The Lessons of Social Networks

[[HT for this article to OnMovements]]>>
The research into network science has led to some new ways of thinking about social behavior. This research into networks offers multiple insights into movement building—the connecting, transforming, multiplying, generating, and cultural changing aspects of all movements. I’ve posted some applications from this research at different places. In a [...]

funny boy Brant hanson takes Al Quaeda out

All the talk about Al Quaeda makes me think of my friend Brant Hanson’s post w hile back.  this has already featured here once, but it is so good that it has to be posted again! So, this is from Brant….

Alan (me), in his book, points out that Al-Qaeda is almost impossible to stop. This [...]

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 [...]

organized crime and movements

This post is taken from the blog of one of my really good (and very bright)  friends, Mark Sayers. It adds further weight to all this discussion about networks and movements…

….Have been reading a bit about the future of organized crime. Fascinatingly crime is changing as our culture changes. The older traditional crime structures [...]

even more about networks…and some examples

Having described all these characteristics of networks, it is not hard to see this is exactly how the Early Church and the Chinese Church operated. Look at the diagram again. The hubs would have been places like Antioch, Jerusalem, or Rome or people like Paul. The nodes could be house churches and clumps of [...]

more about networks

Manuel Castells is one of the key thinkers on networks. In his view networks are made up not only of nodes but also of hubs. The hubs are places where the lines of communication connect. A node may be just about anything: a media outlet, a website, an organization, or an individual. [...]

About Networks

Back we go to the series of posts on organic systems…
Not surprisingly as we move closer to a network structure, we will not only find ourselves closer to the structures of the NT people of God but also more aligned around the dynamics of Apostolic Genius. It is therefore critical to explore the nature and [...]

the flight of the dove (fellowship)

What eventually became known as DOVE Christian Fellowship International (DCFI) had its roots in a bible study involving young people coming to faith in the Jesus People phenomenon in the early 1970s. Larry Kreider, the leader of the group had became increasingly frustrated with the cultural mismatch of the prevailing church and the [...]

Networked structures: Liquid v. Solid church

If Apostolic Genius expresses itself in a movement ethos, it forms itself around a network structure. And once again this tends to be very different to what we have come to expect from our general concept of church. When we use the word “church” it is very hard to get some kind of [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Next Page →
Copyright © 2008 The Forgotten Ways • Linear WordPress Theme • Powered by WordPress • Maintained by Noble Design