Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Has Eveybody Gotten The Memo?
Hugh Hewitt recently reprinted an email from Randy Elrod on "new leadership." Said Elrod:
Hewitt would likely contend that the command-and-control form of leadership was necessary because of historical communication difficulties. There is little question the Internet has made organizing ourselves in this looser fashion easier, and made command-and-control harder, but somehow, I think that if God provided the vision of organization then He provided the means, even before the Internet.
Those with much at risk in the change to which Elrod points will talk about how dangerous this is, how heresies will develop, and how the average person, especially the average Christian, cannot be counted on to understand the intricacies of life with Christ.
To that I respond similarly - do you not think God understands our sinful nature and has accounted for our capability to stray in His plans. In fact, isn't that the point? Command-and-control leadership can, and often does, stray. The new organization may allow for more strays, but it also limits the impact of those strays.
But what is most intriguing about the model Elrod discusses is that it removes the middle man - God now works directly in our hearts, without benefit of intercessor. Think about that theologically and see where you end up. Maybe this where Christ intended things to go? - I'm thinkin'.
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We now live in an automagical world. A world that is composed of not one future, but multiple futures. A world of self-chosen communities or tribes that are nodes in large, complex networks of such groups. A world in which hierarchal pyramids of control are crumbling and the Taylorism world of precise affluence has become a Web 2.0 world of mystical influence and social networks.Elrod is writing in response to a question concerning the recently released, and seemingly quickly forgotten Evangelical Manifesto. In many ways, I like what Elrod is saying, but my question is "Why is this new?" This strikes me as the biblical model for organization of the body of Christ that has been there from the very beginning.
Viral loops, not manifestos, provide the opportunity for unparalleled influence. This is a world in which documents handed down by well-meaning alpha males result in a stifled yawn. However, this same world moves to the edge of their seat upon realizing that the responsibility to change the world need not be their legacy or burden. On the contrary, the creation of culture is the calling from which history speaks.
[...]
Servant leaders have the ability to provide a new type of leadership. A collaborative mentoring and releasing of people with varied and mystical gifts in order to create culture. Alpha leaders value control, servant leaders value collaboration. Alpha leaders value individualism, servant leaders value community. Alpha leaders value affluence, servant leaders value influence.
Hewitt would likely contend that the command-and-control form of leadership was necessary because of historical communication difficulties. There is little question the Internet has made organizing ourselves in this looser fashion easier, and made command-and-control harder, but somehow, I think that if God provided the vision of organization then He provided the means, even before the Internet.
Those with much at risk in the change to which Elrod points will talk about how dangerous this is, how heresies will develop, and how the average person, especially the average Christian, cannot be counted on to understand the intricacies of life with Christ.
To that I respond similarly - do you not think God understands our sinful nature and has accounted for our capability to stray in His plans. In fact, isn't that the point? Command-and-control leadership can, and often does, stray. The new organization may allow for more strays, but it also limits the impact of those strays.
But what is most intriguing about the model Elrod discusses is that it removes the middle man - God now works directly in our hearts, without benefit of intercessor. Think about that theologically and see where you end up. Maybe this where Christ intended things to go? - I'm thinkin'.
Technorati Tags:leadership, church, new media, organization
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