Are you leading a movement or managing an institution?

This question has weighed heavily on me for the past several months. When I consider some differences between the two:

• Institutions are structures of purposed order that have tendencies to compete for resources, resist collaboration and bind creativity with control that hinders growth.
• Movements are committed, engaged groups of activists motivated by common values, unquenchable passion and innovative agility that seed personal and social change.

I realize that, over time, our team (and church) has assumed some institutional baggage. That’s an uncomfortable truth (because who wants that?) and it’s even more uncomfortable as I become more aware of the same truth in my own personal leadership (oh, snap.)

The exciting part of this awareness is that we’re ON IT! As a church team, we’ve been on a journey to address our adaptive challenges, nurture the chaos of new life and break paradigms that create barriers. It’s not that we’re wrestling with the value of structure but re-discovering where and how much of that structure is essential to equipping unstoppable, organic multiplication.

Quotes I’m resonating with…

• When I invite people to church, I’m asking them to give up what they value doing most on Sunday (or Saturday, or Wednesday) so they can experience what I value.
• The gospel is more than an informational transaction. It is a relational interaction which leads to transformation.
• If you want to have a large impact be committed to the small things.

It’s exciting. And, challenging. I am energized as we find ways to leverage organizational strength to release a decentralized network that can change the world. Here’s some of the resources we’re diving into to help find some language and practical next steps.

                             

• THE CONTEXT   The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch
• SOME PRACTICALS   Exponential, Dave and Jon Ferguson
• A HIGH STAKES CONVERSATION   The AND Conference, November 4-5

Comments

[Matt R]

Kem, Fantastic post! I just stumbled onto your blog and will now be a regular. Thanks for the thoughtful and heartfelt comments...and thanks especially for this quote that will challenge me for weeks:

"When I invite people to church, I’m asking them to give up what they value doing most on Sunday (or Saturday, or Wednesday) so they can experience what I value."

[Easy Rael]

I got to your site because of the BLOGGING CHURCH book. I'm Israel Tarlit, a pastor here in the Philippines. We are trying to do our part to lead a movement in a church by going missional with the way we do things.

I like what you have written. It inspired me a lot. I will share this to my team mates.

[Alister Cameron]

Hiya Kem.

Your readers may also want to check out http://movements.net and the book that goes with the site ;)

Cheers,

Alister

[Rollandbryar]

great stuff as usual from kem meyer

[Bill Gorman]

Kem,

Thanks for your thoughtfulness about effective churches and effect church communication. I too have recently been giving a lot of thought to institutions and movements, organizations and organisms. While I agree with you that the church can easily become institutionalized in unhealthy and contra-biblical ways, I have been challenged by James Hunter's thinking in To Change the World (http://www.amazon.com/Change-World-Tragedy-Possibility-Christianity/dp/0199730806) about the importance of institutions and the value they have as forces of presence overtime in a culture. Structure--even institutional--is necessary to sustain a movement that outlives it leaders and their generation.

[jeff e.]

Great post Kem- nothing against institutions - universities and banks are institutions that offer a lot to society as a whole, however, they generally are concerned about their own profit ($), looking good on the outside and providing a lasting legacy. However, when you think of being "institutionalized" it is hard not to picture someone in a straight jacket.
How many pastors feel like they're in straightjackets? Have they been put there by their church - or did they put the straightjacket on by themselves?
thanks for getting my mind out of the usual mid-afternoon "haze."