Although most of my ministry was on college campuses, I also worked for a small Baptist university and then a state-wide Baptist organization. There were differences and similarities in the two. Despite the expected comments about bureaucracy, there were many positive aspects.
A plus was that I was part of organizations made up of committed people who loved the ministry they were doing. For the most part, they were professionals who enjoyed engaging with others. I often took the opportunity to walk down the hall or go to another campus building, drop into an office and spend time talking with someone about what they were doing, what I was doing, and life in general. These were organic relationships that operated outside organization charts and “chains of command.”
As a result of these experiences, my understanding and appreciation for the relationships within an organization grew. Even when individuals find some aspects of the organization difficult, healthy relationships keep them engaged.
Regenerative leadership reminds us that organizations are living systems that are greater than the sum of their parts. There is a synergy that comes from the individuality of those involved. There are some principles to consider:
Living systems are networks of interdependent relationships and processes.
In every group of humans, there are one-to-one relationships, group relationships, and cohort relationships. We choose or are required to be part of the one-to-one relationships. Group relationships are often prescribed by our work responsibilities. I think cohorts are formed by choice. We find people with common interests or commitments and naturally gravitate toward them. Often, these are the relationships with the strongest bonds and work outside of organizational charts. This may be where the best work is done!
Energy and information are transformed through cycles of life, death, birth, and regeneration through these diverse and interdependent relationships.
Healthy organizations are not static. If they are static, they become stagnant. We must recognize that people come on board, they learn, they engage, they produce, and they mature and change in the process. This does not always mean that they stay!
Sometimes the growth within the organization spawns departures and forming new relationships. In families, we call this “leaving the nest.” Denominations have different terms for this. Larry Matthews has observed, "Baptists split. It’s what we do. And when there’s a split, energy is released.” Hopefully, that energy contributes to the creation and growth of other healthy organizations.
Finally, living systems maintain a dynamic evolution with their environment. They not only adapt to changes in their environment but also actively create conditions conducive for life.
This may well be the most difficult process to maintain. As I mentioned in an earlier post, if we still think that our church or organization exists in a 1950s context, we are doomed to stagnate and die. The history of the Christian movement testifies to a dynamic process of change and adaptation without accommodation of basic values. Sometimes that change came from outside the church—the monastic movement, the Reformation, the modern missionary movement, the Sunday School movement, ministry to young adults through campus ministries, social reform initiatives. All these innovations grew up outside the Church of its era but came to be incorporated into the faith communities of the day.
In Jurassic Park, Jeff Goldblum’s character Malcolm says, “Life finds a way.” In Michael Crichton's original novel, the quote is expanded. Malcolm says, "Because the history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way."
The principles of regenerative leadership remind us that life will find a way. This is part of God’s intention for all Creation.
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