The Problem of institutions (part II)

Perhaps a further exploration of what is meant by institutionalism is needed here: Institutions are organizations initially set up in order to fill a necessary religious and social function and to provide some sort of structural support for whatever that function requires. In many ways they fulfill the very purpose of structure; organization is needed [...]

Here is a bit of fun…at various politician’s expense….

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The Problem of institutions (Part I)

A living system perspective of community and organization is just the one aspect of what it means to be a truly organic missional church. To get a clearer perspective of the nature of Apostolic Genius, especially as it expresses itself in the Early Church and in the Chinese phenomenon, we will need to explore the [...]

chad hall takes on driscoll and jones

This is a direct cut and paste from one of my fave blogs from the editors of Christianity Today….Its a stimulating and challenging discussion, but the polemics is set to continue…
Forces beyond our universe have abducted Mark Driscoll. The leader at Mars Hill Church in Seattle may look like the testosterone-spraying Calvinist pastor with a [...]

Get a Life: The Church as a Living System

How does this grand cosmology relate to our experience of the local church? One of the reflections arising out of my 15 years experience at SMRC is that as we grew and began to operate in the classic church growth mode it became increasingly harder to find God in the midst of the progressively more [...]

organic systems: lets go

This new series of posts will explore the next critical element in mDNA, the inner structures and systems that embody Apostolic Genius and thus enable metabolic growth (growth that takes place exponentially and organically.)  In this series we will probe as to how the church in its most phenomenal form (when it genuinely manifests Apostolic [...]

a true chaordic approach

We are just about to get to discussing organic system and how they work, but I couldn’t resist posting this about a little know aspect of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) as a starter. These principles underlie the organizational life of AA and they are genuinely chaordic. This organization was so far ahead of its [...]

south goes apest

Around 2000 at South Melbourne Restoration Community, we restructured our leadership team on this principle and it led to significant movement towards being a missional church. We restructured leadership so that we could ensure that all five ministries were represented on the team, each in turn heading up a team related to the respective APEPT [...]

one plus one equals three or more

Moving from the more theological perspectives on Eph 4 ministry, let us take a quick look at the church as a social system to explore further the impact of differing leadership styles based on APEST. When we do this, we discover that Paul’s basic template for ministry and leadership is affirmed by current best [...]

update on rex miller

Just a note on Rex Miller’s new website. Rex is a respected leader to both the church and business world. His book, The Millennium Matrix, provides a great roadmap for navigating the digital era. The website is full of resources and is updated weekly. The daily blogs provide leading edge insights [...]

the pharisees: them is us

In Matthew 23:29-32 Jesus blasts those who are determined to maintain the illusion that they represent Israel’s righteousness (the pharisees) because of their failure to acknowledge the role of the prophetic in their midst. Here is a powerful series of comments on this text by Stanley Hauerwas in his fantastic commentary on Matthew (highly recommended).
This [...]

A stroke of (Apostolic) Genius

Missional church requires a missional ministry and leadership system.  For the most part, the Christendom church obscured the need for a fully fledged missional leadership system because the self understanding of the church became fundamentally non-missional. Because all citizens were deemed to be Christians all what was really needed were the pastoral and teaching [...]

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