Organic Growth...What's It Really Like?

I recently finished reading the bookThe Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. In addition, I was privileged to participate in a round table discussion today with Alan Hirsch which was sponsored by the local Reformed Church Classis, whom I thank sincerely for allowing a group of us to join with them in this insightful day.

As usual, I come out of this with many thoughts, most of which don't deserve a second look. But, in my reading of this book, I got caught on the chapter about organic systems. Hirsch states, "It should not surprise us that organic images of the church should draw their primary theological funding from the biblical doctrine of creation (cosmology), from an ecological and an intrinsically spiritual view of the world rather than from any of the other disciplines that have conventionally informed leadership and the development of organizations. Cosmology must guide us into a deeper understanding of ourselves and our function in the world." (page 180)

In the previous section, he touches on the metaphors Jesus used for the church and the kingdom; body, field, yeast, seed, trees, living temples, vines, animals, etc. Having recently lead a Natural Church Development process in our church, these images were quite familiar to me.

At that point, though, I started to really think about this process. We recently returned from vacation in the mountains of Colorado. While there, we admired the beauty of the forests. We saw pine cones forming on the conifers and shared with our children how the trees are naturally created as the seeds fall to the ground. It's a natural process of reproduction. But built into this process is a significant failure rate. How many of the seeds land on soil, germinate and grow into viable trees which are then able to reproduce themselves? Not nearly as many as were originally sent out (try a google search on this...who knew how many different studies on this exact topic there are).

Hirsch states on page 181 that "...an organic image of church and mission is theologically richer by far than any mechanistic and institutional conceptions of church that we might devise.". I whole-heartedly agree. And yet, as we consider organic processes to be the method of growth and the movement of God in our culture today, I wonder about our ability to also reconcile this seeming failure as part of the natural process. Organic does not necessitate perfect scenarios. It creates natural scenarios. As individuals and communities seek to follow Jesus, how do we deal with the loss that is inherent in natural processes without turning away from the mission?

I think that one method of navigating this reality is to walk in community both within an individual faith community as well as in the joining together with other faith communities on this same journey. For instance, if we consider a single conifer tree in a relatively empty field, it's going to take an awfully long time for much to happen. But, if we look at a field full of trees at various stages of development, all of a sudden the relatively low percentage of germination of seeds begins to "feel" different because we see things happening faster just because there's more to start with.

So, back to human reality... Maybe as individuals and church communities, we have to consider that this organic process is going to look fairly stagnated to begin with. As result, we deliberately parter with other individuals and other churches so that our shared stories inform each other and provide opportunity both for mourning and encouragement as we travel together in this important journey.

And doesn't this make sense anyway when we consider the call for the church (bigger than just our local faith community) to be the body of God, working together to accomplish the mission given to us by Jesus?