This is the last of four questions that make up a “Blink Test” that determines whether your church has movement momentum or not. I would encourage you to answer the previous three questions (#1, #2, and #3) on this site before you answer this final one. This test is built on the premise of Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller “Blink” that introduced the idea that our first intuitions and spontaneous decisions are often as good as—or even better than—carefully planned and considered ones. Don’t think too long. Just blink.
BLINK: Is your church holding onto control or are they leading with a harmonious blend of order and chaos?
Controlling or an intermingling orderly chaos—what’s your blink? As a church invests in people and sends them out on mission over and over again with the dream of an exponential movement things will get out of control. The question is not if it is out of control, but what is the reflex of the church? Will they have done the hard work of people development and then embrace them with trust because of what they have invested in them or will they fall back on policy-making and pull in the reigns? Control is an illusion; it’s never something you grab, it can only be granted to you by others. This does not mean the leadership of a church should surrender to anarchy. Not at all. Rather than trying to lead by grasping at control, they must move forward with shared values that align people and communities of great diversity to bring about catalytic movements. If your church is courageous enough to not try to control, but to trust and nurture what they have given life to, then movementum is the reward.
This post is an excerpt from my new book with Alan Hirsch, On The Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church.
