Greenhouse: Organic Leadership Development
Written by: Mark
February 22nd, 2010All I can say is WOW! We had a great weekend at the Greenhouse Conference, with Neil Cole and Ed Waken! It was packed out like never before – over 100 people went through the intensive training weekend, preparing each of them to implement simple strategies for relational outreach, reproducible discipleship, and organic church planting.
Of course, the absolute best part of the weekend was spending some quality time with friends in the Underground, and reconnecting with other leaders across the Chicagoland area. Shared meals, coffee breaks, sharing dreams… nothing from the front of the room can compare with connections made there.
Check out these photos of our time together!
The “fire hose” of content that we received this weekend might best be unpacked in a series of blog posts. I find that’s the best way I learn, so if you missed the conference, here’s your place to tune in!
*** Keep in mind – there were actually TWO conferences going on at the same time this weekend. Greenhouse Story 1, and Story 2. I went to Story 2, so these posts will be looking primarily at what was said at that conference.
Organically Multiplying at Every Level
CMA Resources, the organization that presents the Greenhouse Conference, sees their purpose as
facilitating church multiplication movements by focusing resources on reproducing healthy disciples, leaders, churches and movements.
Story 1 focuses mostly on resources for making disciples that make disciples… Life Transformation Groups are one of their strategies – what we call the Micro Layer of the Onion.
Story 2 then is left to talk about Leadership, Churches, and Movements.
Organic Leadership
Organic Leadership starts as a seed planted within yourself. Unless you are personally seeing Christ’s life transforming power within you, whatever else you do will be disaster. Your “organic church planting” will be more like “sowing the wind, and reaping the whirlwind.” (Hosea 8:7) The choice to participate with God in cultivating organic churches across your city and region is to commit to being a certain kind of person; filled with the Spirit, a humble, authentic walk with Christ, always growing and changing, and empowering and serving others.
There are two kinds of people in the world – people who have the adventures – and people who only read about them. Dive right into this life – let it immerse you. At the end of your life – know that you have run the race well, and that adventure was not a book on a shelf, but a lifestyle well-lived!
Not sure if you’re out in the bush or only reading about the victories of others? Do a quick check of your own life — Do any of these characteristics describe your plateau?
Avoids relationships of accountability // Infrequent application of God’s Word // Looking for greener pastures // Joy and love replaced with resentment and fear // Faults are in others, not so much in yourself // Compromising previous personal ethical standards // Sticking to areas of expertise, rather than risking new areas of learning // Talk more than you listen // Christian life for you is mere a routine.
The Right Kind of Authority
There’s a lot of resistance against the word “authority” in our culture today. Even “power” in any form is suspect. But is there a godly form of power? What does it look like?
There’s a clip from Braveheart where William Wallace is speaking with the Princess of Wales says, “I understand that you have recently been given the rank of Knight.”
William repsonds, “I’ve been given nothing. God makes men what they are… a lordship, title, gold…that I should become Judas?”
The Princess replies, “Peace is made in such ways,”
William: “Slaves are made in such ways!”
William is making known the temptation in all leaders – to take on the title and the gold and the power and make it their very identity. Positional Power is never as power as Relational Power — anything William wanted, the Scots would have given him, died for him, because they saw his courage and personal contributions to the cause they all believed in.
Too often, we take our leaders from a shrinking pool of fish. What Organic Leadership challenges us to is to reorient our recruitment for leaders from the very harvest field we are trying to reach! Jockeying for the few of us that have been seminary-trained and groomed for maintaining a single congregation will never make a major dent in transforming our world for Christ. It must become a living movement, made up of local leaders straight out of the harvest field.
So what do Organic Leaders do?
They are a lot like Organic Farmers!
Tending: the work of leaders to create a Christ-centered environment in which healthy famly life and ministry can occur freely and fully.
Harvesting: is a result of intentionally developing disciples, leaders, churches, and missional teams. Here leaders are multiplied with personal mentoring that has a long range view of one’s whole life.
Propagating: is the extension of the whole gospel via ordinary disciples and apostolic teams into the sectors of city life, across a region, and globally among unreached peoples.


