This past Sunday we talked about being organic. It is easy to think about church organically, especially becaue of all the times that Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is like…” and then used some kind of farming or other nature metaphor. So we believe that Jesus could easily just have said that the Kingdom of God is like a starfish.

Really, it’s not original. It’s a reference to the book The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations (Brafman and Beckstrom). Funny thing is, it’s not even a “church” book. But some perceptive Christian out there once baptized this book, and now just about anyone who leads organic type churches knows about the starfish thing. So that’s textbook organic church education that we had no choice but to cover eventually. But there’s no shame with that…it’s become one of the best recent metaphors for church, and it wasn’t even created for the church.

In the beginning of the book, the authors describe the characteristics of the starfish, especially in comparison to the spider.

With a spider, what you see is pretty much what you get. A body’s a body, a head’s a head, and a leg’s a leg. [And if you chop off the spider's head, it dies.] But starfish are very different. The starfish doesn’t have a head. Its central body isn’t even in charge. In fact, the major organs are replicated throughout each and every arm. If you cut the starfish in half, you’ll be in for a surprise: the animal won’t die, and pretty soon you’ll have two starfish to deal with.

Starfish have an incredible quality to them: If you cut an arm off, most of these animals grow a new arm. And with some varieties, such as the Linckia, …the animal can replicate itself from just a single piece of an arm. You can cut the Linckia into a bunch of pieces, and each one will regenerate into a whole new starfish. They can achieve this magical regeneration because in reality, a starfish is a neural network. Get this: for the starfish to move, one of the arms must convince the other arms that it’s a a good idea to do so. The arm starts moving, and then–in a process that no one fully understands–the other arms cooperate as well. The brain doesn’t “yea” or “nay” the decision. In truth, there isn’t even a brain to declare “yeah” or “nay.” The starfish doesn’t have a brain. There is no central command. Biologists are still scratching their heads over how this creature operates…(p.35)

So I think 1 Corinthians 3:1-23 is all about viewing church like a starfish instead of a spider

In this passage, Paul addresses a church in Corinth who struggled with many of the same basic dysfunctions that any church faces: gossip, division, favoritism, pride, disorderly worship, etc. This passage in particular is all about divisions over authority, church structure, and leadership recognition–Who’s in charge? Who’s doing church right? Who should they follow? They were essentially putting certain leaders on pedestals and centralizing the intelligence of the gospel in each of their preferred all-stars. In other words, they were making church into a spider where each leader figure was a “head” of the church.

We can’t fault the Corinthians…we do the same thing. How often do we rely heavily on head pastors for spiritual growth, make distinctions between the clergy and laity, reserve “church” to the weekly Sunday gathering at the church building, or depend on lots of money to do ministry? Every church does that! And it’s almost feels natural for us to do that.

But it’s not natural to the way Paul planted churches. And so it “naturally” causes problems. Among many other things, it creates division within the community of Christ, puts lots of pressure on mere humans, and paralyzes the legitimate spiritual gifts and contributions of everyday church members. So this was not cool for Paul, because it would prevent the churches from growing and spreading.

Because think of what happens when the pastor moves on or (heaven forbid) gets caught up in a scandal, or when there are popularity contests in ministry, or when a recession hits and the money runs out. Then what? Churches have a hard time bouncing back when the “head” gets chopped off because that was their central command.

So we talked about how Paul is making at least three main points to the church:

1. There is no hierarchy (3:5-7)

He answers his own question, “Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? We’re just servants!” There are no all-stars; no one is any better than anyone else, especially the apostles. There is no “head” except Christ! So everyone in the church must contribute something, while God does the real magic. It doesn’t mean that there is no structure or leadership…it’s just that it’s not that hierarchical kind that we want to make it out to be.

2. The purpose, not a person or place, is the center (3:8-9)

That purpose is the Gospel of Christ, which is like the DNA of the church, the central intelligence. So again, it’s God’s game plan, and everyone should be on board with that, not just some dude’s own game plan here or there.

3. YOU have it in you (3:16-17)

Probably the most important point. Paul asks the Corinthians, almost impatiently, “Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” Duh! This line is fascinating, especially if you understand the temple and it’s place in the story of Israel. The Israelites were always trying to make spiders out of starfish–centralizing God. They whined about not having a king, although God warned against it…but he still gave them one. If you read through 1 and 2 Kings, you see exactly how that turned out. And they also thought they couldn’t live without a temple for God, even though God said that he can take care of himself. But he still gave them one.

Nevertheless, the purpose of the temple was to have a centralized presence of God where Israel could worship. It was supposed to be the center of their lives. And if you read 1 Kings 8, you’d see how beautiful the temple was; everything was made of gold! Unfortunately, it didn’t last forever, because when Israel continually turned from God, they consequently were oppressed by other nations. And the temple was eventually destroyed.

So Paul makes this very interesting point…YOU have the “temple” inside of you. They very presence of God, what it means to be church, the gold…all of that–the center of everything. Each person in the church is as important or “central” as the next. So there were no all stars or professionals. This ministry thing wasn’t like rocket science or the Olympics or anything. Paul basically said, “Look man, all we’re doing is planting seeds and watering them!” How easy is that!? And since the regular Joes and Janes of the church have the temple in them, how much more central are they in doing those simple tasks in which God is ultimately responsible for making things grow?

And those three points make a world of difference when taken seriously. You see, because Paul and the apostles planted these ideas into their minds is exactly why the gospel spread so fast and that the entire Roman Empire (the biggest spider of all) crumbled under Christianity within a couple of centuries. It was like a simple virus that anyone could pass on. And it’s no wonder that when the Romans tried to stop the Christians by persecuting them and killing its leaders, that the church just continued to spread. “We don’t die,” they said. “WE MULTIPLY!” There was no “human” head to cut off, because the intelligence was spread throughout the whole body of Christ. The Head (Christ) was in each person!

So the main argument for us was that it is harder (but not impossible) for people to come to know Christ, especially fringy people, and for the church to grow when it becomes centralized like a spider, even though we are pulled so strongly toward that.

But Michael Frost asks a great question, “What would church be like if you no longer had a building, could no longer meet on Sundays, had no head pastor, and had no money?” What if it all got cut off? Then what?

What would happen would depend largely on how we view ourselves…as a spider, or as a starfish?

Original post: http://bchurch.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-kingdom-of-god-is-like

:::REMEMBER!::: Starting this fall, Wednesday, September 17th, at 7pm we will be reading through the Forgotten Ways Handbook together.  A few copies are still available FOR FREE if you are interested in joining us in the conversation.  This book is helpful in developing the Jesus movement many of us are praying for here in the city.  Please leave a comment below if you are interested in learning with us!

Insights from Greenhouse Think Tank: Cultivating the Heart of the Leader -

• Learning to remain relentlessly attentive to hearts; your own, God’s, and others – is what allows for the life of discipleship and leadership you desire.
• Servant Leadership means you will be treated like a servant.
• Many pastors act like they don’t believe in the priesthood of believers, but in the papacy of pastors.
• Sometimes, loving one person hurts someone else in the process.  Can this be avoided?  For example, when I don’t seek the heart of God, many times I hurt my spouse or others.
• It is essential in learning to hear from God to record the seemingly unimportant so that when the time comes seeing God’s path becomes clear.
• Ben shared a favorite quote on leadership, “Pray as though everything depends on YOU, and act as though everything depends on GOD.”

If you would like to read the facilitator’s notes on this gathering, click here: Cultivate- LEADER

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What does Napster, Al Qaeda and the Apache Indians have in common?  They are all “starfish” organizations.  Categorically different than spider organizations, which rely on central command, clear cut membership, and hierarchical management, there is truly no one in charge of a starfish organization.  They are built around passion and ideology, rather than management and budgets.  Former CEOs become catalysts in a movement and quickly fade into the background as the fluid organization quickly takes over like Kudzu in a forest.

All this has profound implications for the Church in America.  For over 1,000 years, the Church has functioned like a spider, buts its earliest days (and most dynamic movements today) look more like starfish.  Our discussion Saturday will be on the Church in Chicago as a starfish organization, and how each of us can participate in the unstoppable movement where only Jesus Christ is a leader.

Hope you can join us!  A book summary will be posted on this article after the event is posted below for your reading enjoyment!

Starfish and Spider – Ori Brafman (Summary)

Tonight is our second Think Tank and we’ll be dreaming up what this revolutionary group may become.  If you’d like to participate in future Think Tanks, check out our calendar, or contact us for details.

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But why have a gathering like this?

It is meant to be a supportive/ validating environment.

It is meant to be a learning environment.

It is meant to be an environment of accountability.

It is a spiritual/missional discipline.

Important Questions we Ask:

• Did people walk away feeling empowered to the task and lifestyle of organic church planting?
• Does each person walk away with new insights in ministry, missions, and theology?
• Did we all have a chance to share what is happening since our last time together, and challenged to participate in God’s mission in tangible ways?
• Do we as a group understand the spiritual importance of meeting together for personal development as a disciple?

Each monthly session will include: (1) some worship and appreciation of the Lord (2) sharing (3) learning (4) discussion (5) some consideration of “next steps” (6) some reflection time and (7) some prayer. 

Tonight we’ll be getting to know each other and discussing group expectations.

I hope that these Think Tanks will become a regular rhythm in our network’s life together.  I will usually post the evening’s agenda here as I’ve done this month. Click on the link below for more!

GreenhouseGatheringsOrientation

We will be going through the Greenhouse material, introduced last fall at Moody and based on the book Organic Church and Organic Leadership by Neil Cole.  If you’re a reader, check these books out!  If not – come to the conversation – we’ll be looking at practical ways to implement this info into our daily lives.

So!  Here’s the skinny on the next Think Tank:

What: Organic Church Greenhouse Think Tank.  An engaging conversation on living as missionaries in Chicago, and planting churches in homes, coffee shops, barber shops…wherever life happens.
Where: Mercury Cafe (1505 W Chicago Ave, Chicago IL)
When: Wed July 15th at 7pm.
Who:  Come and bring others.
How…much?: Its free.  But you can always buy my coffee!

I read Godin’s book Tribes earlier this year, and found it enlightening. This video is a quick summary of the book by the author, plus his theory on a process for those interested in changing the world. He looks over countless organizations, and through history at movement leaders and then draws some conclusions. Why is it that Ghandi was successful in bringing about liberation and true change in India? How did Martin Luther King rally a battered and bitter people into a movement of civil rights?

It begins by telling a story. Frederick Buechner is quoted saying,

To truly tell the story of anything well is to tell the story of everything.

If you want to change the world, tell an alternative story.

]]> http://ugnchicago.com/archives/174/feed 0 http://ugnchicago.com/archives/127 http://ugnchicago.com/archives/127#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 14:11:43 +0000 markw http://ugnchicago.com/?p=127 Ever wonder what the OTHER Lord’s prayer is? We’ve all memorized, “Our Father, who art in heaven…” but do we know the ONLY OTHER prayer Jesus calls us to pray? It’s in Luke 10, and its changing the face of missions in America, and really the whole world.

Jesus calls together a band of about 70 disciples, and asks them to go to the towns and villages he planned to visit. Before they head off, he teaches them to pray, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few; so pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

What if we really believed in the Lord of the Harvest – that if we continually begged God to bring workers to the harvest field of Chicago, that he may answer that prayer in ways we could never even imagine?

I believe the Gospel is a virus, and one of its mutations is the 10:2b Virus. So if you don’t want to get infected, stop reading right now and forget you ever saw this! Every day at 10:02am my cell phone alarm goes off and reminds me to pray for the harvest workers in Chicago. That includes many of you. My prayers focus on the harvest field, for the people groups who do not yet have a vibrant family of Jesus that embodies the Good News in their language.

The truth is, since I’ve started praying this prayer, I’ve seen two things in the way of God’s answers: one, more workers – LOTS more people ready to be sent into their social circles, and two, WAY more harvest field than my heart can take. Gals n’ guys, let’s pray this prayer together. Everyday. Let’s just see what God can do with a network of radical followers of Christ ready to pray this dangerous prayer.

It’s interesting that after these disciples prayed this prayer, they went out – they became the answers to their own prayers!

There is a community of church planters around the country that center around this prayer online – check out their site: LK10.com