Jesus did not leave us a model to build, but a guide to follow. We experience the life of the church not because we meet in a certain way or in a certain place, but because we learn to listen to God together and let Him teach us how to share His life. If we substitute any method or design for that process, we will end up following it instead of Him and building a counterfeit instead of the real deal.

– Wayne Jacobsen, Bodylife Feb 2002

This might be a little “heady” but its been on my mind for awhile now and I’ve got to put it somewhere! Plus, now that I’m almost done with my Maymester (tomorrow is my very last day of graduate school!) I’ll need to get back into the habit of regularly adding content here. Hope to see you again soon!

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Fractals are everywhere. From the largest of galaxies to the smallest snowflake, fractals are the code of the universe. Every living thing or dynamic system takes a fractal form. Fractals are based on simple mathematical equations that contain unending diversity. The patterns are determined by a simple rule in a series of repetitions that feed back on itself new information.

Starting with a simple building block (a human cell, a coordinates in a computer) these repetitions unleash a creative potential for infinite complexity. Fractal art is one large shape made up of many smaller shapes that reflect, but are not identical to, the bigger picture. Each one of those small shapes is made up of even smaller shapes that look like it! This characteristic is called “self-similar.” To fully appreciate the power of fractal art, you must experience it. Check it out in this corny video here:

The genetic base of an acorn gives the crucial information needed for the fractal equation found in cell division to help catalyze the growth of a tree. The DNA of this seed will grow an oak tree, and not a dogwood or a squirrel. There are boundaries for fractals, and yet, when watching the process, it can only be described as chaotic.

The fractal process for development in the Church is discipleship. Discipleship is the repetitive feedback to the DNA of Christ. Jesus Christ is the incarnate God, who expressed perfectly what it means to live and follow after God as a human. He was the seed planted on the earth that contained within it everything necessary for the diverse Church to grow. It is through discipleship to Christ that the Church is able to clearly see both the limits set on what it means to be the people of God, and the capacity for wild, chaotic, uncontrollable diversity.

The Church is a living, breathing, organism; the second incarnation of God on earth. As the Body of Christ, it is composed of trillions of localized cells, of which there are countless different types each doing the work it was designed to do. It is a system, a network of disciples each holding within them the very love and person of Christ. To the degree that this system can effectively access its DNA, it can grow and nurture itself in healthy ways. This is done through the practice of love.

We had a great Chicago mission team retreat over the weekend.  It gave us some new perspectives on our philosophy of “team” and I believe the Lord spoke to us through Kent Smith about the importance of putting first things first…

…Many of the passionate followers of Christ I have come across in America are avid ministers.  They pursue missions and ministry with all their heart.  They believe that we are to “love as we have been loved” and “love your neighbor as yourself.”  But strangely enough, it is not uncommon for these same well-intentioned disciples to end up losing their family, or hurting people for the sake of “ministry”.

Many others enter into a life of service to God and leadership among God’s people for the pursuit of true community.  They see God as the triune, perfect community, and they believe it is part of the Christian life to experience that same communion with brothers and sisters.  The only problem is, my definition of community is almost always incongruent with your definition of community!  Therefore we’re always fighting each other in order to obtain that ideal community that never really existed in the first place.

These two things - ministry and community, quickly become idols in the minds of many disciples of Christ.  They are important and godly, but they are not God himself.  There’s something more central that ties these two things together - IDENTITY.

Finding one’s true identity in Christ is essential to truly entering into meaningful ministry and community.  Jesus shows us this in his own life.  He is affirmed in who he is at his baptism BEFORE he does a single miracle, preaches a single sermon, or rounds up any disciples.  His Father says to him and to all others listening, “Behold, this is my son, I love him, and I am well pleased with him!“  What that would do for so many mission teams and even your average Christian if they knew that they were deeply loved by a Papa who knew them first and foremost as his beloved child; BEFORE they ever did anything for him.

But we can only find this identity when we are living in intimacy with Father.   Jesus found regular space in his life to connect and love his Father.  They loved each other uniquely, madly, and constantly.  It was out of this cultivated, intimate relationship that Jesus was able to find his identity, and participate in ministry and community in powerful ways.  Jesus says, “I only do what I see my Father doing.”

Alongside connecting one on one with Father, he found it helpful to hear the intimate words of his God through a band of brothers; Peter, James and John.  These guys knew Jesus inside and out - they spent more time with him than any of the other disciples, and saw him through thick and thin: the night he cried in the garden before he was betrayed, the mountain where he was transfigured into a glorious presence, and there for miracles of resurrection…

I know I’m desperate for this kind of fellowship.  I admit that its more elusive than I ever realized.  People…I…am far too selfish.  I don’t want to commit to anyone else - I want to be my own rugged cowboy, going it alone.  I pretend that I can hear God and participate in life with him all by myself - and that just isn’t true.  There are times…often…that I can’t hear from God.  That’s when I trust on brothers who’ve got my back and help me with the manna from heaven; God’s continual words of LIFE.  It feels as if this kind of community comes and then goes before you know it.  “Either you’re moving, or everyone else is moving around you,” a good friend of mine once said.  It’s sad but true.  I feel like this is a hinge point for North American missions.  If we can’t find meaningful ways of finding intimacy with Father, both on our own and with a small band of disciples, then we will fail.

Jesus’ intimacy with Father continued into a large, wildly diverse community.  The crowds, the disciples, the townsfolk that new him…they were a part of how Jesus connected with God.  This is the choir of coordinated voices singing their love song with God together.

But thank God, there was no formula - no set of principles for us Americans to decipher.  Jesus’ means of connecting with God and becoming intimate with him was in constant flux.  I’m guessing that that bible reading plan you started Jan 1st is already slacking.  Maybe God’s ready for you to find another way to connect with him.  Ride a bike, write a song, meet someone new.  Whatever it takes to find deep, lasting connection with your Creator Father.

Thanks to Kent for pointing some of this out to me.  It is a goal of mine to live in the reality of my own identity in God.  I pray that missions in my life will flow not out of a sense of ungodly jealousy or sense of guilt, but out of who I truly am, and my intimate connection with Father.

Thoughts on the diagram?  Others?

Watch the first 5 minutes of this video, then read the section of Scripture below. What do you notice about church planting? What do you find frustrating, or liberating?

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

–Paul, a missionary and planter of the Good News; 1 Cor 3: 5-15

So what might leadership in an organic, Christ-centered network look like? When the “preacher”, “elder” and “deacon” as we have traditionally come to understand those terms have been uprooted, what might emerge from the soil? That is the question that we have been wrestling with lately, and there have been some interesting responses surrounding this that I thought I’d toss around.

Over the last few years, we have truly seen a wave of Christians leaving church-as-we-know-it and moving into a smaller, more intimate community of friends. They meet as the Church in their living rooms, parks, coffeehouses, and anywhere life happens. We’re also seeing the un-churched or the new believers skip right over institutional churches in favor of simply living life with God and friends.

But it usually stops there - from my limited research, at this point, no one has anything very developed on missional, organic leadership (save this guy) that extends beyond the local house church.

My instinct says that if this is to be anything more than a flash in the pan; if there is to be any type of meaningful spiritual nurturing happening, eventually, Christians in these churches realize that they must connect to believers outside of their own little group in order to thrive. That is where leadership comes in.

Followers of Christ realize that Christ is the ONLY head of the Church, and no one can be a mediator (priest) between Christ’s disciples and himself. If that is the case, if preachers and bishops and pastors and all that aren’t here to predigest God’s Word for us, or to function as judge for God, then what good are they?

They listen to Jesus, and do what he says.

It’s that simple, and its a project that will last for the rest of time.

Some leaders (like missionaries/apostles) will work as catalysts; spreading the vision for God’s New Life anywhere and everywhere they hear Jesus calling them. Paul lived and worked like this. He never pretended to be a church’s Father, (only God could fill that role). He made it clear that God broke through the barriers that separated man and God, and nothing could separate them again. Apostles will start new communities by looking for a “person of peace” (Lk.10, Mt.9) and plant inside them the seeds and the DNA of the Kingdom. Before long, they are moving on.

Apostles usually gather around them other leaders: prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. They work together as a team of missionaries to resource an emerging network that is spawned out of others who are listening to Jesus and doing what he says. Working around missional prayer, incarnational friendship, and pastoral discipling, a missionary resource team can participate in seeing a relational network of churches grow. Without preservatives, without burning out, without false structures…this is God’s family at work. (Eph 4:11-16)

As long as these leaders serve the people they are in connection with by providing resources and opportunities for deeper involvement in God’s family, they will be “organic leaders”. They are the nitrogen in the soil, whereas the seeds are the new communities that are birthed deep down within God’s good earth.

Spiritual moms and dads will naturally emerge from each of these churches, working with those God has entrusted to them. Usually, they will be the people who have been Christians the longest, though this might not always be the case. Working with a single faith community, these guides into Christ’s life will grow close with those in their spiritual family and transformation will happen!

–People still like Google because it offers services (like Gmail and collaborative online documents) for free. Even more importantly, they don’t take up your screen with pesky ads like some of the other websites that offer free content or services. They clearly are keeping their patrons first in mind, not their advertisers. In this way, Google is like the missionary leaders of the future. As long as missionary resource teams can function for the network, and not the other way around, you will see healthy growth.

–Leaders in traditional churches are like an exoskeleton, which allows for structure in an organism (good), but restricts how an organism can grow (bad). Endoskeletons function like leaders in organic church networks, serving “behind the scenes” and allowing the organism to grow and take its own shape.

The only way for Jesus to truly be the head of his Church, and yet to have leaders who guide networks to become the Bride of Christ that they were called to be is to allow leaders to simple be the PEOPLE they were called to be…deep listeners of Jesus Christ.

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SO! This is written as a draft - what do you think about it? Can leadership function in this way? Is it possible to have grassroots networks that don’t do the whole corporate heirarchy mess? Do people need human leaders at all? Fill me in and help me think this through!