The Value of the Disorganized Church

Maybe it is time to seriously consider the value of the disorganized church.

Change is very, very difficult in the Church.

Why? There is really no desire to change. People rarely go to church to spearhead change and church leaders, as much as they talk about change, are really interested in change for just one reason.

Economics.

The Church wants to maintain the economic advantages it came to enjoy in the affluent Post World War II years. If the money were still flowing, if the Sunday Schools were even half the size they were in 1965, there would be no talk of change. If the building were maintained with salaries paid and if a healthy proportion of offerings were being shared with the regional and national offices (do we remember why?), then everyone would be happy.

There would be celebrations for the status quo.

Somewhere amidst the revelry the mission of the church will be left behind.

The catalyst for change is need—the more personal, the more imperative.

The need is there. The imperative is strong. But there is no strategy. We are all worried about just getting by! There is no money for mission.

Congregations are hurting. When congregations hurt, regional offices lose support. When regional leaders can’t pay tribute to the national office, you have a mess. The battle cry sounds. Change!

Under these conditions, there is a temptation to follow policies designed to mandate change. They don’t work.

Here is a link to a TED talk that addresses the problem of traffic congestion. How does this relate to church life? Watch it and see.

Here is a short vignette. It’s about the temptation to make plans and expecting other people to simply carry them out.

Back in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, an urban planner in London got a phone call from a colleague in Moscow saying, “Hi, this is Vladimir. I’d like to know, who’s in charge of London’s bread supply?”

And the urban planner in London says, “What do you mean, who’s in charge — no one is in charge.”

“Oh, but surely someone must be in charge. It’s a very complicated system. Someone must control all of this.”

“No. No one is in charge. I mean, it basically — I haven’t really thought of it. It basically organizes itself.”

It organizes itself. That’s an example of a complex social system which has the ability of self-organizing, and this is a very deep insight. When you try to solve really complex social problems, the right thing to do is most of the time to create the incentives. You don’t plan the details. People will figure out what to do, how to adapt to this new framework.

This is part of church life today. Regional bodies send “transition” experts to congregations and attempt to steer congregations toward newer, accepted, but not really proven, new ways of ministry. They are not recognizing what the people in the local churches know very well. It’s not working — no matter how hard you try, no matter how you veil the statistics.

The Church wants to control the distribution of bread. (No theological metaphor intended!)

What the urban planners dealing with congestion problems discovered is this: Attempts to mandate a change in driving habits had NO impact.

They didn’t achieve success until they found a gentle way to nudge drivers. The nudge was so gentle, no one even noticed that their behaviors had changed. Most people thought the changes were their idea.

The Church needs to learn to nudge. Lead, don’t dictate. We’ve been trying to force congregations to do the things hierarchy wants them to do for a while now. It isn’t working.

A little less organization. A little more incentive for grassroots initiative.