PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Acts 11:19–24 (NIV)
Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
CONSIDER THIS
We are eleven chapters into what is the story of—by far—the most significant organization in human history. Here’s my question: Who is in charge? After Stephen’s execution, people went in all directions. The text today tells us they went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, Cyrene, and Antioch. They are spreading the word among the Jews as well as the Greeks. Just days ago we witnessed the lead apostle preaching the gospel to and baptizing some God-fearing Gentiles in Caesarea.
Jesus is in charge, and the movement seems to grow less “organized” and more decentralized by the day. Then there’s Jerusalem, which seems to be taking on the shape of a home office or headquarters. Back at the home office, they seem to be somewhat on edge about what’s happening in the outer reaches. They police the movement with a critical eye and send out representatives to keep an eye on things as needed. It seems anything but decentralized.
I know. Some of you are scratching your heads wondering what this has to do with your relationship with Jesus today. Permit me a little latitude today to explore some broader questions about the “seedbed” of our faith—our churches.
All of this reminds me of a much chattered-about book some years back by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. The basic premise: with a spider, there’s the body and the legs, but all the stuff is in the center. Smash the center and kill the spider. With a starfish, cut off a leg and the leg can regenerate the whole starfish. Cut it into two pieces and soon you have two starfish.
So is the church a spider or a starfish? Resist the temptation to take the easy out and say both.
From the looks of it, the Holy Spirit is growing a decentralized organization while the leadership is grasping for a more centralized one. Consider some of Brafman and Beckstrom’s analysis on the characteristics of a decentralized organization:
- When attacked, a decentralized organization tends to become even more open and decentralized.
- An open system doesn’t have central intelligence. The intelligence is spread throughout the system.
- Open systems can easily mutate.
- Put people into an open system and they will automatically want to contribute (think Wikipedia and Craigslist).
Look at the text for today again and tell me if I’m seeing it wrong. I see all of these things at work—notably how persecution, rather than crushing the church, is causing it to regenerate in many other places. Another interesting feature of decentralized organizations is the way they advance not by the power of a CEO but through the agency of catalysts who work from the dynamic of a plurality of leadership. (i.e., Barnabas and Paul—soon to join him there).
There’s too much to unpack here, so I’ll just offer a few developing questions.
- Might the church, under the lordship of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, more readily flourish as a decentralized lay movement than as a centralizing institution?
- Might our denominational structures tend to be more centralizing forces in the church? How might this be corrected?
- Might the clergy (by virtue of the system they are in) tend to be more centralizing forces in the church? How might this be corrected?
- Might our campuses and buildings tend to be more centralizing forces in the church? How might this be corrected?
- To recover the movemental decentralized ethos of the people of God, might the church (and its related organizations) need something more imaginative than the corporate, hierarchical CEO model of leadership—into which clergy tend to be unwittingly and often unwillingly conformed?
- To thrive in its mission, might the church need to look more like Wikipedia or Craigslist than Wal-Mart or the government?
- If Jesus is going to be the leader of the church he is building—and he must—might he be looking for a different mode of organization and distinctive model of leadership than the world around us subscribes to; even when we dress that up in church clothing?
Jesus is indeed the leader of the churches he is building. I suspect he is not the leader of the churches he is not building, which could explain why many such churches are not flourishing.
And if you want to see a good, concise summary of The Starfish and the Spider click here.
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Lord Jesus, I am your witness.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive your love and release my selfishness.
I receive the church you are building and release the church that I am building.
Come Holy Spirit transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
THE QUESTION
Why does the world and the church trend toward more centralizing and hierarchical structures of leadership? What is behind this? What is the risk of significant change? Is it worth it to not take the risk and retain the status quo?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “The Church’s One Foundation.” It is hymn 388 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
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5 Responses
J. D. The problem with a completely decentralized Church is that one of their number can go off the rail theologically, I.e. name it claim it or prosperity Gospel. Also they can become focused around one charismatic individual instead of our Lord Jesus.
JD, wow; talk about providential! I’m a part of a mens, ecumenical Bible study group that meets on Wednesday evenings. Currently we are going through Francis Chan’s book entitled Until Unity. It deals with how unscriptural our multi-divided institutional churches are and ways we can begin to display the unity of the Spirit that Christ prayed for in John 17:20-23. Just last night, we discussed these very same things that you’ve brought up in today’s post. Not to seem too simplistic or naive about this; I’d say the reasoning behind the centralized, hierarchical structures that we’ve inherited are due to the fear of losing control. We humans, even with the best of intentions seem to forget that the Church is the creation of Jesus, and that we are merely His servants. When denominations take over a movement of the Spirit, they begin to calcify and eventually die.
My thought is that church has become a busy business. Too often, it is about numbers. Monetary, and head count.
By no means am I a scholar or an expert in biblical doctrine, but it seems many denominations are governed by carnal-thinking church leaders.
In my experience, too often a troubled person has been pushed away instead of drawn in. This is most likely because my ministry is with the person who is experiencing drugs or alcoholism.
Partly the challenge is that many churches want people to come to the building instead of going to where the broken, down-hearted people are.
That is the avenue of building Christ’s Kingdom, go to the people to bring them to Him.
But, what do I know?
I’m only one servant of the Lord who believes in bringing someone to the Lord holding their hand.
As with me, too often arms are extended to push away instead of pulling in.
Lord, today as my arm is extended, may it be with my palm upward and not outward. Amen.
Staying 💪’n Christ
Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
I submit 7 yeses to your 7 questions. To see my very detailed answers to all 7 google for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.
Christianity began as a movement, not as an organization. When you study church history you discover that the times that it thrived were the times when it was a movement, not an organization. Many Christian denominations began as a Spirit-led movement within an organization and then gradually morphed into another organized, formalized church. Methodism is one example of that.
That process can be called the 5 Ms of church history. 1) Man: A person is transformed by the risen Jesus and he/she begins to follow and obey the Spirit. 2) Men: Other people join with him/her and begin to follow the Spirit together. 3) Movement: Growth in numbers and in spiritual power continues as God adds to the movement daily. 4) Method: Gradually people begin to organize and the spiritual awakening begins to look more like a human organization than a Spirit-led movement. 5) Monument: After a few generations the spiritual fire goes out and all that’s left is a religious organization that follows human leadership and rules rather than the risen Jesus.
JD, Steve, Doc, and myself; I’d have to say that we all seem to be saying the same thing, only differently. Now the hard part; how to facilitate it?