Welcome to the conversation.
Recently I have been thinking about what presents itself as the self-organising nature of the story of Jesus Christ. The affects of this can be seen in both the life of the individual and the life of a community.
So I am reading with much interest what Clay Shirky is writing about in his book Here Comes Everybody. I’ve been thinking about his example of how Flickr offers minimal organisation for all the pictures uploaded to its site, meaning that labels or “tags” included by those doing the uploading organise the pictures; indeed, it would be an impossible task for Flickr to try to coordinate the pictures itself. In this I see the beginnings of self-organisation.
I then found myself thinking about how Jesus called some fishermen to be part of the human story he was “writing.” In particular, Jesus calls these men to follow him, so I have to presume a life-focus on him is central. Then Jesus promises these men that they will bring more people into his story, and, as he puts this in fishing terms to fishermen, I have to therefore presume that who we are is very much a part of how this will happen.
What I don’t find in this incident is any mention of how this larger company of people who have been “fished” will then be organised, so I’m thinking that in these two things – Jesus at the centre and inviting more people into the story – we have to two basic needs for self-organisation.
Last year, at the Human Event, Alex McManus reminded me that these first century story-tellers didn’t go into places to church plant (organisation first) but to share good news with the people of the cities – and the churches were born as a result of this.It seems to me that we get this the wrong more than we get it right. Just in the last few days I heard it put that we bring people to Jesus so they will come into the churches. We see the church/organisation as the destination, and before we know it people are being organised in the ways of services, buildings, finance, and jobs to do.
If church is not the destination then what is?
It may be helpful to explore two trajectories in human history – for which I am also indebted to Alex McManus for pointing out to me. The first begins in Genesis 1, with God creating with purpose, impressing his image into human beings; interrupted by Genesis 3, the the second trajectory begins in Genesis 12 with the call of Sarai and Abram to a journey that will see the blessing of all people groups. (Watch out for Alex’s not-to-be-missed book, coming soon: Making the World Human Again.)
The sacred Jewish texts carry the story as it is lost and rediscovered, until, in the life of Jesus, we see these human trajectories refocused and amplified. Paul develops the understanding of what is happening as he describes how we are being adopted as the children of God, through the human, Jesus, who is the second Adam, the first of the new humans.
Our destination is to become human, and I am sure there will be many ways in which these new humans organise themselves. The essential alignments for individual and community – if self-organisation is to take place – is to these trajectories.
This is not about particular theological positions and labels; Leonard Sweet suggests that, The basic division in the church of Jesus Christ today is between those who get it and those who don’t. These are about as close to genuine labels as anyone can get. (Soul Tsunami)
One person who “got it” was John Wesley, who in the 18th century began the self-organising movement of Methodism; he offers two labels or tags for self-organisation when he wrote: I seek two things in this world, truth and love. Whoever assists me in this search is a friend indeed, whether personally known or unknown. (quoted in Soul Tsunami)
Here is a rallying call from someone who had found himself being organised by the story that had broken into his life.
Shirky points out that there are many things that the complex organisation leaves unexplored because the investment it has to make into its people doesn’t see the necessary “profit” returned. When those things that are left unexplored by the organisation or institution are the most important of all we have problems. For the followers of Jesus self-organisation always had an added dimension or factor intended to maximise contact with Jesus and his story: Jesus told his followers that they would stay in touch with him through the presence of a special guide, the Holy Spirit.
What do you think?
(A churchy-lite offering – trying to remove the use of religious and churchy jargon)
