and the individual’s cooperation with a standard and expectations in relation to sin. A partner in Christ focuses on being there for someone in relationship to help them along on their journey to wholeness.

Myers, Joseph R. "Organic Community"

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"Is Your Church A Collaboration?"

"Mechanical order coordinates through cooperation. A lot of effort is focused on creating centralized control, consensus and structural protocols. The trouble with this is that the spirit of cooperation is a rigid spirit, one that stifles creativity and discovery. It is more concerned with sequence than rhythm. It squashes the human spirit. The mechanical plan becomes the master. The person or people who developed the plan then will frequently talk about how they want collaboration, but in practice, what they really show is a desire for you to cooperate with their plan by falling into line and making it work."

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?

"The person who develops the plan typically has good intentions, but is afraid of what might happen if they give up control, so they make sure they keep it. The problem is, people are not primarily looking to cooperate with our plan for their lives. Cooperation is an effort to control how people participate. When you do this, they feel violated. Giving up control is not advocating chaos. It’s advocating for an organic order that works in self-organizing ways.

"Organic order coordinates through collaboration. It lives out a healthy process of connecting, but not by asking for people’s cooperation. It grows out of what you experience together – from connecting, not from falling in line with someone else’s program. The parts work together with a fluid, graceful movement like birds flying in a pattern or a school of fish gliding through deep waters. (Colossians 2:19)

"Often, people talk about 'intentional community.' Typically, what they mean can be summed up with words such as purpose-driven, measurable, scientific, deliberate, planned, calculated, or premeditated. The problem is that all of these words are rooted in assumed control, and community cannot be controlled with intention. The truth is that we can have some control over the environments in which community usually emerges, but we have little or no control over community actually emerging. We can intend for the process of community to begin, but we cannot create community intentionally."

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http://2ndmanunited.typepad.com/2nd_man_united/2009/04/is-your-church-a-heirarchy.html

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"Is Your Church A Heirarchy?"

Is Your Church a Hierarchy?

Power is more verb than noun. It is action, not object. It is easier to describe how it is used than what it is. It is like love. Something defined more by its expression than by its form.

This is a continuing series by guest blogger Michael Fleming

Prior posts in this series:

Is Your Church an Object?

Is Your Church a Clone?

Is Your Church a Body?

Is Your Church a Scoreboard?

Is Your Church a Factory?

Mechanical order tries to deliver power through position. In it, positions are permanent. A person is set into a position on an organizational chart and given control, authority, jurisdiction, permission-granting rights, and influence. He or she is trained in how to use these tools to achieve a mechanical plan. Then, the position encourages them to concentrate on what it is that will best manufacture the mechanical plan. So, each person jockeys for positional power in order to command the resources needed to accomplish his or her specific part of the plan. They are so absorbed by their position that they lose sight of the whole. They see their role as disconnected from any other – except for those which may help them achieve their goal. Participants concentrate all of their efforts on the success of their particular position. But, position shouldn’t be where power lies. Positions encourage seeing people as more and less significant. Power should be in the person, not the position.

In organic order, power is revolving. It understands that the value of each part makes the whole. (I Corinthians 12:17-20) At any point in time you will find different individuals leading and operating with power as individuals take on different roles depending on what is being demanded by the life of the organism. Within this framework, there is no dominant member. This encourages you to know when the community is inviting you to steward the power and when it is asking you to cede the power.

For example, in a mechanical order marriage, decisions are made solely on the basis of position (“I am the husband” or “I am the wife”). In an organic order (healthy) marriage, there are certain roles that need to be fulfilled. These roles are carried out based upon who has the competencies and can best fulfill that role at that moment in time. The power goes to this individual.

It’s the same with any other healthy form of organic order. Leadership and power is taken by whoever is “asked” to by the life of the organism. It will “tell” you what parts should steward the power as time goes on. It will be whichever parts will best serve the whole entity. Thus, power is shared in a revolving manner – now John, now Tim, now Brent, now Dedra, now me, back to John. Once power is cemented into a position; that position, along with that human, becomes the Head. But, the Church is a Body operating with a non-human, invisible Head that can only be heard and understood fully when it is free to use the parts of the body in a revolving manner. (Ephesians 1:22) By creating positions, the Head is being told what part it’s going to use for whatever it’s trying to do at any particular time.

This does not mean that everyone has the same amount of power at the same time. The life of the community is always inviting people to step forward and steward the power. People figure out what they’re good at, and that shapes what their roles are. There’s not just one leader. Different people lead during different parts of the process and it is understood that the value of each part is what makes the whole. We are to live in a way that maximizes individual and communal sources of power. (I Corinthians 12:12-26)

Within mechanical order, positions feel the need to influence every aspect of the organization’s life, decide on its every movement, judge every action, and make all the rules. Within organic order, your “position” is YOU. Isn’t this the type of environment you want to live in? It’s time to be done with top-down approaches. The day of organic order has come.

Myers, Joseph R. "Organic Community"

To find out more about Michael Fleming, go to

http://2ndmanunited.typepad.com/2nd_man_united/2009/04/is-your-church-a-heirarchy.html

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"Is Your Church A Scoreboard?"

“If we only concentrate on the numbers, we’ll miss what is really happening.” -Organic Community by Joseph R. Myers

This is the fourth in a series by Michael Fleming

Prior Posts in this Series:

Is Your Church an Object?

Is Your Church a Clone?

Is Your Church a Body?

Many of us have been raised on an unhealthy dose of results-oriented, bottom-line measurement. The mechanical order approach to measurement is developing a program with a proposal that has a mission statement, a vision, values, and goals. It explains where we are headed and how to get there. This approach to measurement ushers all the attention to an end point. That end point acts as an invitation to do whatever it takes to reach it. Then, along the journey when the inevitable highs and lows related to the end point takes place, we think too highly of the highs and fall into panic and depression during the lows; both of which affect our decision-making. Decisions are then made out of these emotions rather than the life of the community in the present.

For example, Chris was placed in a position called “pastor of small groups.” His goal was to put everyone into a small group. His measurements for success were: number of active groups, number of people meeting per month, number of new groups birthed, how many leaders attended leader meetings, etc. He even drafted criteria to determine if a group was considered “active” or not. As the journey progressed, there were times where the reports weren’t looking so promising in relation to the plan. So, what did Chris do? He experimented with anything that had the promise of bringing up the numbers. His decisions weren’t based upon the life inside of the community; they were based upon his plan. Then, when he couldn’t steer the community into his master plan, he got fired by his superiors in favor of finding someone that could “take the small group program to the next level.” Of course, by “level” they meant attendance.

Because Chris and those around him used mechanical measurement, his effectiveness was not measured by what happened in the life of the people he was involved with. Rather, it was measured by how many people participated. They measured what they perceived to be important and this held dynamic power over the journey and the results of the life of the community.

This happens all over the place. So, don’t be fooled by numbers, catchy slogans and good intentions. Numbers can measure inanimate objects, but they cannot measure life and relationship. You can put a numerical value on the inanimate materials of a house, but you cannot put a numerical value on the life that was experienced inside of the house. That can only be measured by a story. Stories are what emerge from life, not numbers. How many times have you watched a sporting event where the final score doesn’t really tell the story of the game? It happens all the time. Try looking at the final score of a game you didn’t watch and telling someone the details of what happened in the game. You can't do it.

Story is the universal measurement of life. Numbers can be manipulated to say almost anything. A true story cannot. They measure the journey to explain the end. They measure the life of a community. They show us whether what we are hoping for is taking place.

Myers, Joseph R. "Organic Community"

http://2ndmanunited.typepad.com/2nd_man_united/2009/04/is-your-church-a-body.html

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"Is Your Church A Body?"

Is Your Church a Body?

Continuing in the series by Michael Fleming

“Many church leaders have spent too much time on the art of getting people to participate and too little time trying to understand how people participate.” -Organic Community by Joseph R. Myers

Prior posts in this series:

Is Your Church an Object?

Is Your Church a Clone?

Churches that fall into the trap of manufacturing their environment engineer positions to be filled and then look to fill them. Those that have the gifts and abilities to fill the spots do and those that don’t . . . don’t fit in. This may be one reason why most churches are at about 20% participation and 80% consumption on average. In the mechanical model of church, the church leaders spend their time trying to get people to participate in the positions they’ve manufactured rather than creating an environment where they observe how people position themselves in participation. The way in which people participate is another example of the dichotomy between the church that is an object and the church that is a living organism.

When a mechanical plan is engineered, leaders then ask people to participate in the way that will serve the plan. The people are turned into commodities to accomplish a goal. In this environment, the health of the organization is put above the health of the individual. People are seen for what they can do for the master plan rather than for who they are. But, the church environment should be one where the individual feels free and is responsible to act uniquely as themselves for the good of the group as a whole. Organic order holds that what comes out of the group is what the individuals collectively bring to it. (I Corinthians 12:7, 18; Ephesians 4:15-16)

With this may come a feeling of being “out of control,” but this is exactly the environment you are supposed to be in as a Christian. It’s an environment where man gives up control and lets the life of God and the Head take it. “FROM HIM, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Eph. 4:16) No man can be the Head; he is only a part of the Body that is controlled by the Head. Would God place a man to be the head of a church? Why would Jesus need someone to do His job? As soon as man takes control, he places himself in the position of the Head. This is what mechanical plans do. This doesn’t mean that we should fall into extreme thinking and suggest that there should be no leadership or control. But, it’s a matter of the Person (Jesus) doing the controlling.

Leaders can put their faith in mechanical plans because they have greater faith in mechanical plans than they do in Jesus Christ working in and through people. Plans are more predictable and easier to control. An environment where the life of God is animating the movements of the Church under the direction of the Head, Jesus Christ, is where healthy participation naturally emerges.

Myers, Joseph P. "Organic Community"

http://2ndmanunited.typepad.com/2nd_man_united/2009/04/is-your-church-a-body.html

"Is Your Church A Clone?"

Here is the second installment of Michael Fleming's series

"We see or experience a pattern that "works," and then we assume that if we repeat the pattern exactly, we can manufacture the same result. This works almost well enough often enough to convince us that it could work all the time." - Organic Community by Joseph R. Myers

We're taking a look at nine organizational tools will help you discover whether you are a part of a mechanical order approach or an organic order approach. Then, hopefully you will start to shift to an organic order approach to create environments where people naturally connect and become an organic community.

Prior posts in this series:

Is Your Church an Object?

The first organizational tool is patterns. They can be prescriptive or descriptive. Prescriptive patterns are “prescribed.” They are specific, rigid and regular. Prescriptive patterns are good and necessary when used within the confines of the mechanical order of inanimate objects and systems, like traffic patterns and assembly lines. But, when dealing with life systems, prescriptive patterns are deadly. Forcing connections between people is awkward and uncomfortable.

Organic order is strengthened by descriptive patterns. Descriptive patterns describe reality. They don’t force it. A good parent will observe the patterns and behaviors of each child separately and relate to them based upon the uniqueness of each individual. But, we frequently reverse the process and force prescriptive patterns of living onto them.

We get into trouble when we take a descriptive pattern that worked and turn it into a prescriptive pattern. We treat the second child the same way we treated the first child because we think that since it worked the first time, it will work the second. Then children (or members, participants, etc.) start to feel like they are nameless soldiers marching in lockstep, turning right or left at the command of the officer.

Every person’s face follows a similar pattern, but none are exactly the same. Descriptive (organic) patterns do not produce clones. But, we see this happen all the time with churches. This is where movements (megachurch, seeker-sensitive, purpose-driven, house church) come from. People see “results” somewhere and they think it will work somewhere else. Well, this is true for mechanical systems, but not for life (organic) systems.

Churches will install programs in their prescriptive (mechanical) attempt to make the Christian life happen. They come up with a mechanical plan of what it will take to grow as an organization and for people to grow spiritually intimate with God and others. Then, with good intentions, they attempt to force that plan to happen. Then, if it doesn’t happen, it’s marked as a failure. There is a powerful word that is used to describe the forcing of an intimate connection. That word is rape. Now does it make sense why so many people are angry, bitter and rejecting our churches?

Myers, Joseph R. "Organic Community"

To read, and follow, Michael Fleming's blog, go to:

http://www.simplechurch.com/profiles/blogs/is-your-church-a-clone

"Is Your Church An Object?"

This blog post, by Michael Fleming, was so good I asked him if I could post it here on this site too. Am so thankful that he said yes -- it is worth the read. If you would like to follow his continuing discussion on this and other topics, you will find him at:

http://2ndmanunited.typepad.com/2nd_man_united/2009/04/is-your-church-an-object.html

"'People seem to be longing for a more organic approach to life -- even church life.'" -Organic Community by Joseph R. Myers

"Many churches have become objects by having the life manufactured right out of them. This happens when mechanical infrastructures are built with the intent to help it stay alive. This kind of manufacturing intends to control the future with a mechanical plan. It's an attempt to create a controlled-system environment. There is a part of humans that tends to like this because it makes the future seem safe and secure. But they are often disappointed because mechanical plans require that things be done today based upon predictions of what will happen in the future.

"The problem is . . . we can’t predict the future. Mechanical plans are appropriate when it comes to manufacturing inanimate objects, which is what many churches have become. But developing something with life, such as community, requires the flexibility of organic order.

"For example, a megachurch lays out a master plan for the next ten years of growth and prosperity which inspires them to pay $20 million for a new building in the present. They acted in the present upon a mechanical plan that contains assumptions for the future; namely that their attendance will grow and those that attend will not only have the money, but voluntarily give it for the maintenance of the building and the paying off of its debt. If anything comes along to threaten their mechanical plan, they will act in a way as to protect and preserve that plan. They have a manufactured environment.

"Eliminating the manufactured environment is not a call for chaos. There still must be order, but that which contains life must be contained within organic order or it will die. There is a difference between being organic and organic order. It is the difference between an infant’s response to her body’s need to release waste and her father’s need to do the same. If her father were to respond to this need in a strictly organic way, he too would need diapers. Thankfully he has developed an order for an organic process.

"In the coming days, we'll be looking through the book Organic Community by Joseph R. Myers at nine organizational tools will help you discover whether you are a part of a mechanical order approach or an organic order approach. Then, hopefully you will start to shift to an organic order approach to create environments where people naturally connect and become an organic community. "