NeoZine - Archives

Greg Morscher and I were watching this cool online broadcast by Mark Driscoll titled, “Why Mulit-Site?” Driscoll is the big speaker at XSI in Columbus this summer, and his arrival is none-too-soon. Columbus Xenos is re-evaluating itself, the major topic at this year’s Servant Team Retreat (STR) in Cincinnati. Listening to Driscoll’s broadcast offers a refreshing and visionary alternative to some of the hand-wringing confusion at the STR.

Driscoll proposes answering the big question left unanswered from the STR: how will Columbus regain its vision as a Church Planting Movement (CPM)? This is a significant issue for NeoXenos, because we are absolutely committed to CPM, and we fought a long and hard battle to get here. STR was certainly inspirational by teaching us the differences between spiritual and carnal leadership, but never resolved was The Quest for CPM, as most of the STR teachers acknowledged.

But Tom Dixon’s teaching at the STR raised the most exciting and clear answer for The Quest. Surprisingly, it is an ancient solution, but still highly applicable, and Driscoll frames it well.

The “Tri-Perspectival View” of Leadership

Driscoll approaches the Great Commission in a fresh way even though he uses silly terms like “Tri-Perspectival”. Jesus is the pattern to follow, he says, and names three roles of effective spiritual leadership: the Priest, Prophet and King. These Old Testament offices were all fulfilled by Jesus, as we are studying in Hebrews. This is God’s eternal paradigm for spiritual leadership, and since the authority of Jesus is driving the Great Commission, these aspects of his leadership should be evident.

The Priestly Leader is compassionate and concerned about people’s needs, like we studied in Hebrews: “He is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people…” (Heb. 5:2). Driscoll says the Priestly-Leader asks the question “Who?” In other words, he cares for people. This is what someone does with the “pastor/shepherd” gift, and it is an invaluable leadership role (see Eph. 4:11ff). But churches don’t grow without the other leadership roles, and they often shrink.

The Kingly Leader is a builder, Driscoll says, always asking “How?” These leaders are not only practical, but phenomenal organizers who bring people together to build. This energetic, effective leadership is a spiritual gift in Romans 12:8, but still requires the other leadership roles for balance. The King-Leader becomes too results-driven and uncompassionate without the Priest-Leader, or too institutional without the Prophet-Leader, thus eliminating God’s dynamic leadership altogether.

The Prophet-Leader is perpetually asking “Why?” and pursues the quest for change, Driscoll says. This corresponds to the gift of prophecy in Romans 12:6, and it is highly-valued in Paul’s writings. This is a powerful gift with strong influence in the church because it arises from the spiritual and mystical leadership of God. As such, this leadership gift also brings the upheaval and change that God desires for his people (see 1 Cor. 2:9, Luke 5:37; 2 Cor. 5:17). But these leaders are too theoretical or rhetorical without the other leaders who implement, build, and touch people’s concerns.

Leadership Imbalances

The STR teachings were aimed at the overwhelming influence of the Kingly-Leader model working in Columbus. When this occurs it means structures, organization, programs, buildings, statistics, bureaucracies, policies and budgets dominate a Christian group. Continue Reading »

When you read the history of Xenos, you read about chaos - or so it seems to the institutional mind. But to those who enjoy the love of Christ, it’s called freedom, and freedom is chaotic for legalistic minds. This is the “real Xenos model” in a nutshell: some call it chaos, while others call it “freedom through the love of Christ”. (What a cool slogan!)

Here’s the kind of chaos I love: listen to The Road Less Traveled by Dave Browning, some dude from the West Coast.¹ He’s a Willow Creek mega-church business-model dropout who is now more relaxed and happier than ever — and more fruitful than ever, too! This was Dave’s life in the business-model church:

Dave’s high didn’t come from a bottle or a needle, but from those Sunday mornings when a big crowd packed his church, everything went just right and he hit the ball out of the park with another power-packed sermon. The need for that rush nearly destroyed everything Dave cared about.²

The Business-Leader Model

Such is the life of the business-model church leader: it’s all about “Kingly-Leadership” which kills a good Church Planting Movement. The business-leader model also kills the kingly leaders through exhaustion.

Willow Creek’s own research now reveals a disturbing trend with this entire approach. I recently blogged about the “Revolving Door Syndrome” that kept us stagnated here in Northeastern Ohio, and Willow is discovering the same trend through research. It’s called the “Old Christian Syndrome” (or OCS), and it looks like this:³

Continue Reading »

1. The Road Less Traveled, by Dave Browning from Christ the King church in Washington. His podcast is from last month’s Multi-Site Exposed 2008 conference [⇑]
2. Quoted from Leadership Network. [⇑]
3. Research from the Reveal Web site. [⇑]

Go watch the movie Prince Caspian, and do it quickly! If you watch it knowing that C.S. Lewis was not only a Christian, but someone deeply in love with God’s Kingdom, it helps explains the “The Deep Magic” that governs the movie.

Prince Caspian is the study of a Christian’s greatest weakness: “the Natural Man”, as Paul calls it, or “Carnal Christianity.” We’ve all struggled with this handicap, and we get so confused by it, mostly because we feel so much strength in the Natural Man…

Until the “fog of war” descends.

That’s when Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy reappear and take turns thrashing, fighting and scheming in a series of brilliant failures, until they reach utter despair and the end of their brilliant plans.

To those familiar with Christian leadership, it’s a familiar task these brave souls undertake. They must lead a strange, motley crew of Narnians out of their snug habitats in the deep, dark woods and into a bloody crusade. On unfamiliar ground the gentle Narnians clash with a savage dark lord who is the epitome of “The Father of Lies.” Christians in the modern era face a tidal wave of spiritual hostility, and these Narnians likewise take such a pathetic stand against hoards of rabid, advancing enemies rising out of “the pit of darkness.”

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It’s fair to blame the failures in Prince Caspian on Kingly-Leadership working independently from Prophetic-Leadership. We covered these failures in the first Caspian review, and they typify the “Natural Man” Paul describes:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 1 Corinthians 2:14

The efforts of King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund and Prince Caspian were brilliant. Their “hidden hole,” the ambush of the castle, their call to attack and not defend were all sound, practical solutions, but also doomed to fail.

Why was failure inevitable? Yes, their youthful characters were flawed, and they cracked under pressure. But as the story unfolds, it becomes evident they must fail, even without the flaws: quite simply, Narnians were too weak and too few against the power of the dark lord and his swarming armies.

In the ferocity of spiritual warfare, the Kingly-Leader’s brilliance and power is worn down into a dull and pathetic leadership. I’ve been there. I sympathize with those brave Narnian leaders when their escape routes were severed, their strength and strategies all exhausted. Meanwhile, fresh hordes of the enemy advance with trebuchets pounding mercilessly away.

“We’ve waited for Aslan long enough,” Peter told Lucy earlier. Oh what fatal words those were.

Continue Reading »