We are continuing our look at the book by Bill Easum - Unfreezing Moves - Following Jesus into the mission field

The other posts in the series can be found here

A system story

Easum begins chapter two with a fairly sobering quote for those of us in established churches who are seeking to orient themselves around mission. He writes:

“Following Jesus into the mission field is either impossible or extremely difficult for the vast majority of congregations in the Western world because of one thing: They have a systems story that will not allow them to take the first step out of institution into the mission field, even though the mission field is just outside the door of the congregation”. (p31)

He goes on to suggest that each organisation has a system story and that the Church is no different. In continuing the metaphor of stuck and stuck - he says that “stuck congregations have a ‘command and control stifling story’. Unstuck congregations have a ‘permission giving, innovation story’. I am not yet convinced that these are the system stories that we should be talking about in terms of Churches becoming more missional but I will wait to see where Easum goes with the argument. In my opinion, the systems story of stuck and unstuck churches revolves around their understanding of the purpose of Church. The systems story that suggests that the worship service (usually Sunday morning) is a very strong system story that presents itself as the purpose of each local church.

Easum reminds us that a “new understanding of organization is emerging, born out of quantum physics, chaos theory and a return to biblical principles of organization” (p32). We have discussed some of these new understandings at length, while reflecting on Alan Hirsch’s forthcoming book that reflects on mDNA.

I like Easum’s comments on leadership and the cultivation of culture role of leadership that he suggests when he says:

“Someone brings a new idea to anyone who is currently leading a ministry that involves two or more other people. The leader examines the new idea in light of the congregations mission. The idea does not need to go to a centralized authority for approval. if the new ministry enhances the congregation’s mission, the person is given permisson on the spot to put the new idea into action, if he can find two or three other people who want to do it with him. Others see how the system works and are encouraged to seek their own purpose in life. New ministries continually emerge and innovation fills the congregations life. In time, people begin to expect the innovation and are worried when new ideas don’t regularly emerge. The role of leadership in this story is to provide an atmosphere of trust and persmission so people can follow God’s leading rather than the will of a handful of people who try to control everything that happens.” (p33)

I see glimmers of Northern’s story in this quote. We have worked hard at creating a innovative environment - one that is comfortable with risk-taking and seeks to give permission for people to give things a try. Ministries have emerged and the generation of those ideas have almost taken on a life of their own. As we get larger and more complex - I can feel the tension building within myself and our key leaders to seek to control more. It is something we have to be very wary of and resist at all cost - our leaders need to hold each other accountable to this. But, it is not easy - control is the easier path but it suffocates the spirit of God and the releasing of God’s people.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 21st, 2006 at 5:43 pm by phil and is filed under Unfreezing Moves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.