Spirit of Organization

The organic church is more of a mindset than it is a thing. But don't imagine that, as a mindset, it therefore has little impact on the things of the church. In fact, such a view of the church has far-reaching practical implications.

Instead of viewing the church in mechanistic terms, the organic mindset sees the church as a living organism, constantly adapting its outer form to effectively engage its environment; it grows like all living organisms grow. Growth is not a uni-dimensional process, but rather a multi-dimensional reality.

Kudzu vines, Doberman pincers, and my new grandchild who is still in my daughter's womb, are all living organisms. They don't grow by imposing structure upon them but rather the structure expands naturally from the life within them.

The alternative to the organic church is the mechanistic church. The mechanistic church is like a machine that must be "assembled" according to a rigid owner's manual. In the mechanistic church, it is thought that if only you learn the right "laws" of church growth, the machine will expand its productive capacity. In the mechanistic church, externals are the primary focus: budgets, numbers, programs, physical facilities, and events. These things become sacred as they come to define what the church is.

The organic church turns this upside down (or right side up depending on your perspective) placing the primary focus on the intangibles. In this view, the externals become the malleable dimension and the spirit becomes the driving force.

"An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers" (John 4:23).

In the organic church the "spirit" becomes the most sacred and most earnestly defended reality, even at the cost of all that is external if necessary, for "whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Mt 16:25). Every church, whose primary concern is to defend and "save" the external accouterments of its worship to the neglect or even violation of the spirit, will eventually lose its life.

The leaders of an organic church are not merely those in a position of power or authority to make decisions; they are truly the spiritual giants of the body. They have become mature, not simply by aging. Anyone can age and there are many infantile personalities fiercely defending their comforts and preferences. Then, having won their ecclesiastical battles, they puzzle over why their numbers shrink and their young people walk away.

Leaders in the organic church have become mature not because they have aged but because they have practiced their Christianity and not merely "studied" it (Hebrews 5:12-14). They are leaders committed to changing the world and not just to protecting the assets of their little empire.

The organic church is functionally dependent on the Holy Spirit for its structure. By "functionally" I mean that its leaders don't just give lip service to the "leading of the Holy Spirit" but in fact depend on that leading for real-time, practical, bottom-line, decision-making.

In an organic church, wisdom may come from any direction and is not limited to top-down authoritarian structures. It often bubbles up from the bottom or even from the side to center. This is because, in the organic church, God says:

"I will pour forth of my Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams" (Acts 2:17).

The organic church breaks the rules of mechanistic hierarchy because, in the organic church, the authority flows from the intangible outward, and not from the top down.

Finally, the members of an organic church know how to live in the present tense. They know that the world has changed and they cannot afford to live in the comfortable garden of remembrance. But they are also not perpetually driven by an unachieved future. The Azaleas are alive today; the organic church knows how to enjoy their beauty. They know that eternity is often present in the moment. Like the servant of Abraham, the organic church ask the Lord, "Please grant me success today" (Genesis 24:12). Such an attitude opens many doors for the organic church because it no longer judges the value of people by how they might contribute to the building of their machine, but rather as a world of mystery and gifts that they can explore and be blessed by today.

Note: This post was written in response to a question from one of my students who asked for clarification about what I mean when I talk about the "organic church."

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