Networks and Netwars: What can we learn about ourselves from Al Quaeda
As shocking as it seems at first, it’s not hard to see the striking similarities between the structures of international terrorist networks like Al Quaeda and that of the Early Church, or the Chinese church for that matter. And while the agenda of each is entirely different, it is partly the structure that makes both so effective and just about impossible to ‘take out.’ How is it that every legitimate government in the world is spending incalculable billions of dollars trying to stamp out a relatively small movement and has largely failed to make even a dent?! The most powerful armies in the world are dedicated to the sole purpose of destroying it and have yet to get close to fulfilling that mission. Putting aside its political agenda, what is it about this vile movement that makes it so hard to snuff out?
Al Quaeda has all the elements of a movement as defined in this chapter; it also exhibits all the features of an all-channel network, consisting as it does of decentralized nodes and multiple energy centers. It is made up of small self-contained units, or cells, which can easily recruit and multiply. Furthermore, the DNA of its message and ideology are embedded in every terrorist cell through the development of a simple ‘sneezable’ message that can be reproduced in any given context. The geo-political conditions are rife for its message. And it has a seemingly inbuilt capacity to spread and then swarm around issues and places where its mission potential has the maximum possibility of greatest impact and then seemingly disappear into the air, making it just about impossible to destroy.
I make this comparison not to be needlessly provocative (I am totally opposed to what Al Quaeda stands for) but because we can learn so much about the nature of mDNA from it-at least as far as structures are concerned. So, its appears that the church in its most exceptional form (including the Early and Chinese Church) appears to be more like Al Quaeda than it does what we have generally come to know as church. So much so, that most of us (including the vast majority of church leaders) would simply not recognize these remarkable expressions of church as ‘church’ if we stumbled upon them-they simply don’t fit our criteria of church, influenced as it is by buildings, professional clergy, institutional structures, and so forth.
But there is more to consider still. As mentioned above, each Al Quaeda cell has in it the complete DNA of the whole movement. That is why it can replicate itself and still remain true to its cause. When we consider Apostolic Genius and the church, this is exactly the same. Just like a seed or a cutting, each Jesus community has the full and complete quotient of mDNA embedded into it, and if it is true to its own calling, and given the right conditions, it can become the beginning of a whole new apostolic movement. In the seed the whole tree lies coiled, and in the tree, there lies the potential for the production of countless other seeds. In the tree is the full potential or the forest, and so on.
It is interesting to note in passing that in the natural world of organisms similar patterns of networked organization can be observed. Some species maximize their chances of survival by massive spread; e.g. bacteria or ants. Others seek survival the concentration of cells into one indivisible unit, but in doing so bear greater risk in terms of extinction. For example, it is just about impossible to wipe out a bacteria strain because of massive spread and because each bacterium has that darn DNA that can replicate and develop. But we all know what happened to the Dinosaur or Dodo. Likewise, plants, when their system senses that their survival is threatened, use all their energies to produce more seeds to maximize survival. This is what happens when we prune plants or trees-they produce more flowers which in turn produce more fruit which contain seeds. I have come to conclude that in times of serious adaptive challenge, the church too will maximize its survival by decentralizing, spreading, and multiplying. This is exactly what happened in the Early Church and in China. And strangely enough, its beginning to happen in the context of the 21st Century.
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Hullo-o-o Al…
I like your disclaimer (I make this comparison not to be needlessly provocative) why on earth would you imagine people might think such a thing? Unless you’ve changed your surname by deed poll to Ky-eda?
Bring on the virus… sneeze on as many as you can…
Slainte
The wandering Celt
Hey CS, you have been wandering too far lately. No time to drop in bro? Whatever, we are blessed by your visit.
Mate…! You’re not being provactive at all… right!!!
But without a doubt, you are right.
Question:
You say:
“..I have come to conclude that in times of serious adaptive challenge, the church too will maximize its survival by decentralizing, spreading, and multiplying. This is exactly what happened in the Early Church and in China. And strangely enough, its beginning to happen in the context of the 21st Century.”
Do you really believe that it’s beginning to happen? I know I’m nose deep in the US… but I don’t know if I see it! Most churches and church leaders I speak to are more focused on growing their own centralized base. Apart from some really good things happening (like lifechurch.tv)… I’m really struggling with the church leadership mantra of building the church mall instead of developing and investing in the local butcher shop.
Hi Rob…its happening for sure. I am working with a number of mega-churches that are reconfiguring themselves along those lines. Very exciting!
Hullo-o-o Al… and Rob,
what keeps me busy here in Aus is a journey with a small crew of people who are committed to swimming against the tide. Consumer church is certainly still the dominant focus, mainly because to some extent it still works - there are still consumers in a church world addicted to dysfunctional ecclesial codependence on a continuum between “needy4approval” and “2lazy2act”…
Those seeking to transition to a more authentic expression of ekklesia, need also to be aware that we are victims of the conditioning of our culture. We need to consciously battle the conditioned expectations of instant results… To truly restore a missional focus to the church may well take generations… are we prepared to give our lives on this altar… what about the lives of our own Isaacs… and Jacobs… and Josephs… and…?
It is impossible to see if anything is actually happening when the work begins in root systems under the ground, without our testing becoming destructive. These are times to have faith in the principles of creation - if someone is sowing seed and someone is watering, then the creator is generating new life. Rather than just question if it is happening, let’s engage in community, working in our corner of the orchard, because it is the right thing to do.
The fact that others continue to develop the attractional model, and the fact that it seems to be working for them, should not blind us to the call to become the church God has called us out to be.
I have a vignette, a mental image… maybe a vision… that recurs in my mind’s eye…
I see a fruit tree… on the edge of an orchard, close to a boundary wall. The tree is in blossom, magificent, colourful, perfumed. A child sits on the wall considering picking the beautiful flowers. The child is attracted by the beauty of the blossom, the rich fragrance, the volume of the flowers… no-one will miss a couple of them.
A child on the ground on the outside of the wall encourages the child on the wall to pick the flowers… how beautiful they will look on their table at home. From the inside of the wall a wise Mother advises the child not to pick the blossoms, the consequence would be there would be no fruit from that part of the tree. Once the flower is picked it is dead and the potential of the tree is reduced, at least for this season…
Time passes… the child runs in, bringing the blossom they have picked; with joyful exuberance they correct the wise Mother. The flower did not die it is still alive, it looks just as bright and colourful, it smells just as sweet as it did when it was connected to the source of life… and now the advantage to us as consumers is that we need not go to see the flower, the flower can be brought to us at our convenience…
Flowers are certainly pretty and decorative. For a short moment they fill us with appreciation, they fill up gaps in our lives with what appears to be the sights and sounds, the smells and tastes of life… But only for a short time… they are but a transient substitute for what constitutes real life.
Time passes… the flowers deteriorate, the water they were placed in stagnates… the sweetness has gone replaced with a foul smell of decay… Mother was right. Within the decay there are some of the nutrients required to nurture new life, but appalled by the smell the child simply disposes of it…
Fruit requires patience and nurture, fruit contains the seed of the future. Fruit does not appear overnight. There is a time to plough and a time to lay fallow, a time to sow and times to nurture – sometimes the materials we are given to use in the process of nurture are dirty and foul-smelling. There are long seasons of caring and protection, seasons of maturing without apparent fruit, seasons of gestation and seasons of expectation. A long time passes between sowing and reaping, time to realise that He who promised is faithful and we who work in His fields have time to learn to walk in His faithfulness…
Time passes… on the rest of the trees in the orchard fruit is ripe for harvest… containing the seeds of the future generations of trees that, in their season, cared for, nurtured and protected will produce fruit. Each year we can visit them and see the blossoms, knowing they will come to fruition and bring increase we can smell the fragrance, delight in true life and work to continue the practice for the generations to come…
In the words of the inimitable Michael Frost… “do you follow?”
Slainte
A Celtic Son
I think a major advantage they have is that they never had a head office, CEO with the perks (Or Pastor as the case may be), long history and PR to protect, paid staff……In essence nothing to give up. Herein lies one of the biggest problems facing churches and mission agencies…..they have too much to give up. The DNA of Al Quaeda etc camnnot be tacked onto what we have and what we have cannot be tinkered with to get the advantages. In saying this I know you are trying with some Al and I would love to be proved wrong.
What I want to ask these politicians in regards to Al Queda is, “exactly how do you plan to defeat something that you cannot bring under your control?”
I heard a historian say once that history changes when the mindset of the people changes.
You want to change Al Queda? Change the mindset.
You want to change the Church? Change the mindset.
The speed with which this occurs will determine the speed with which we see the results we’re looking for in both areas.
Hey 2nd man, take a look at the next post.
C.S… we have a prophet/poet in our midst. Thank you… I love your writing.
Hi Darryl,
I don’t disagree with you, but honestly I’m way beyond the whole crying in my tea cup… if Al’s proposal won’t work what’s your solution? What are you engaging in to bring about the change?
2MU - what’s your take on changing mindsets… I agree that’s necessary, but I believe it starts at grassroots and it begins with one… how can we generate the mindset that’s needed?
Janet - thanks for your encouragement. Every now and then I have a “moment” it is a blessing to have a forum to share it in… then it’s time to get on and practice what I preach/prophesy!!
Slainte
A Celtic Son
CS….Im trying a number of things….many not working. I might tell you some time, but I too am way past crying in my tea cup….I just dont lke seeing time and energy wasted!
Hullo Darryl,
I agree that life is too short to waste time and energy, and maybe I’m just becoming cynical. I see the worst forms of wasted time and energy often expressed by legions of armchair critics, disenfranchised “Christians” and disengaged theologians, for whom it is easy to point out problems, but who are not actively engaged in being Jesus to people, so never point to any solutions. To find the church’s greatest problems most of us simply have to look in a mirror.
I’m much more interested in what’s not working for you than I am in ideas never enacted, or in activities specific to a location and culture being touted as the general answer. In my experience defining what’s “not working” is part of the journey towards figuring out what might work… the great heroes of the church in my book are the people genuinely engaging in trying to connect others in Christ in authentic ways but find that they don’t work…
I’m part of a local communitychurch, involved in a variety of projects in a local community. After 8 years we’re still trying to define missional church, some of what we’re engaged with is missional and some of it is church - we’ve not really been able to reconcile the two in practice. While I’m engaged in the “coversation” at some level and TFW and other texts can inform our thinking, if we don’t put it into practice we’ve gained nothing… just seen some more time and energy wasted!
In practice I pay more attention to the ideas of the people engaged in our community than I do to the brightest thinkers and critics… and I’m interested in hearing from practitioners who are doing this stuff… good, bad and ugly…
Slainte
A Celtic Son
CS -
It seems that typically mindsets change as the result of a revolution, whether good or bad. And yes, this typically starts at a grassroots level with someone seen as “crazy” or “rocking the boat.”
While the most recent post by Hanson is funny, it also is a possibility, although not likely at the present time as Al Queda does not want to mirror America in any way. But let’s remember, this is exactly what happened to the early church at the time of the Emperor Constantine and Al Queda is not immune to adopting a more “machinelike” structure.
But realistically right now, if we look at the spread of a mindset going hand-in-hand with the spread of an “organic movement,” I’d say that generating the mindset that’s needed is going to take the expansion of an organic movement along with it’s mindset that SWALLOWS Al Queda’s and other’s mindsets. How about the Church?!?!?!?!?
2MU – regarding AQ becoming more “machine-like” in future: I hope Al Quaeda’s faith practises become self-destructive before they are successful in their attempt to make their brand of Islam the approved religion of a world empire! The institutionalised church gained momentum when it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, although Christianity expanded dramatically during the previous martyrdom period, the signs of human tampering with The Way were already evident, but gaining official status unarguably hastened the process of institutionalisation.
However, there has ALWAYS been a “remnant” faithful to Jesus Christ’s person and the authenticity and authority of his teachings. I take comfort from a comment I heard on the radio today. I must admit that I am never usually interested in hearing “the sport report” on a Friday morning on the way to work, but this time, I decided to tune in and to my surprise I was blessed to hear a great interview about the last 25 years of Australian Rules football (VFL, specifically). I quote, “… it didn’t matter what he said anymore because ‘the legend’ was too powerful!” Although this was said in relation to someone who had borne the burden of greatness for an act he constantly denied should be credited to himself, I see something applicable in it for Christians in contemporary times. It confirmed my confidence in God to think that no matter what we say or do, the story of Jesus is powerful enough to stay the distance, to spiritually penetrate any barrier and to outlast any opposition, no matter how grim it might look in the meantime.
Although I am more of a “head” person than a “heart” or “gut” person (in Enneagram terminology), sometimes I think we get too fixated on the concept of “renewing of the mind”. Romans 12
has been one of my favourite NT passages in recent times, and I really appreciate verse 1 which talks about physical, rational, and spiritual worship before going on to verse 2 and its admonition about renewing the mind. Following verses go on about how to treat each other. Maybe that’s a good way to think about such things… mind renewal following holistic worship praxis which would ensure non-conformity to world philosophy and culture, and a better ability to live harmoniously despite our diversity as individuals. This somewhat ties in with what CS’s ideas about the importance of action and giving things a go being important, in the sense that I think Rom 1:1
gives a context for Rom 1:2
ff.
Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts and advice.
2MU…
as I reflected on your statement, I found myself questioning whether it is actually true - do mindsets change as the result of revolution… is that evidenced, is it an observation or just an urban myth?
This might seem harsh, but I’m not convinced that it is true, in fact I think it is a mindset that actually needs to be changed. I think that the general acceptance of this type of thinking, in the western mindset, is a major contributor to the stagnancy of the institutional church. Everyone is awaiting the revolution (though in church circles it’s more usually termed “revival”.) The concept of waiting for “revival” seems to me more like the church ingesting the cultural position of being a victim… it’s always someone else’s fault and there’s always something else someone else should do before I’ll do anything…it will all happen when the revolution comes, it’s all God’s problem. We’re one small step from suing God… or perhaps that’s already happening.
People are prone to suggest “once the revolution comes then I will change…” akin to saying “once I’m thinner then I will diet…” As the average person in the west gets increasingly obese, the best sellers in the marketplace are diet books… We have this false notion that by reading about a diet we’ll get thinner… that good intentions are good in and of themselves, but the reality is completely different. We’ve missed the biblical premise that knowldege is inextricably linked to action… if there is no action what we have is not knowledge, just meaningless words. We have more information but less wisdom…
My concern is that just blogging, writing, reading books on the subject will not make any difference… on its own it’s just fiddling while Rome burns. I think in the church we have a parallel notion with the obese non-dieters reading diet books… we seem to think that great books, great thinking, degrees and doctorates rethinking church structures will provide the answer… but like those in need of actual dieting our reality is different.
The whole notion of waiting until we have the answer is contrary to the spirit of the New Testament… Jesus didn’t wait till the people were perfect or the time was ideal to come, God doesn’t wait till people are perfect to intervene… and we are called to become increasingly like Him. To my mind that means getting involved when the time does not seem opportune and the resources don’t appear to be at hand… that requires faith.
I think if you flip your statement on its head you’ll find it’s closer to the truth… that revolutions start as a result of changed mindsets! We have a capacity to make choices in relation to our thinking… the biblical call to repentance is just that - change your thinking. Pau’ls call to the church in Romans 12
is to no longer just conform to the mindset of society’s culture, but to be transformed by changing your mindset. But that leads to action in response… changed thinking and changed perspective means that we DO things differently.
In terms of spreading that idea, I don’t think that swallowing other mindsets is the answer… Instead of the notion that we succeed by opposing or overpowering others, I’d suggest the Jesus approach is to demonstrate the truth in action. The false and the untrue are recognised when they can be seen alongside what is true… the world can’t see truth as long as the church thinks we can keep it safe in a “sanctuary”… another mindset shift required.
The key as I see it is modelled in the relational nature of the Godhead… the closer we are to people the more likely that they can see the truth in action… the revolution begins with you and I changing our thinking, the changed thinking is evidenced by changed priorities, changed behaviour towards and with others… the truth is in here and needs to be demonstrated out there…
Ultimately that’s why I’m more interested in what Darryl is doing that doesn’t work than in waiting for the perfect revolutionary to turn up and start the revolution… Jesus is simply looking for a bunch of imperfect revolutionaries…
Vive le revolution… let it begin in your neighbourhood and mine…
A Celtic revolutionary
Well C.S., although you may be called primarily to action, just sometimes good writing produces inspiration, and a changed mind, leading to changed action! Even in bursts, your writing is a gift to Christ’s body… I hope you do keep your scribbled notes filed somewhere.
Hi Janet,
thanks for your encouragement… I’m not against writing or teaching per se… as I noted earlier my concern is when it becomes “JUST blogging, writing, reading books.” I am suspicious of materials that are divorced from the practice of being Jesus in community. Over time a disonance creeps in - either the concepts separate from the reality of who Jesus is, or they separate from any relationship to the real world, proposed from ecclesiastical ivory towers.
I have studied and presently continue in study, it is important to engage intellectually with ideas and have my own thinking stretched and challenged… But it is of even greater importance that I live out the reality of the principles of the Kingdom in my life. My actions are inextricably linked to my thinking… but without action I am as useful as a dust covered book sitting unopened and unused.
As you’d no doubt appreciate, I believe our system of education in the west is fundamentally flawed, based on a presumption that remembering information equals education, that imbibing data equals having knowledge. Alan has pointed this out at the end of the chapter on disciple making in TFW. He presents a very useful and concise explanation comparing the Hebraic model of imparting knowledge, where right action leads to right thinking, opposed to the Greek model, which underlies the western mindset, and presumes right thinking leads to right action… though in reality action is never a requirement.
I know that I can be brusque at times - you should pray for the poor people living and working in community with me! I feel strongly that the church needs to return to a passionate and even fierce expression of our faith, not just in gatherings and church services but in our engagemenent with life and community 24×7 (I reckon the passion expressed in our gatherings should be a reflection of the passion with which we live out faith in our community… All too often the lack of passion in gatherings IS a sad reflection of the lack of connection with the broader community. OR the other extreme is the high energy expressed in pumped up energetic “contemporary services” bears NO relation at all to any engagement in the broader community and is effectively just hype).
We have a deep need to recognise the extent of our own mind numbing conditioning by our consumerist culture, so that we can break out of it. And it does take a real challenge to our thinking and actions to expose us to the state of our own conditioning…
A wise Anglican minister, whom I disagree with on lots of things, but respect greatly, pointed out to me that classical language applies the letter “a” to the front of a word to indicate the negative of that word. So,(using words in a lexical sense from Greek rather than how they’d be inflected in a sentence) for example if “pistos” = “belief” then “unbelief” = “apistos” and “dike” = “to be just” then “unjust” = “adikos.” If the word “muse” can be taken to mean “to think” then our culture being about “amusement” is predominantly focussed on preventing us from taking the time to think! And that’s worth thinking about… meanwhile I’m off to help a friend move house.
Slainte
A Celt musing
My continual pushing, challenging, irritating, calling to action comes (at least in some part) from a desire to express what it means to follow Jesus Christ in its fullness as I perceive it contextualised and Biblical. I am aware that I am fundamentally flawed and the continual nature of the journey continues to reveal flaws that I was unaware of… fortunately I am surrounded by grace-filled people who help me to become aware and deal with my issues. I am unrelenting and I know that can be difficult to live with… but I serve an unrelenting saviour who for “the joy set before Him, endured the cross.”
CS -
Brother, we’re saying the same thing.
“It is a mindset that actually needs to be changed.”
This is exactly what I said in my original comment. I think it’s the chicken and the egg thing. A revolution doesn’t start unless a mindset changes. A mindset changes when an outside force (revolution, revival, reason, etc.) is strong enough to overcome a different pattern of thinking. I guess they’re interdependent.
“People are prone to suggest “once the revolution comes then I will change…” akin to saying “once I’m thinner then I will diet…”
Hey, you stole my analogy in my post “Answer of the Week – 8/25/08!” Just kidding.
“I don’t think that swallowing other mindsets is the answer… Instead of the notion that we succeed by opposing or overpowering others, I’d suggest the Jesus approach is to demonstrate the truth in action.”
By “swallowing,” I didn’t mean “opposing or overpowering.” “Swallowing” refers to the same phenomenon that occurred in the 1st century and currently in the Chinese Church as Alan refers to in the book and his blog frequently. It’s what Alan refers to as the “Apostolic Genius,” or what we know as the “power of the Holy Spirit.”
I share your frustration with the large percentage of “passive thinkers” the Church has developed. Structure determines function.
Hullo-o-o 2MU,
Maybe I’m just in an argumentative mood… but my intent is to promote thinking things through…
I’m not sure that we are saying the same thing and it is a chicken and egg thing… My point is that a revolution begins with ONE person prepared to change their mind and begin to dance to the beat of a different drum. Contrary to the consideration that it’s an outside force, my sense is that it is an internal force and the choice of what drumbeat we choose to dance to…
I agree that not everything is either/or but neither is everything both/and - in some cases this particularly pomo approach is great, but in others it is becoming an excuse for people who don’t want to make a decision. In this case I believe there is a significance to the order of the process, it’s evolutionary to coin a phrase. In DNA the sequence is vital, a slight change in sequence can make a HUGE change in outcome, with the best of intentions you can end up with a monster.
I’m not clear how “swallowing” relates to Al’s “Apostolic Genius” and I don’t think Al’s “Apostolic Genius” can be that simply defined as the “power of the Holy Spirit,” though I do agree with you that the Holy Spirit is the agent provocateur. I also disagree with the idea that “structure determines function,” I’d need a better idea of what your framework is for that statement, because in many cases there is a symbiotic relationship between structure and function, with each defining the other. In the case of the institutional church I reckon it’s probably just as true to say that function (more accurately the lack thereof) has shaped the structure that remains.
In a final analogy for the weekly competition… If you’re defusing a bomb you want to cut the right wires in sequence…
Now was that red first or blu… BOOM!!
This is an interesting dialogue!
“My continual pushing, challenging, irritating, calling to action comes (at least in some part) from a desire to express what it means to follow Jesus Christ in its fullness as I perceive it contextualised and Biblical”
I do think this is part of the prophetic/apostolic task and is necessary… actually CS, I think you do this with much grace and maturity, and that you engage with important nuances that are easy to slide over.
If I may be a little tangential… I hear the claim that the apostolic/prophetic gets marginalised from more institutional expressions of church, and I think this can be true. I also sense that sometimes prophetic/apostolic types (especially if they are immature) actually hit their own personal self-destruct button.
Examples? A full blown prophetic critique that is too easily read as (or may in fact be) a personal attack, rather than constructive criticism of a practice, procedure or spirit of a place.
Or a failure to engage with critics and opponents constructively (thinking back to the post on Nelson Mandela… “Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport.” “ Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer.” ) A cup of tea with a nervous but influential leader/elder/board member is almost certainly an hour well spent.
Or an imbalance of “pastoral time” and frontier mission before really engaging an existing congregation with a vision for the mission… so that those who actually pay the bills feel neglected, not valued etc. Or launching a mission venture without bothering to consult stakeholders, so instead of creating excitement and good will there is confusion and a breeding ground for conflict.
So I don’t think it’s ALWAYS the bad institutions who marginalise the good apostolic/prophetic leaders (although that happens too.) Sometimes immature apostolic/prophetic leaders have been plain unwise, impatient, intolerant, or thoughtless, and become marginalised from reasonably healthy “institutional” churches.
CS -
Yes, I would also classify an internal force (the Spirit) as being an “outside force” in relation to the mind.
I guess my take on the “structure determines function” is best laid out in my podcast “The Anatomy of the Church” at http://www.2ndmanunited.com. In it, I use the analogy of a golf swing, just because I’m working on it right now. As much as I want the function of hitting the ball like Tiger Woods to occur, I cannot unless I have the same swing structure as he does. So, my desire to hit the ball long and straight has me seeking out the right structure to accomplish this (why can’t it be easier =)), but the fact is, it won’t happen unless I find the structure that allows this to occur.
I think this is what our churches don’t understand, what Alan went through in the first two chapters of the book, and what he in now trying to show; and just like in golf, leads to so much frustration. They go about focused on the function. “We need to do this, we should be doing that.” But, they don’t have the structure that accomplishes this. Much like the golfer who gets up and tries to hit the ball long and straight without thinking at all about HOW he’s swinging. If you get the structure right, you can close your eyes and swing, the ball is going long and straight. (Remember when Jordan closed his eyes at the free-throw line?)
So yes, we can say “desired function motivates finding the right structure,” and after you’ve found it, “structure determines function.”