Karl Weick, in his
book Making Sense of the Organization,
says, “…whenever you have what appears to be successful decentralization,
if you look more closely, you will discover that it was always preceded by a
period of intense centralization where a set of core values were hammered out
and socialized into people before the people were turned loose to go their own
‘independent, ‘autonomous’ ways.”*
Weick is pointing out
an important ingredient here when it comes to decentralizing the church for
missional ventures. As much as we would like to see the church decentralized
for mission, we can not successfully de-centralize for mission until we first go
through a period of centralization where the necessary foundations for movement
are embedded within the community.
This is exactly what
we see taking place in the life of Jesus, the revolutionary founder of a global
movement. For 3 1/2 years Jesus discipled the twelve and modeled for them what
discipleship, community and mission really looks like. When it came time for
the disciples to launch out into a decentralized mission of disciple making and
mission, they had the necessary training and tools to lead the movement. You
can’t get to Acts without passing through the gospels. And you can’t make it
through the gospels without passing through discipleship. The reality is, Jesus
did not expect the 12 to know how to be or make disciples, live in community, or
be on mission with God until he had modeled and trained them for 3 1/2 years.
Trying to catalyze a
decentralized movement without laying a good foundation of discipleship is just
trendy new-speak. In fact, if you try to decentralize without first going through
a period of centralization where the core practices of being and making
disciples along with living as an extended family on mission, you will not end
up with movement at all. What you will end up with is a fragmented group
of disillusioned people with no point of reference for how to move
forward. To put it another way: Decentralization before discipleship
equals diaspora. Decentralization after discipleship equals
movement.
IMITATION
AS THE MISSING LINK
Most churches find
themselves stuck in a stage of centralization, but it is not the kind of
centralization Jesus has in mind. Instead of centralizing around the core
practices of being and making disciples, and living as an extended family on
mission, the church often centralizes around teaching and information. In this
model of centralization, discipleship and mission take a back seat to the
centralized gatherings that are primarily focused on preaching and the band. If
there happens to be any mission minded leaders in the bunch, they typically challenge
the church to go and do mission, but in essence they are wanting people to
spontaneously go out and do mission on their own.
The only problem with
this approach is that people tend to do what you model for them. So if you give
only give them information, then challenge them to do mission, they will most
likely equate mission with giving people information…about the centralized
gathering where you receive…that’s right….more information.
The missing link in
this informational approach is discipleship; specifically, the principle of
imitation. In order for me to learn how to be and make disciples, and live on
mission, then I need to be invited into a relationship where I can have access
to someone who actually lives it out in their own life. To get me going I
need something to imitate. My friends at 3DM use this triangle to
illustrate the proper relationship between information, imitation
(discipleship) and innovation.
It starts with
information, then leads to imitation, and finally moves into innovation.
Centralization takes place during the first two phases. Decentralization takes
place as you move towards the edge and innovate with new expressions of
ecclesia. The order is really critical if you want to see a decentralized
movement of disciple making and mission to emerge. The missing component, for
most church plants (and churches for that matter), is the phase of imitation
where a leader invites people into a relational process where they model for
them how to be and make disciples and live like an extended family on mission.
If the leader is aiming for decentralized mission where people move towards the
edge and innovate new expressions of ecclesia within every nook and cranny of
their context, then they need to invest the necessary time and energy to
centralize around the patterns of Jesus’ ministry. Those who take the time,
like Jesus, to build a discipling culture will always get what Jesus got……a
movement. If we want a movement like the one Jesus started, then we need to do
it the way he did it. There is just no way around this.
It is true that anyone
can start a movement, but the sustainability of that movement will hinge upon
whether or not the leaders of the movement can be and make disciples…that make
disciples…that make disciples…
*Karl Weick, Making Sense of the
Organization, (Maine: Blackwell
Publishing, 2001) p. 341
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