Power
is more verb than noun. It is action,
not object. It is easier to describe how
it is used than what it is. It is like
love. Something defined more by its expression
than by its form.
Prior posts in this series:
Mechanical
order tries to deliver power through position.
In it, positions are permanent. A
person is set into a position on an organizational chart and given control,
authority, jurisdiction, permission-granting rights, and influence. He or she is trained in how to use these
tools to achieve a mechanical plan. Then,
the position encourages them to concentrate on what it is that will best
manufacture the mechanical plan. So,
each person jockeys for positional power in order to command the resources
needed to accomplish his or her specific part of the plan. They are so absorbed by their position that
they lose sight of the whole. They see
their role as disconnected from any other – except for those which may help
them achieve their goal. Participants
concentrate all of their efforts on the success of their particular
position. But, position shouldn’t be
where power lies. Positions encourage
seeing people as more and less significant.
Power should be in the person, not the position.
In
organic order, power is revolving. It
understands that the value of each part makes the whole. (I Corinthians
12:17-20) At any point in time you will
find different individuals leading and operating with power as individuals take
on different roles depending on what is being demanded by the life of the
organism. Within this framework, there
is no dominant member. This encourages
you to know when the community is inviting you to steward the power and when it
is asking you to cede the power.
For
example, in a mechanical order marriage, decisions are made solely on the basis
of position (“I am the husband” or “I am the wife”). In an organic order (healthy) marriage, there
are certain roles that need to be fulfilled.
These roles are carried out based upon who has the competencies and can
best fulfill that role at that moment in time.
The power goes to this individual.
It’s
the same with any other healthy form of organic order. Leadership and power is taken by whoever is
“asked” to by the life of the organism. It
will “tell” you what parts should steward the power as time goes on. It will be whichever parts will best serve
the whole entity. Thus, power is shared
in a revolving manner – now John, now Tim, now Brent, now Dedra, now me, back
to John. Once power is cemented into a
position; that position, along with that human, becomes the Head. But, the Church is a Body operating with a
non-human, invisible Head that can only be heard and understood fully when it
is free to use the parts of the body in a revolving manner. (Ephesians 1:22) By creating positions, the Head is being told
what part it’s going to use for whatever it’s trying to do at any particular time.
This
does not mean that everyone has the same amount of power at the same time. The life of the community is always inviting
people to step forward and steward the power.
People figure out what they’re good at, and that shapes what their roles
are. There’s not just one leader. Different people lead during different parts
of the process and it is understood that the value of each part is what makes
the whole. We are to live in a way that maximizes
individual and communal sources of power. (I Corinthians 12:12-26)
Within mechanical order, positions feel the need to influence every aspect of the organization’s life, decide on its every movement, judge every action, and make all the rules. Within organic order, your “position” is YOU. Isn’t this the type of environment you want to live in? It’s time to be done with top-down approaches. The day of organic order has come.
Myers, Joseph R. "Organic Community"