Carol referred to this article in a comment on the second Bread for the Journey post. Here is an interesting quotation from the article:
Most organizational leaders assume that centralization (captured in the metaphor of the spider) is the model for success, when in fact decentralized entities (defined by the starfish) are often more successful. "If you cut off a spider's leg, it's crippled; if you cut off its head, it dies. But if you cut off a starfish's leg, it grows a new one, and the old leg can grow into an entirely new starfish." This is not only a secret of biology, Brafman and Beckstrom claim; it is also the hidden power behind many of the most innovative and successful businesses. This is what has determined the success of Wikipedia, craigslist and Skype. It is why eBay and General Electric have a lot in common with the abolitionist and women's rights movements of the 19th century. It is why General Motors has faltered and Toyota succeeded. All of these successful businesses have featured a starfish model, relying not on a top-down hierarchy but on the power of peer relationships.So, here are my questions: Who sets the tone for the conversations that must occur in this decentralized model? What does the pastor do? Is the office of pastor even appropriate to this model? Are the specializations (worship leadership, exegesis, pastoral care) worth the creation of a single position to maintain?
In thinking about Friedman's ideas around leadership, and how Tully employs them, self-differentiation in the office of the pastor/priest/rector may be a non-issue in the starfish model. Or self-differentiation places the pastor entirely on the outside of the entire starfish dynamic. Huh. Maybe so.
Larry offered this reflection as well.
What if all the time we spend attempting to ensure our success denies that we are all called to live by faith and not by sight. What if there are no actual technologies to being church, and growing. What if the organic metaphors of Tree and Body tell us more than we worshipers of technique want to believe?I think that Tully would agree with Larry. But I also think that he understands that this process of following the leadings of the Spirit needs someone at the helm...the blind leading the blind? No...A Christ-like shepherd who has been given a vision to lead the people.Then I begin to wonder if we don't actually believe in church as something begun and sustained by the Spirit.
Thoughts?
And I need to go back to bed. I woke up with my head spinning with this stuff...anxieties about this Sunday's service, etc. Now I exhausted and sleepless. Yay.
Posted by tripp at September 28, 2007 02:48 AMDecentralization is right, though, as with anything, too much decentralization is simply anarchy.
[triumphalist tone]But of course, this is how the Orthodox do things[/triumphalist tone]
More seriously, this is why the Orthodox do not have a pope. Orthodox believe there were 12 Apostles, not 11 Apostles and 1 Vicar of Christ.
Posted by: Clifton D. Healy at September 28, 2007 06:46 AMThe article was interesting in a lot of ways. One thing that grabbed my attention is that they spoke much more about denominations and not congregations. But I imagine that the denominational structure would serve as a guide of sorts to the congregational structure.
Posted by: Tripp at September 28, 2007 07:33 AMJust to clarify: My post on my blog was not directly a response to Tully per se, but that we seem to multiply these experts, many of whom have accomplished something remarkable in certain contexts but rarely (so it seems to me) stop to ask if it can or should be repeated elsewhere. Thus my sense that in a very real sense Reconciler could not be repeated in Hollywood for example, though an ecumenical congregation could work there, but I wouldn't be an expert on ecumenical congregations if Reconciler flourishes even more than it already is. I would be a beginner again.
And really by the time I got to the part of my post you quoted I had left Tully and even your own reflections far behind and had gone off on a rant/reflection I seem to come to often about my frustrations with American Protestant Christianities.
After six years as a solo pastor in a small ECUSA church I have attended about as many growth stragetgy theology workshops as one can possibly attend. Plus I have umpteenmillion books on the topic.
I'm glad I didn't come to hear Tully. I really did not need one more BIG church success story about how to be self-differentiated and lead with vision when I have a staff of one - me.
Still, I found much to comfort me in your reflection. What I have appreciated about my small church is their willingness to be adaptive. We are like the starfish. Never thought of it that way, but we are. If one thing doesn't work we try another and then another. Of course you have to try them for a little while to see if they are going to take hold or not... Eventually some things begin to work and then we build on those. Then something else, etc.
The pastor in a small church is incredible important to this process. The role of pastor in a large church, or even a medium church, is very different. In a small church people come because of the pastor and that person is vital to the vision and growth of the congregation. We need to be self-differentiated enough to not take this personally. It's about us, but we are so much more than the face and voice people see on Sunday. We need to care for the congregation while not buying into their anxiety or fears. Which is how we hold the vision high.
Also, I'm really tired of big churches seeming like the only ones that are vibrant and dynamic. I like what Diana Butler Bass has to say about growing in faith by developing Christian disciplines that shape and form us. Adapting traditonal disciplines and living them a new way, such as contemplative prayer or beauty or hospitality...
Bass also said, at "Bread for the Journey" last year, that it takes the right timing of three elements coming together for churches to grow: a vision orientated leader, people willing to do what it takes, and the HOLY SPIRIT. without all three present at the same moment growth will not happen. I totally get that.
Sounds like Tully said some good stuff. But similar enough to what I've learned from Callahan, Andrew Weeks, Bass, Steinke, Alice Mann, and a host of others. The most important thing from all these folks - are we (pastors of small churches) able to take what they have to teach us, rip it apart, and put it back together in a way that works for our church? Are we able to say, I can adapt this and this, but as a solo pastor the other stuff needs to go into the vision for some time down the road...and by then you'll have another idea...(the starfish)...
Anyway, I hope it was a great experience for those who went. Looking forward to next year.
Posted by: mompriest at September 29, 2007 08:19 AM