Organic Church

I have found a 'friend'!

For some time I have been advocating and teaching that there are a number of dimensions to the idea of church: visible and invisible, universal and local, etc. The dimension that is new is "organic or relational verses organizational".

The idea here is that there are two ways of looking at a church. One is the organisation: who is in charge, who leads, who is accountable to what, etc. The other is relational: who influences who, who is connected to who. I have been suggesting for some time that the organic church needs to determine the organizational aspect of church.

Now I have found a 'friend'! I have been reading through Organic Church by Neil Cole. This is a book that has a lot of theological holes through it, but is also very stimulating in his assertions and questions. On pages 125-26 he uses two illustrations that make my point very well.

The first is the difference between an endoskeleton and exoskeleton. An exoskeleton is on the outside of an organism, it will always hinder the growth of the skeleton as the organism grows into it. An endoskeleton is on the inside of the organism and helps and supports the organism as it grows. The structure is there to support the organic nature of the body. When the structure determines the relationships then the church will be destined to be hindered in its growth.

The second is the difference between pipes and water. When we enjoy the water out of our taps we say 'nice water' not 'nice pipes'. Again the structure is there for what is important.

The trick is working out how to make structures work for the organic nature of church. I think the best way as I have observed other churches is from time to time to blow them up and start again. Usually this will cause pain and anxiety, as it rightly should, but it also cause excitement and creativity and these can be great things for God's kingdom. It will also stop people from being too attached to their structures, something I am sure all of us in ministry are prone to!!

In his book Confessions of a Reformissional Rev. (p141 ff) Mark Driscoll points out that churches usually go through four phases:

1. The Creative Phase: the dream stage
2. The Management Phase: the reality stage
3. The Defensive Justification Phase: the failure stage
4. The Blaming Phase: the death stage

His point is that unless a church is forced to go from phase 2 to phase 1 again it will go on to phases 3 and 4. So he put a 'jackhammer' to his church to stop this from happening. Not a bad idea.

Anyone else had personal experience in this?