Glocalization by Bob Roberts

Courtesy of Alan Hirsch:

Chapter 1. The Whole World Has Gone Glocal!
“Nothing local is purely local and nothing global is purely global.” “Glocal means everything is becoming decentralized, especially in the church. Glocalization puts everyone center stage. Glocal implies a new set of values changing the culture and the world. (21)

Glocal is a great opportunity for the church. Decentralization means every person in every domain of society in the pew connects with domains and people glocally. “It’s not about missions; it’s about globalization. People have become global beings.” “It’s way over there and here at the same time. That is why it’s glocal.” (27)

Chapter 2. It’s All about the Kingdom–Not Missions (From One-Shot Evangelism to Comprehensive Domain Transformation)

“Missions was through the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. The twenty-first century is about glocalization. The old missions metaphor does not communicate because it only ‘worked’ as a religious response to an unconnected world.” “We have to move…to a radically different faith response where one is unabashedly proclaiming the gospel, and serving, and loving.” [There seems to be a current mood that missions has come through a period of not serving and loving. dlm] (34)

“…the kingdom itself is a viral, organic response. It’s societal, as opposed to religious, skeletal, and institutional.” “…we use all the domains of society to operate.” (34)

“The kingdom is about people wanting to make a difference.” (34)

“As followers of Christ, we are to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God and engage society so it can see kingdom principles lived out in our individual lives and communities.” (38)

“He [Jesus] doesn’t want to know how many converts, how many new churches, how many institutions, or how much the budget is. He wants to know how we are helping the hurting in society.” (39, commenting on Matthew 25:35-46) [This seems to be a hugely growing perspective in the church today. The pendulum is swinging. Do we risk swinging from neglect on one end to omission on the other? dlm]

“When the church glocalizes, it acts as a connection center between believers and all of society’s domains. It focuses on training the people in the pew how to view their vocation as their ‘Jerusalem’ in terms of ministry. From there, it motivates them toward how they can use that vocation to intersect a domain locally–and globally–throughout the ends of the earth! The church connects to society through the natural infrastructures, equipping and sending people through their jobs to affect a particular domain. (41)

“Realizing that God intended our faith to lay across all of the infrastructures of society is one of the biggest issues today.” “Effective faith is a voice in every domain, and it’s an influencer of all domains.” (42) [In the past] “we have made faith skeletal instead of viral,…an institutional response to society.” “Viral is more organic–it involves individual believers using their jobs in society as Christians on a daily basis.” (42) “It’s a return to how the early church accomplished the spread of the gospel….” (43)

The formula: “Inject the DNA of what it means to be transformed in Christ, connect the body of Christ to the domain of society, infect the whole of society for Christ.” (45)

Imagination

Courtesy of Mark Batterson:

I came across an interesting factoid today as I was researching for my next book.

The human body has approximately 100,000,000 (one hundred million) sensory receptors that enable us to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. And that is a testament to our Divine Designer. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. By the way, when was the last time you thanked God for each of your senses? We have seven million cones that enable us to perceive about ten million different colors. Doesn't it seem like we owe God seven million thank yous?

Now here is what I found fascinating: neurologists estimate that the average three-year old has 1,000,000,000,000,000 (one quadrillion) synaptic connections.

Honestly, those numbers numb us. But I think they reveal something significant. Our ability to imagine things in our mind is far greater than our ability to interpret physical reality. Mathematically speaking, imagination is ten million times more powerful than our five senses put together!

Naturalism is living down to the limit of our one hundred million sensory receptions. It is the inability or unwillingness to perceive reality that is beyond our five senses. The end result? Our universes shrinks to the size of our senses.

Faith is living beyond our five senses. It is being certain of what we do not see. One dimension of faith is imagining what our five senses can't perceive or confirm. It is extra-sensory perception. And that is why faith often seems like it is out of touch with reality. But that is because it is ten million times more powerful than our senses!

One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 3:20. It is actually our most-used benediction at National Community Church.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and throughout all generations for ever and ever, Amen.

Translation? God is able to do immeasurably more than we can imagine with our one quadrillion synapses. Amazing isn't it? Our imagination is ten million times more powerful than our five senses. But God is still able to do infinitely more than anything any of us can imagine with our one quadrillion synaptic connections. And to top it off, no mind has conceived of what God has prepared for us!

Religious Trends in the U.S.

Courtesy of Alan Hirsch:

(HT, James Nored) /// On Monday, a new religious study was released that showed that 15% of the US population defines themselves as belonging to no religion. Here is an excerpt from the American Religious Identification Survey—conducted by the Program on Public Values at Trinity College.
“The percentage of Americans claiming no religion, which jumped from 8.2 in 1990 to 14.2 in 2001, has now increased to 15 percent. Given the estimated growth of the American adult population since the last census from 207 million to 228 million, that reflects an additional 4.7 million ‘Nones.’ Northern New England has now taken over from the Pacific Northwest as the least religious section of the country, with Vermont, at 34 percent ‘Nones,’ leading all other states by a full 9 points.

‘Many people thought our 2001 finding was an anomaly,’ [Ariela] Keysar said. We now know it wasn’t. The ‘Nones’ are the only group to have grown in every state of the Union.’”

In addition, every single Christian group has decreased in terms of percentage of the US population–and most have declined in raw numbers as well. In regards to atheism, the study says:

“Only1.6 percent of Americans call themselves atheist or agnostic. But based on stated beliefs, 12 percent are atheist (no God) or agnostic (unsure), while 12 percent more are deistic (believe in a higher power but not a personal God). The number of outright atheists has nearly doubled since 2001, from 900 thousand to 1.6 million.”

In sum, the findings show or lead to the conclusion that:
1) Religion and Christianity are on the decline in the US;
2) Protestantism is doing worse than Catholicism due to Catholic immigrants;
3) Mormonism is keeping up with population growth, and Islam and New Age/Wicca are exceeding it;
4) Atheism, while still a small percentage of the population, is on the rise; and
5) “Spirituality,”–or non-organized belief in God–is still vibrant in the US.

What implications does this have for the church in the US?
- Attractional methods alone will have decreasing effectiveness, though they will reach some.-
- Not only theologically, but pragmatically, we must make the structure of the church be missional in nature and make dramatic changes in how we allocate our resources. This might mean moving all “Bible studies” off site, in coffee shops, Starbucks, homes, schools, etc.to meet people where they are. With antagonism and apathy towards religion, fewer will show up because we have better programs. And those that do will already be Christians.
- We need to train our members in knowledge of other faiths and resurgent atheism and methods to reach these adherents.

We must make dramatic changes. Sadly, however, most churches will do almost nothing to respond to these cultural changes. Those that do respond will respond incrementally only. With a shrinking pool of Christians, there will be an increasing competition amongst churches for members. This will, ironically, put more pressure upon church leaders to shore up “programs” to attract church members to shore up the decreasing member base.

In the midst of all of this, it is unbelievable to me that our fellowship is consumed on all sides with “doctrinal issues”–meanwhile our nation is hopelessly lost. And the resistance to making practical, methodological changes, such as replacing Sunday night worship or Wed. night classes with outreach and service, moving “classes” off site, planting new churches, changing times, making budgets missional, etc., is quite simply, absurd.

What do you think of these findings? How should the church respond to the changing (a)religious landscape of the US so that we can reach people today?

Good Quotes

"We've got to get to the place where we believe Jesus is absolutely right about absolutely everything." "If you're not ticking off religious people you're not following Christ." Alan Hirsch

"50% of our church budgets ought to go to 'the least of these.'" Chris Seay

"Objective reality needs to become subjective reality. Truth that only makes it into our head is informational. But truth that penetrates the heart is transformational. Reformation isn't the byproduct of good ideas. It's the byproduct of deeply held convictions." Christian Schwartz

"Our spiritual formation efforts have focused on information acquisition." Ron Martoia

"Christianity has become a way of thought instead of a way of life." "If you don't change you become part of the problem." George Barna

"The greatest opposition to what God is doing today comes from those who were on the cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday." The Anointing by R.T. Kendall

"The greatest schism within the church is not between races, classes, or even denominations, it is between the clergy and the laity." Howard E. Butt

How to kill a movement

From Alan Hirsch:

All the talk about Al Quaeda makes me think of my friend Brant Hanson’s post while 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 Hirsch, points out that Al-Qaeda is almost impossible to stop. This is, in large part, due to the way its message works, and the way the work gets carried out. And he’s absolutely right. So, in the service of national defense, I propose the following, in order to effectively neutralize the movement. Let’s get Al-Qaeda to…

1) Complexify the message

Right now, it’s so simple, it can pass from one to the next, and be easily grasped by the uneducated, the young — everyone. This is dangerous, because it’s highly contagious, and people on the street feel capable of enlisting others in the cause.

2) Construct a less “flat”, more hierarchical structure

Currently, small, underground groups can move nimbly and autonomously, complicating efforts to thwart them. A more regimented, stratified approach, where some members are left thinking, “I can’t know enough to do anything” would bring the movement to a halt.

3) Foster “expert” culture, and barriers to entry to the expert class

Promote the idea that the message is not only highly complex, but only some can truly understand it. Construct extensive barriers to entry to the presumed expert class. Promote idea that cells lacking a certified member of expert class, it is not equipped to be activated.

4) Focus on knowledge, rather than doing

Complexification and expert-class development will make cells spend immense amounts of time studying the work, even debating theories of the work, rather than doing it. Better yet…

5) Equate STUDYING the work with the work itself

The cells are called to ACT, of course. But if we can convince operatives that the work, itself, is in trying to understand the complexity of the work? They’ll be effectively neutered. We need to get them to spend large amounts of time in study, gathering to study, believing they don’t know enough, hiring new experts to teach them again and again, and attending teaching events.

They’ll actually believe they’re doing their work when they attend events held by experts. This will render the cell, and the whole movement, harmless! Convince them that the most radicalized, militant among them are merely called to bring other non-activated members to the cell events.

6) Sabotage cell multiplication

VERY important! Cells that operate under simple principles, with motivated operatives, devoted to multiplication? Very, very dangerous, fast-growing, and pop-culture endangering. We must stop this in its tracks, and this is done in multiple ways:

A) Foster egos and small-time celebrity. By convincing operatives to set up individual fiefdoms, fewer autonomous cells will be activated. Rather, the emphasis will be on building larger individual cells with numerous unactivated members.

B) Make the basic structure highly difficult to replicate. Al-Qaeda cells currently are, by necessity, simply-structured and easily replicated. Propagate idea that for cells to begin, planning, experts and capital must be simultaneously accumulated. Expert motivational speakers will be necessary, plus paid staff with highly specific training and talents. Operatives will see massively “successful” large cells, and attempt to duplicate them, with very limited success because of the huge inputs required. This will greatly inhibit growth.

C) Convince philosophically-aligned, but non-active, members to choose from among most entertaining, high quality, cells that offer services for them. Not only will this engender a harmless, internal focus, it will require IMMENSE amounts of resources and energy.

7) Make operatives really, really busy.

Replace simple, animating mission with lengthy lists, charts, and programs for cell maintanance. Convince them that this institutional maintenance is, actually, the mission, itself.

This will leave them will no actual time for conducting actual mission.

Get Al-Qaeda to seek governmental approval.

Offer tax incentives if necessary. The larger cells, requiring large edifices, will also require tremendous amounts of capital. This will also allow a measure of control, to threaten the cell’s tax status, thereby threatening funds for internal programs, when necessary.

Better: They’ll consider actual operational cells that exist without this governmental approval to be, themselves, invalid!

9) Co-opt Al-Qaeda with the larger culture.

Once members are convinced that cell maintenance and study are actually their “mission”, the rest of their lives can be harmlessly integrated with the culture at large. They’ll be indistinguishable from non-members, and, because of their new understanding of “mission”, effectively equivalent to non-members.

10) Convince members to wear Al-Qaeda t-shirts with funny sayings and stuff.

Mission accomplished.

It’ll work to thwart an evil message. It even works with the good ones.

McDonalds

Thanks to Joe Cross for an incredibly insightful post:

McDonald’s has done it again. First, the company paid $20,000 to become a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and to have a seat on the board of directors. Next, McDonald’s refused a request to remain neutral in the culture war by choosing to promote the gay agenda. Then McDonald’s accused those opposing the gay agenda, including same-sex marriage, of being motivated by hate.

Now we learn that McDonald’s sponsors training for homosexuals on how to promote their agenda among corporations from the inside. Out & Equal™ Workplace Advocates is a national organization devoted to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the workplace. One of its primary purposes is to train employees how to aggressively promote homosexuality within the company they work for, all the way to the corporate boardroom. Part of last year’s Out & Equal Summit in Washington, DC, (sponsored by McDonald’s) was an organized march into congressional offices demanding same-sex marriage laws be passed.

At the bottom of McDonald’s half-page ad in the Out & Equal Summit booklet is this statement: “From neighborhood to neighborhood, coast to coast and around the world, McDonald’s is proud to celebrate diversity” (homosexuality).

Source: American Family Association

Disclaimer: You decide for yourself what to do with this information. I feel it necessary to inform people of what McDonald's decides to do with their money and of their decision to push an agenda on an unsuspecting populous.

China

From author Alan Hirsch

Michael Frost, a friend of mine was recently privy to a meeting with three Chinese leaders from the underground church who were smuggled out to a group of Western leaders about issues they were facing. When they were asked what wanted prayer for they asked for three things:

1. Whilst acknowledging that the government has become more lenient, they were still not allowed to gather in groups of more than fifteen people and that when they grew beyond that they had to split and start a new church. Could the westerners please pray for that?

2. The second issue they asked for prayer for was that they were not allowed church buildings and were thus forced to meet in homes, cafes, karaoke bars, and social clubs. Could the westerners please pray for that as well?

3. The next thing they felt they needed a breakthrough with was that they were forbidden to develop separate organizations where they could collectively train leaders; they were forced to train leaders in the local church. Michael, himself a vice-president of a seminary, says in all good conscience that he simply could not pray for them in this way because he and the group gathered there realized that in many ways the Communist state was forcing the church to remain more true to themselves.

Philip Yancy likewise reports on his life-changing trip to China. He says “Before going to China I met with one of the missionaries who had been expelled in 1950. ‘We felt so sorry for the church we left behind,’ he said. ‘They had no one to teach them, no printing presses, no seminaries, no one to run their clinics and orphanages. No resources, really, except the Holy Spirit.’” Yancy wryly concludes “It appears the Holy Spirit is doing just fine.”

Michael Frost

Michael Frost is the Founding Director of Centre for Evangelism & Global Mission at Morling Theological College in Sydney. The following is from REV MICHAEL FROST (M.A., B.Th., Dip.Teach.)

What is ‘Missional’. Simply put, it is a way of thinking that encompasses: leadership, worship, evangelism, etc. and channels the energy toward an outward focus.

If you embrace a Missional paradigm 3 things will happen to you:
1. You will see God differently than the way a lot of the mainstream churches have spoken about Him.
2. You will see the Church differently than the way the mainstream churches have spoken about church.
3. You will see the world differently than the Church has spoken about it

From the beginning of time the stories of the Bible are the stories of “God the missionary”. God sends out his Word into the chaos and order is fashioned. God sends out his “reake” breath that Adam and Eve might mirror Him. Even after they sin and fall God follows after them. The history of Israel is the history of God’s constant “sentness” after those people who continue to disappoint him and betray him.

God the Father sends God the Son, God the Son sends God the Holy Spirit, and the cycle is not complete until we understand that God sends us. “As the father sent me, so I send you.” John 20:21 You cannot fully understand the character of God unless you see it through the paradigm of mission.

Good stuff, you can find it in it’s entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ndCFSv47g

-Ethan

Who is a leader?

Research from George Barna taken from barna.org:

Most Americans think of themselves as leaders (71%) and believe they are well-informed about current events (81%). They almost unanimously view themselves as independent thinkers (95%), and as loyal and reliable people (98%). They also say they are able to easily adapt to changes and a whopping four out of five people believe they are making a positive difference in the world. Two out of three adults noted that they like to be in control of situations.

Holy cow, 71% of Americans think of themselves as leaders? What are they leading, and where are they leading us?

-Ethan

Catalyst Podcast

I’m starting to get into podcasts more, and the last submission from Catalyst was a good ‘un. They had author Tim Sanders on speaking about upcoming culture and social change. This is a paraphrase of some of my highlights:

On emotional intelligence as it pertains to future generations:
We live in an emotional world. The amygdala, the emotional part of the brain, has (on average) grown 1% since World War II, because the brain adapts to environments, you know. The neocortex (the logical part of the brain) has shrunk, on average, .5% in that same span. What does that mean?

20 years ago the emotional brain was 25 times more powerful than the logical brain
10 years ago the emotional brain was 35 times more powerful than the logical brain
Now the emotional brain is 50 times more powerful than the logical brain

Financial freedom to kids today translates into freedom not to suffer emotional abuse


On Spirituality in America:
The author of the book “Mega Trends 2010” makes an argument that Spirituality is probably the greatest trend in America. If you took a look at the number of CEO’s that would answer, “Yes, I am churched and spiritual”, you would find that the number is significantly higher today than it was in 1990.

On his 9/11 research
Different changes in our lifetime have caused us to have different values, and those new values have prioritized where we put our resources. Of all the things that have happened in the past 10 years, (and there’s been a lot) this is the impact of 9/11 according to Harvard professor, Robert Putnam says

9/11 influenced kids because it was a teachable moment; everyone understood that we live in an interdependent world where one day we’ll have to depend on the kindness of strangers. That feeling of interdependence leads to an incredible feeling of social responsibility.

Virginia Tech for this generation was the equivalent of a 10 year old being diagnosed with diabetes. As catastrophic events happen the thinking goes from “I’m going to live to be 70, to I’m going to live to 60, to I’m going to live to be 50. As perceived life gets shorter, purpose gets bigger.

On Social change:
Researchers call 1 out of 4 educated college graduates an “ethical advocate”. An ethical advocate believes that the money does not trickle down, a company must be worthy of their patronage and that the for profit sector is not as good as the for benefit sector.

The number of ethical advocates graduating college will double every 5 years, and they will scrutinize every product they buy, every job they apply for, and every stock their fund manager buys – to see if the company generates or takes out social value. They will punish the ones that don’t and reward the ones that do.

There’s a ‘sin tax’ (like that on tabacco) bill on the floor of legislature in Oregon right now that, if passed, would place a 120% tax on paper.

Fun stuff that probably only interests me:
Top 5 most likable leaders in U.S. history (in no order, from different social sectors):
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Bill Clinton
Ellen Degenerous (ahead of Oprah interestingly enough)
George Foreman
George Clooney

Gallup said every election since ’76 has had a tip, in an undecided state, toward the BBQ test: “who would you invite to a BBQ on Sunday?”

-Ethan

The Spiritual Leaders' Tools - S&S VI

Spiritual Acumen. Jesus met people where they were at and then, almost without fail, he met needs. To lepers he touched them to heal them. Think about that; he could have chose any means by which to heal them but he chose to touch those who had not been touched in years. Over and over again Jesus displays an incredible spiritual acumen, meeting physical needs on his path to bringing spiritual life and redemption.

Trish was an RA in her dorm. She was praying all summer to have an impact on her dorm floor. As the school year began she noticed that many of the girls were lonely, so she went to them, and met their need for friendship and connection by getting them connected. It was in this context that she was able to share the gospel and launch a movement. By the end of the school year ½ of her dorm floor had personally heard the gospel and ¼ were involved in a movement.

Seek to meet the felt needs of a pocket of people, but don’t stop there. Ask God to give you wisdom and discernment as to how you can meet these needs on your way to introducing them to Jesus – who will meet the deepest longings of their soul. Man’s greatest need is spiritual, but it’s awfully hard to think about spiritual things when you’re starving.

Mapping. As we individually take responsibility for launching a movement in a pocket of people on campus and collectively take responsibility for launching movements everywhere, one tool that will keep us focused is mapping. Mapping is simply keeping track of where God has moved and a movement has been launched while praying for those pockets of people who do not have the gospel within arms-reach.

Mapping allows us to get to the end of the week, semester, year, etc. and praise God for what He has allowed us to be a part of. Otherwise, how would we know? If we, as the church (global), didn’t map out the unreached countries of the world how would know where to send missionaries? In the same way, mapping allows us to pray for and seek to launch movements in the unreached pockets of people on campus.

Believe the best in people. After Paul has his amazing conversion experience he immediately starts preaching Christ as the risen messiah. He decides to go hang out with the disciples for a while in Jerusalem, but they’re scared that he isn’t genuine and that he might be trying to kill them. That could’ve been the end of the story for Paul. It wasn’t. This guy named Barnabas came along and believed the best in Paul. Barnabas went out of his way, put his name on the line, and arranged a meeting with the disciples. The rest, as they say, is history. After Paul met with the disciples he was welcomed into the faith, and went on to be one of the most influential persons in all of Christian history.

Barnabas believed the best in Paul. As we are living Spirit-filled lives and moving toward the same mission of launching movements everywhere, the challenge will be to believe the best in one another. Who are you tempted to dismiss or gossip about? What steps could you take to begin to believe the best in them?

Launch. Just like launching a shuttle, when a movement is launched it’s time to take our hands off. Apollo 13 still had communication and contact with Houston, but there was no denying that they were launched. When a movement grows to the point where it is going to launch another movement we need to launch the new group and let go. This doesn’t mean that we stop dialoguing or that we lose communication, but it does mean that we let new people lead the new group. Remember, they’ve got the Holy Spirit, who is a better comforter, counselor, and evangelist than we will ever be.

-Ethan

Application Starfish & Spider V

1. Circles
When we say circles we mean to say that we don’t have a defined leader within your movement – there is no hierarchy. I’m not talking about your leadership team or weekly meeting here, but rather, the movement that you’re a part of in a specific pocket of people. Instead of rules and regulations, there are norms. Apache followed Geronimo because he picked up a rifle and began to fight. His influence came from the way he lived his life and not his title or position. By keeping your movement a circle and not a pyramid you allow others to lead and take ownership for their slice of the mission.

2. Mission & DNA
While all of the movements around campus will be diverse and even autonomous from one another, continuity and solidarity will come from the mission and DNA. You will be separate and different, but when you step back and take a look at the broad picture of reaching every group of people on campus you can see that you’re all going toward the same mission of putting the gospel within arms-reach of every student on campus. We must lead with a clear and compelling statement of our mission to launch movements everywhere. Further, it’s significant to have a unified understanding of what a movement is. Yes, adaptation, mutation and customization will happen (good!) but we must start with a common mission and shared DNA. It is this common ground that allows us to let go and trust as other students purse the mission in the power of the Holy Spirit.

3. Preexisting Network
Rather than extract a football player by asking him to come over here to follow Christ, why don’t we share the mission, give him the DNA of a movement (Movement Launcher), and let go. Instead of extracting the football player we, in effect, infect the entire football team with the Jesus virus. It catches. Soon a football player comes to faith who has a girlfriend on the softball team. Instead of extracting her, he shares the mission, gives her the DNA of a movement (Movement Launcher), and, in effect, infects the softball team with the Jesus virus. I use sports teams because they are easily recognizable, but there are preexisting networks of students all over campus. We don’t extract, we infect.

The Thump Test. S&S IV

If you thump it on the head will it die? We've been talking a lot of theory and paradigm to this point, so let me pause a moment to ask some questions to put this stuff in our life.

Bill Wilson died and AA continued to thrive, Geronimo was killed and the Apache defeated the Spanish, the Disciples were martyred (for the most part) and the church exploded across the globe. If your organization were to lose its leadership team would it cease to exist? Are there students on campus who are empowered to lead toward the mission without a title or position?

If you take out a unit (movement) is the organization harmed?

What happens if a spider loses a leg? The spider’s mobility is significantly affected, and if it keeps losing legs its survival will be at risk. Separate a company’s accounting department from the rest of the organization and it won’t magically sprout a whole new organization to support. As we’ve seen, when a starfish is cut in half you end up with two starfish. On your campus when a movement grows in numbers does it turn into a spider or a starfish?

Are knowledge and power concentrated or distributed?

In starfish organizations, power is spread throughout. Each member is assumed to be equally capable and has power equal to that of the others. Each AA circle knows about the needs of its members, and each group can decide how to react accordingly. Are members of a movement empowered to innovate and meet the needs of their friends? Do they have access to the core DNA of a movement?

-Ethan

Starfish & Spider III AA

“Bill Wilson started Alcoholics Anonymous, but nobody owns AA. Bill realized when AA became a huge success, and when people from all over the world wanted to start their own AA chapter, that he had a crucial decision to make. He could go with the spider approach and control what the chapters could and couldn’t do. Under this scenario, he’d have had to manage the brand and train applicants in the AA methodology. Or he could go with the starfish approach and get out of the way. Bill chose the latter. He let go.”

“He trusted each chapter to do what it thought was right. And so, today, whether you’re in Anchorage, or Santiago, Chile, you can find an AA meeting. And if you feel like it you can start your own. Members have always been able to directly help each other without asking permission or getting approval from Bill Wilson. This quality enables open systems to quickly adapt and respond.”

“When other addicts took note of AA’s success, they borrowed the 12-step model and launched organizations combating a variety of addictions, including narcotics, food, and gambling. AA’s response? Good for you. Go right ahead. It’s all a part of the design.”

Bill Wilson and AA found a sweet spot, where incredible freedom and mutations were designed into the very fabric of these ‘open’ systems. It started with a unified commitment to the mission; whether you’re at AA or Narcotics Anonymous or whatever, the mission is to set the captives free, to bring healing, restoration, and freedom to those who are enslaved by addiction. From there, each mutation (new group) takes with it an adaptation of the 12-step process and the AA handbook.

The mission is always the same, and the tools are an adaptation of the originals, but these groups thrive in a diverse range of populations, cultures, languages, and ethnicities around the world. Similar to the early church and the Apaches, Bill Wilson said “This is what we’re doing (freeing people from addiction). This is our strategy (the 12-step plan and handbook). Now let’s get out of the way - empowering people to take this organization and customize it to best reach their friends and neighbors.

In Nebraska Catalytic we’ve done a very similar thing: our mission is to put the gospel within arms-reach of every student in Nebraska. Our approach is to launch movements everywhere. We’ve created the ‘Movement Launcher’ as our version of AA’s 12-step plan and handbook; the core DNA of our organization is in the Movement Launcher. Now we’ve let go, saying that Hastings College students can reach their friends and classmates better than we can. International students at UNK can reach their peers more effectively than I can.

Innovate, customize, create….figure it out! We’re behind you all the way. The challenge for you will be to enter a group on campus and launch a movement while praying for groups on campus where there is currently no spiritual movement. Once a movment is launched you’ll get to do what the apostle Paul, and the Apaches did…inject God's core DNA into the new movement (from the Movement Launcher) and begin to let go. Allow the new believers and new movement members to mature through their experience of Jesus and his mission to reach every student on campus.

-Ethan

Mitchell

As a lifeguard in high school, the beginning of the summer was always the most competitive time of the year. You see, as the summer was kicking off, all of the parents were making arrangements with their child’s favorite lifeguard to have private lessons. I suppose the popularity thing made it competitive, but the private lessons also paid double what we typically made.

During my first year I got a call from the regional center to set up a lesson for Mitchell Dunn. After asking if they had any preference for a lifeguard I pounced on the opportunity and was pleasantly surprised to find out that Mitchell was going to be taking a double session – almost the entire summer! Ka-Ching! Little did I know, I was going to earn every penny.

Mitchell arrived at the pool and after introductions his teacher informed me that Mitchell was in his mid-twenties but had the capacity of a grade-schooler. She said that he minds his manners...most of the time. After getting changed I jumped into the water and asked Mitchell to come and get in with me; he refused (rather emphatically). That first “lesson” basically consisted of me and Mitch walking around the pool so he could introduce himself to everyone there. By the end of the session I had convinced Mitchell to sit on the edge of the pool and put his feet in the water. There was a brief screaming incident once he put his feet in, but other than that he was fine.

For two summers I gave Mitchell private lessons, and I got to see him move from being scared of the water to getting in, and eventually even swimming. Mitchell learned to put his head under water, and after about a year and a half he swam 25 meters across the deep end of the pool all by himself. Sure there was some screaming, one biting (he bit me, not the other way around), a few names that shouldn’t be repeated, but he did it. He could swim.

Perhaps we were feeling a little cocky, or maybe we needed a new challenge after Mitchell had conquered swimming in the deep water, but one day I told Mitch that he was going to jump off the high board and swim back all on his own. Well, that idea stuck in his head and from that point on, from the time he arrived to the time he left, Mitch would ask over and over again, “Go off the high board now?”

A couple weeks into the incessant questions (and one successful jump off the low board) I decided it was time – Mitchell was going to jump off the high board. I’ll never forget watching him climb to the top of the board and meekly make his way toward the edge. He stood there for several minutes using every excuse he could think of until he finally looked at me and said, “I’ll jump now”.

By this point many of the mothers at the pool were interested, and the aerobics class was just finishing up so many of those ladies stayed behind to cheer on Mitchell. Of course Mitch had been telling every lifeguard for a few weeks that he was going to jump off the high board so when they saw him up there they came out of the guard house to watch. So there we were, shading our eyes looking up at Mitchell as he stared down at the water, trying to muster the courage to jump.

Mitchell would bend his knees, hold his breath with his cheeks puffed out....and then...he would stand up and shuffle his feet and mutter. He did this several times, and thus the audience was really getting into it. Mitchell crouched down and his knees started knocking, causing the board to shake...but this time he did it, he jumped! Mitchell swam to the side, got out of the water, and ran through the crowd to give everyone a high-five. (I know running is against the rules, but we let it slide)

So often I talk to people who have followed God and his leading right up to the edge of the high-board and once they get there their knees start knocking and suddenly God’s plan doesn’t look so good anymore. It may be taking the leap to go on summer project, share Christ with a parent or friend, or to reach out to co-workers. I’m so grateful to be in a position where I get to experience stories from around the state of students following God’s leading, pushing through their knocking knees, and jumping into the deep end. I rarely hear of how God simply made it easy, but often hear of how trusting God through the fear and the unknown has changed them, marked them for a lifetime.

I don’t know what your high-board is, but I do know that if God has brought you this far, the leap will be worth it. I’ll be on the pool deck waiting to give you five.