Models of Organic Church Design, Part I

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A satellite photo of a natural delta in the Brazilian rainforest

It is no secret that we are living in times of rapid change. Unfortunately, too many people see change solely as an evil to be resisted. They see it as a dark force that is invading and corrupting their sacred traditions.

I believe this image is counterproductive because it does not recognize that change is a normal function of life. A healthier image is that of a tropical rainforest, full of life, danger, and change. It is true that there are dangers. There are poisonous snakes and insects that can make you miserable. Nevertheless, in the rainforest, there is also beauty. The key to surviving and thriving in the rainforest is to form a part of the rainforest yourself, to extend deep roots into the tropical soil.

THE COMMAND

Jesus Christ has commanded Christian leaders to plant churches in the rainforest. He said:

"All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:18-29, NASB).

The word "nations" in this text is ETHNOS. It is the same word that is translated elsewhere in the New Testament (and in the Greek Old Testament) as "Gentiles" or "Pagans." The word carries the sense of customs, languages, traditions, practices, and ideas that are strange, different from one's own.

We live in a rainforest full of strange and marvelous vegetation, exotic animals, and foreign sounds. The Lord has commanded us to plant churches in this rainforest.

THE MODELS: MECHANISTIC AND ORGANIC

Unfortunately, the traditional structures and strategies of the church no longer work. For hundreds of years, the church has attempted to build the church according to a mechanistic model. The mechanistic model envisions the church as a kind of building, like a hierarchical pyramid. The mechanistic church is built with artificial structures, forms, and strategies.

The mechanistic model sees the church as a machine that must be assembled. It is like an assembly line for automobiles set up in the middle of the rainforest. Instead of beautifying the rainforest, it exists in contradiction to the rainforest.

The mechanistic model produces rigid structures, fixed routines, and inalterable traditions. It lacks the necessary agility to adapt to the changing life of a rainforest.

I have heard it said that eighty percent of what happens is negative and unexpected. That sounds pessimistic, but, in reality life is uncertain and full of surprises. This uncertainty is uncomfortable, so we try to control life so that we can feel we are in control. We build structures to reign in the chaos of life.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM CHAOS THEORY

Chaos theory does not attempt to control this uncertainty, but rather embraces it as a natural reality of life. The idea of chaos theory is that events happen randomly.

The mechanistic theory of the universe dominated Western thought until the start of this century. That theory saw the universe as a gigantic machine that ran by laws. Once scientists were able to discover these laws, they could predict life's outcomes and thereby control its uncertainty.

Chaos theory started in the field of meteorology. There is nothing more random than the climate. The theory of chaos recognizes that much of life consists of a series of disconnected events that occur at random. But the theory does not end there. Experts in the formation of tornados discovered that these disconnected and random data, with time, would begin to develop into patterns. Irene Sanders describes it this way:

"There is a type of self-organizing pattern, shape, or structure that becomes obvious when the behavior of the system is seen as a whole. There is order hidden beneath the disorder" (Sanders, 1998, p. 60).

The photo above is a satellite image of a delta in the midst of the Brazilian rainforest. The similarity of its pattern to that of the human brain in remarkable. These kinds of shared patterns can be found throughout nature to such an extent that scientists have hypothesized a force behind them called the "strange attractor." As believers in Christ, we know who this strange attractor is.

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The author of the book of Hebrews wrote:

"He [Christ] is the radiance of His [God's] glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3a).

Paul wrote something similar in his letter to the Colossians. "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Col 1:17). Christ is the organizing force of the church. Of all concepts that comprise the organic church design, this is the most important.

In summary, a changing world is like a tropical rainforest, full of beauty, dangers, and adventure. To plant the church today, we must adopt more flexible organic structures. Chaos theory is one model that may help us to break out of the rigid structures of the past. To do this, we must allow for the randomness of life (by resisting the urge to over-control). We must also learn to trust the organizing direction of Christ as He exercises true headship over the body of Christ.

Works Cited

Sanders, T. I. (1998). Strategic thinking & the new science: Planning in the midst of chaos, complexity & change. New York: Simon & Schuster.

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Spirit of Organization