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!

One week after our Urban Immersion and I am coming to a close on my reflections on our experiences. It was an amazing time - we met so many incredible God-ambassadors, each with a story that could fill volumes. I wrote these posts in order to give you all (and remind myself years later) of the creativity in God’s imagination throughout this generation. I remember when all Christians did was “go to church”. Now it seems that with God on our side, there is nothing we can’t do!

After a clumsy and slow morning (we needed it after our late night on the streets!) we headed out to the north side of Austin, TX to the Storehouse. There we met Tim Abels, a Dell executive and passionate follower of Jesus Christ. He is actually the brother of Jay Abels, a man I met on my first short term mission trip down in Buenos Aires, Argentina!

When we arrived, all I can say is that we were a little apprehensive. We saw the outdoor sign and thought (great, I hope we don’t get stuck here for too long). I thought this would be another conscience-wipe for rich, guilty Christians. But I had heard the stories - that Tim and a few guys had started in his garage just giving things away to those who really needed them, and through a huge influx of donations have had to open up a 40,000 sq. ft. facility to hold all that they do there!

Walking in was like walking into many other thrift stores - clothes, furniture, old toys, and dismembered paperbacks filled the large open room that greets you as you walk in. It felt just like any other Goodwill, except you saw an occasional cross here or there. The prices I noticed were better than other thrift stores, but I had been told that it was FREE to anyone who needed it - what gives with the prices?

We sat down in a big back room, in a big circle with Tim, Jared Abels (another friend I continually find myself bumping into, and wonder what God has in store for our friendship), and a whole host of others who volunteer at the Storehouse. I was immediately struck at the diversity of people in the room - white, Mexican, Filipino, a deaf and blind man, old, young…they all were working on this dream together.

Tim began by sharing the vision - they want to be a presence of the Gospel to people who are in need and an hub for churches to work together through. And they do! We heard each volunteer mention a different church that they were a part of, and yet you could hear that those in the circle had become a church all their own!

The Storehouse provides a food pantry, ESL (English as a Second Language) training courses, finance courses, counseling, life skills training, a free medical clinic, disaster relief, job training (interviewing skills, etc), free worship space for new churches, housing (the police have a key to their building, and bring in victims of abuse during late-night emergencies), mentoring, work for those with disabilities, dental clinics, bible distribution, and of course a free thrift store.

“But how is it free?” I kept asking. Finally I got my answer. In crisis situations, people can come to the storehouse and take whatever they need without cost (take for example, a single mom has to leave an abusive dad, but has no furniture, clothes, cooking supplies, etc). She comes to the Storehouse, stays for a day or two. Counselors take on immediate emotional and spiritual traumas, while volunteer job consultants begin helping them find work if need be. Professional doctors come in to offer free medical help and examinations to the family and tend to their wounds. They are given financial counseling and prayed over by Christ-followers who believe that he is able to overcome any obstacle for them.

Then after they have gotten a place to live, the single mom is given a temporary job working at the Storehouse, earning “credit dollars” to buy more essentials for her new home away from the abusive man, who is not told where to find them. She makes $10 of credit each hour and at the end of the day can take home whatever she thinks she needs for her children, who have been at the Storehouse daycare. Over time, our single mom becomes attached to her new family at the Storehouse, and they share with her the Great News about Jesus Christ. She knows that Christ is among them there, and is baptized into a new life of love with a family she is already getting to know.

This is happening hundreds of times every year at the Storehouse! What is more amazing is that the volunteers simply can’t stop talking about all that God is doing! It just seemed that each person’s gift was being used in a way that was absolutely necessary to seeing the whole thing happen! From the precision of medical instruments to sorting hangers, everyone had a job to do. In a lot of ways it gave me a picture of what Ephesians 4 actually looks like:

“Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift…He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ”

I think what I found most encouraging about the Storehouse was that it was a body that was “moving rhythmically” and in response to God’s Son, “fully developed within and without”. Not many churches are like this - if they do have a food pantry, people attend out of a need to serve their guilty conscience, not because they want to see people holistically redeemed.

Trina and I were left wondering what it might be like to see a Storehouse like this in Chicago - and what part we might have to play there…

I’ve been thinking a lot about Ephesians 4:1-16 this year, which talks about the full and divine unity we share with each other and with our Lord.  “For there is one body and one Spirit…one God and Father of all.”

Immediately after proclaiming the infinite unity found as part of Christ’s body, Paul remarks,

“But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift…The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”

Powerful words!  Our unity is found NOT in our conformity to each other, but through our Giver, who blessed us with diverse gifts!  Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.  They are the gifts of Christ to the Church.  Truly the only one I see being used in churches today is the Pastor, and I’m not sure we have a healthy view of what a biblical pastor might look like.  In fact, I don’t think any of these 5 functions have a proper meaning to us as Christians today.

What are we doing when we don’t accept the gifts of Christ to his Church?  Well, just look around at what is happening in our churches today.  Heresy, scandal, and baby Christians who still need spiritual milk from a burned-out pastor.  We have got to find our giftings and begin to use them to grace the Church.  It is not only “BY grace you have been saved,” but also “FOR grace you have been saved”.  Each Christian endowed with the Holy Spirit has been given one of these gifts.  On baby Christians: 4:14 says, “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about…”  He believed that Christ had graced Christians the gifts to bring the Church to “unity” and “maturity”.  But what do these 5 functions look like?
I would compare them to 5 friends with a car on a journey.  The apostle finds himself staring at the road map more than the road, looking at the BROADEST picture possible, and giving the rest of the passengers vision and guidance on how to get to their destination. He is the one who cares most about the destination, and inspires the others to keep going.
The prophet is farsighted, and is checking the signs way off in the distance to make sure they are headed in the right direction, he is also looking toward the horizon, checking for deer crossing the road, and pot holes that could slow them down.

Our evangelist friend is the driver of the car.  Pushing onward and upward, further and further into the journey, the evangelist loves the feeling of putting another mile marker behind them, and sometimes races beyond the likings of the pastor and teacher, who is sitting in the backseat.

These two are listening carefully to the clinks and squeaks the car motor is making.  At every rest stop they check under the hood to examine the healthiness of their vehicle.  All they brought on the journey was a manual for the vehicle they are driving, and a good set of tools.

I truly believe that there must be a radical shift in our view of church leadership if we are going to arrive at the destination of unity and maturity in Christ.  It won’t come from another “retooling” of church as we know it, and it won’t come from bringing another church guru in to snazz up our programs.  It will happen through the realization of EACH Christian’s giftedness, and contributions toward making the journey a safe and exciting ride.

I’m currently trying to discover which giftings I have been graced by Christ with.  I think I lean towards evangelistic giftings, out and among new people, sharing the Gospel and then moving on, hoping that a pastor or teacher can take them under their wings and truly help them bear fruit.  Although I am very different from the other giftings (I see bits and pieces of each gift) I know that I need others to make any lasting impact.  We need each other to get where we are going.

Like the old African proverb says, “If you want to travel fast, go alone.  If you want to travel far, go together.”