The Church In My Mind (Wild...but good)

Ann Sattley is an individual for whom I have the utmost respect. She and her husband Matt were two of the sweetest melody lines in the opus of my life as pastor of New Prairie Community of Faith. She knows this, therefore I know she won't mind me using a quote from one of her comments as a springboard for this post.

In an earlier comment Ann said, "Thirdly, I think that you are going to have to be careful about the various ways in which people best "connect with God." It borders on postmodern thought to me due to the "what works for you..." model. Sometimes, I think that people best connect with God through good, old-fashioned conviction, which is missing from a lot of churches. Anyway, what if you get someone in your church who best connects with God through screaming "hallelujah" loudly and distracting the painter/journalist? Would you ask him/her to leave or move?"

As I think about this good comment from Ann, a couple of questions come to mind. How much do we trust the Holy Spirit to lead us in our intimacy with Him when we gather together? Is it really up to man to make sure that people are connecting correctly?

I love this segment from C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe:

In The Chronicles of Narnia, an allegory by C.S. Lewis, theauthor has two girls, Susan and Lucy, getting ready to meet Aslan the lion, who represents Christ. Two talking animals,Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, prepare the children for the encounter.

"Ooh," said Susan, "I though he was a man. Is he quitesafe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie," said Mrs. Beaver. "And make no mistake, if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then isn't he safe?" said Lucy."Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you!"

It certainly isn't "safe" as we define "safe" to gather together in the presence of God and ask Him to have His way with us. Personally, I find myself longing for a little "holy chaos" in my life and in my spiritual community. Here's an excerpt from Neil Cole's book "Organic Church."

In chaos theory, random actions often are found to have ordered patterns. "Chaordic" is a new term used to describe "chaotic order" found in the universe and a resulting way of organizing and managing people somewhere in the gap between chaos and order. "Chaordic" means characterized by the fundamental organizing principles of nature. In the natural world, there is a beautiful sense of design and order. Genetic research is beginning to show us some of the ways in which organic growth and formation are determined. By studying how nature works, new social architects are devising ways to develop organizations.

One of the leading voices in this new science of human endeavor, Dee Hock, is the founder of VISA, the largest business enterprise on earth, with twenty-two thousand member institutions worldwide, 750 million customers, and $1.25 trillion in transactions annually. In "The Birth of the Chaordic Age," Hock says, "Purpose and principle, clearly understood and articulated, and commonly shared, are the genetic code of any healthy organization. To the degree that you hold purpose and principles in common among you, you can dispense with command and control. People will know how to behave in accordance with them, and they'll do it in thousands of unimaginable, creative ways. The organization will become a vital, living set of beliefs.

This is not just some new business management theory. These ideas are based on a careful study of the created order of God's univers. It also appears that some of these principles were true of the Church as described in Acts.

A question I have been faced with for the last three years makes this chapter of utmost importance. How do you organize a decentralized, rapidly expanding, spontaneous multiplication movement without killing it in the process? Can we be out of control and still have order? I believe the answer is yes. We can have order in chaos and structure without control, but they must come in a pattern different from what we are accustomed to and emerge from another foundation. The pattern emerges from the Designer, not human leadership. When God is the engineer, there is an order and a pattern that are healthy, natural, and strong. The church can be chaordic.