the Glocal Trekker Blog

At Alan Hirsch’s prodding, I just read The Starfish and the Spider by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom. Great read and good insights. It’s the whole idea of decentralization. I’d put it high on the list to study. They study groups like Ebay and others that are fairly decentralized in their operations and leadership.

When I first began to study movements and observe them a few years back, I had a wrong paradigm in my mind. I thought in terms of organization vs movement.

Most religious organizations I was a part of actually inhibited movement, and when it was encouraged it was only in the "ordained" channels. That’s not right. Everything has some amount of organization. Even Ebay has an organization. There are people at the top of Ebay making lots of money!!! The question isn’t do you have an organization, but how the organization operates. Does the organization centralize or decentralize its operations? When the organization exists for itself and all it’s indicators are for it’s own well-being then you have an inward institution. When the organization has a structure that facilitates involvement, you have the potential for movement.

Having got in on the tail-end of the boomer-seeker movement, there were many good things about it--but some not so healthy. I’d say the same about the postmodern movement. The same will be said of the missional movement, I’m convinced. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be missional--for that’s what I’ve given my life and ministry. Boomer religion gave us consumerism. Postmodern religion is giving us confusion. Missional faith is, in some instances, leading to chaos. I was with a significant man in the Northeast who was in a "missional" house church setting that grew and then imploded. He said the thing it valued in relationships and intimacy and smallness actually became the thing that undid it. They’re looking for a school in which to meet. I think we’ll be seeing movement all over the place and who knows where it will finally settle down, or if it will settle down! It takes a good ten to fifteen years after a movement to evaluate its impact.

Institutions are the result of past movements. They maintain the lessons of a past era that should go into our understanding of life. When those institutions, however, don’t allow for future growth and development, they ultimately die. I heard someone say that the only hope of institutions is movements--they cause institutions to readjust, or die.

Merging trends and history--both are important to properly diagnose the present and respond in a way that will ensure a future to our faith. Focusing only on the trend makes faith a slave to religious opinion polls. Focusing only on history makes us try to revive the past, which is a death sentence. I think I’m learning what Len Sweet means by ancient-future faith. This is why the Kingdom matters so much to me. It’s the only thing that’s stable, the only thing that makes sense, the only real movement that lasts. It finds expression in many forms, many institutions, many kinds of people. Something else for me that’s huge--the Kingdom starts not by responding to what’s wrong--but to what’s right that should be attained. There’s hope in that message, not anger or despair.