Forgotten – Structured for Growth

Hirsch calls us to implement Organic Systems within the church. He points out that this has not been the approach of the western church. Instead of a decentralized network approach, we have generally implemented a top-down, hierarchical, centralized structure. We have done this in the name of preserving doctrine. But he points out that it has historically done very little to protect from heresy in the church. Why? Because the model we implement is a power and control model. And who is attracted to that type of leadership? Men who want power!

William Pitt offered this thought in a speech in 1770 but it became famous when Lord Acton wrote about the Catholic Church to Bishop Creighton in 1887 saying, “All power corrupts, and absolute power corrupt absolutely.” But this is at the heart of the fallen human nature. We want to have God’s power and authority. So, men have taken biblical injunctions to man watchtowers and have seized the opportunity to choke the life out of God’s design for His church. To add insult to injury, we incorporated worldly business principles, forming the Church Growth Movement that grew but weakened the church.

Hirsch calls for a return to an organic model that decentralizes power and removes restrictions to growth and allows the environment that the church saw in its primal form, an environment conducive to rapid growth. He encourages you to think virus. As a humorous side note, after my leadership team created our current Connect Ministry shirts with the slogan “It’s how we roll,” I was considering the next slogan: “Connect. It’s viral and I’m contagious!” It didn’t sit well with the team. But we may revisit it! This idea is central to Hirsch’s desire to see a “sneezable” faith.

The question to be answered by every community of faith is, “Will we build to equip and empower or to control?” This is a question central to Small Group Theory, so I am very familiar with it. But, sadly, most churches don’t even consider the implications of their decisions in this area. And, at the end of the day, it seems more sensible, even spiritual to err on the side of control. But, what then does that say about our view of the role of the Holy Spirit in the church?