Building Bridges

Connecting Postmodern Spiritual Entrepreneurs

with Classic Denominations

Thomas G. Bandy

                 Most denominational churches shy away from the word “entrepreneur”. It is not just that this word has come to describe venture capitalists ready to sacrifice any ideal for the sake of personal success. Even if you strip the word of this perversion, it is still alarming to denominations. The word “entrepreneur” implies initiative, risk, adaptability, inventiveness, individuality, contextuality, and, most unsettling of all, the sheer desire to express oneself. Certainly, entrepreneurship is all about getting results. More alarmingly, it is all about the merging of personal fulfillment and corporate mission.

                Spiritual entrepreneurs have recaptured that form of love that both the earliest Christians and later Monastic reformers knew: Eros. It is interesting that both Phileos and Agape were highly valued in the religious cultures of the 1^st and 10^th centuries, and the religious cultures of both centuries reacted violently to the emerging and reforming church. Stoicism in the first century valued friendship and family, honor and sacrificial love above all things. Similarly, the orthodoxy of the 10^th century church valued institutional harmony, good order, and subservience to the hierarchy above all, and persecuted the fledgling Monastic movement as being independent, disorderly, and selfish. The spiritual entrepreneurs of the 21^st century are similarly accused. Traditional religious authorities cannot easily appreciate the Eros, the sheer “desire” for God, which motivates the entrepreneur. He or she (and in both the 1^st and 10^th centuries both genders were involved), thirsts, hungers, pants, longs to be fully with God. If God is in the desert, they want to be in the desert. If God is in the mission field, they want to be in the mission field.

                Isn’t it curious that modern churchmen (and I use the male descriptor advisedly) are so obsessed with sexual misconduct … but Dante Aligieri identified “lust” as among the least worrisome of sins in The Divine Comedy. Why? Because lust is but a step away from love. I am not suggesting that sexual fidelity among Christian leaders is not something to value. Neither did Dante suggest it. Dante’s insight was that the true believer, the true spiritual entrepreneur, was ultimately motivated by neither agape nor phileos, but by eros. The Christian literally lusts after God. And it is this quality that most alarms the stoic, orthodox, and modern denominational structures of yesteryear and today.

                Of course, Constantine eventually legitimized the earliest Christians, and those wild-eyed and passionate monks and hermits were eventually organized into holy orders. There is hope that denominations will eventually come to appreciate the spiritual entrepreneurs of the postmodern era. Yet there was a price, and we must be wary of paying that price today. The passion of the entrepreneur was eventually tamed. Eros was translated into Agape and Phileos. The desire to be with God became the desire to climb the ecclesiastical career ladder. Perhaps the greatest difference between our time and the 1^st and 10^th centuries is that overt persecution and covert persuasion will not work anymore. There are too many options. Spiritual entrepreneurs would rather secede from the denomination than abandon their desire.

The Clash of Mental Models

                The more the church in any time period severs its connection with Eros (the desire for God), the more the church orients itself around the mental model of the “church family”. The harmony of the family is everything. Christians sacrifice themselves, not only for their bothers and sisters in Christ, but for the preservation of the harmony of that family. Let no church member drop out! The shepherd-pastor should chase after them until he/she dies of a heart attack. Let no conflict taint the public image! Minorities should accept the orthodoxy of the majority … or the adjudication of the hierarchy.

                 The primary mental model of the earliest church was not “family”. Although the earliest Christians turned to the image of the Roman family as a means to proclaim the utter inclusiveness of God’s grace in contrast to Jewish law (even slaves and women to be “adopted” as fellow heirs with Christ), scholars are most impressed by all the trappings of the Roman family that were not incorporated into Christian community. The legal and spiritual dominance of the senior male is an example. The primary mental models were “the True Vine” or God’s global vineyard, and “the body of Christ”. Both are organic metaphors that evoke images of outward growth and holistic vitality.

                 Beyond this obvious mental model of the spiritual organism, is a hidden ministry metaphor that emerged from the mission to the gentiles. The apostles shunned “fixed assets” in favor of “portable spirituality.” The key stories in the Gospels and Acts are all “road” stories describing significant events that happen on the way from one place to another, or which precipitate sudden departures for distant locations. We read about the Damascus Road, the Gaza Road, the Emmaus Road, and the road to the cross, the journey by sea to Rome, and other stories of movement. The image of “the body of Christ” is not a passive image. It is a body in movement. Scholars usually assume that Paul’s references to “running” in Philippians refer to athletic races. Yet travel on Roman roads in the 1^st and 2^nd centuries would never be equaled in popularity until the 19^th century. “Runners” were constantly moving merchandise and conveying imperial messages from place to place. Today’s spiritual entrepreneurs are not temple priests, but “road runners” like the travelers of Roman times. Their life is not about maintenance, but movement. Their frustration with denominational authority is that it seems all too often to be concerned with fixed assets, hard copy, personnel files, curriculums, and other baggage that is not “portable” from one context to another. Denominations want these entrepreneurs to build God’s temple, but they want to walk with Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

A Profile of the Spiritual Entrepreneur

                 The Christian “road runner” is not better or worse than a temple priest, but they are certainly harder to track. “Accountability” suits the temple priest, because at least he or she remains in much the same place and they can be watched and evaluated. However, “trust” is what must be offered to the spiritual entrepreneur and it is what they expect from the denomination. There must be a foundation for that trust (confidence that the core values, beliefs, vision, and mission of the organization will be embodied in the behavior of the entrepreneur), but once that confidence is gained the “road runner” runs and has no time for reports to the head office or five year budget projections. If structures of “accountability” are imposed on the temple priest, they feel affirmed that the head office cares about the quality of their work. If the same structures are imposed on the “road runner”, they feel betrayed and think that the head office doubts their integrity.

                 Here is a profile of the spiritual entrepreneur of the 1^st, 10^th, and 21^st centuries, along with some advice to denominations as to how to understand them. Denominations can enhance their strengths … and anticipate and counter their weaknesses.

 Self-Consciousness:

 “Road runners” do not think of themselves as ministers of word, sacrament, pastoral care, and service. They are synthesizers of Christ and culture, visionaries, mission midwives, and lifestyle coaches. They tend to have strong egos, distinctively different from denominational norms of professionalism. They have a ready answer to the question what is it about my experience with Jesus this community cannot live without. If the church organization can be pictured as an organic “pine cone”, their places is not with any particular program or “bud”, but at the very tip of the pinecone manufacturing another new initiative.

 Denominations best help them when they are clear about the foundations of trust, and help them work “holistically” rather than “programmatically” so that they can bring to bear the sharp intuition and unrelenting passion that is their nature. Stop demanding certifications from seminaries as gates through which they must pass to get things done. They expect their clarity of purpose to be taken seriously, and will respect in turn a denomination that is equally clear about their behavioral expectations and core beliefs. Help them laugh at themselves, take holidays, and pay attention to their personal and family covenants.

 Mission Consciousness:

“Road runners” are very clear about their demographic target for mission. They not only understand the tribe or sub-culture that is their focus, but they passionately love that tribe or sub-culture. Their urgency makes them impatient with strategic planning, and forces them to be opportunistic. They love the people outside the institution more than the membership itself. Indeed, their goal is not to acquire “members” for the church, but to replicate “leaders” who will initiate their own missions as disciples of Jesus.

Denominations best help them when they streamline bureaucracy by using discretionary capital pools rather than strategic line budgets to support their work. Opportunistic “road runners” intuit windows of opportunity that must be entered quickly if there is to be any hope of success. Stop measuring success by satisfied procedures, and rewarding results. While temple priests tend to build harmony and continuity in the name of “faithfulness”, “road runners” tend to encourage creative dis-harmony and discontuity in the name of “faithfulness”. Help break down resistance to their entrepreneurial ways by explaining to the constituency that there are more ways than one to be “faithful”.

 Tactical Thinking:

“Road runners” believe that the only thing that really matters is that the target demographic experiences the transforming power of God and is motivated to walk daily with Jesus. Nothing else is sacred. Everything else is mere tactics. Therefore, they tend visualize a flow of experience that will allow people to experience change and growth, and use any program that will enhance that flow. They emphasize adult spiritual growth, indigenous and experiential worship, and self-starting teams. This contrasts markedly with the tactical thinking of temple priests, who emphasize children and youth ministry, repetitive rituals, and offices. The tactics of the one are suitable for a static location, but the tactics of the other are suitable for the open road.

Denominations best help them by providing what “road runners” need … not simply adapting what temple priests require. Help them build and reveal a spiritual life, rather than professional expertise. Give them resources in alternative languages or learning methodologies. Stop insisting on parliamentary procedure and nominations processes. Allow the local congregation to elevate standards of expectation and build consensus around core values, beliefs, vision, and mission. Help the entrepreneurs to temper aggressive behavior with an awareness of “Kairos” … discernment of “right timing” rather than “strategic planning.”

 Measurement of Success:

“Road runners” are obsessed with integrity of purpose and quality in performance, rather than loyalty to heritage and acceptance of mediocrity. They measure growth in pediatric metaphors, expecting organisms to thrive. Numerical growth is only one, but a significant, measure of success. They are less interested in increasing membership, increasing funding, maintenance of property, and perpetual harmony … and more interested in holistic growth, multiplication of hands-on volunteer ministries, multiple options for demographic diversity, learning from inevitable mistakes.

Denominations best help them by pushing them to broaden ownership of core values, beliefs, vision and mission to embrace the whole congregation … rather than by demanding statistics and reports about pledging and membership. The important statistics for temple priests are membership and giving. The important statistics for “road runners” are worship participation and volunteerism. Stop imposing mission agendas. Help them make micro-macro networks, and help them “reality test” their congregational self-understanding against the perceptions of the public.

 Partnership Selectivity:

 “Road runners” rarely run alone. A common misconception among denominations is that spiritual entrepreneurs are individualists. In fact, they are less individualistic that temple priests. The do not defend fiefdoms, but operate in overlapping networks of mutual mentoring and mutual support. What is important is not shared polity or heritage, but compatibility of DNA in the organic organization (similar core values, beliefs, vision, and mission). Thus, their natural partners are not necessarily denominational, but cross denominations, public sectors, and faiths. They tend to associate with lateral thinkers (musicians, artists, poets) rather than linear thinkers (bureaucrats, theologians, educators).

Denominations best help them by facilitating their networking, and by making themselves “attractive” to the entrepreneurs as potential mission partners. The vital connection with the temple priest is through personnel and property subsidy, but the vital connection with the “road runner” is through shared mission objectives and seed capital. Stop insisting that they prioritize local judicatory participation and hire generalist staff. Help them keep up-to-date about human rights issues. Help regional judicatories realize that “franchise” uniformity among congregations is impossible in radical cultural diversity, and accept “networked diversity” as the new norm.

 Christological Center

“Road runners” may be unsystematic about theology, but they are remarkable clear about Christology. They realize that in the pagan world the only question is who is Jesus and why should he matter? Everything else is negotiable. They insist on the Chalcedon formula that Jesus is fully human and fully divine, an irrational paradox that can only be experienced and never understood, which is the key to abundant life. Therefore, they tend to distrust curriculums because they promote rational dogmatic or ideological formulas, and they tend to elevate worship that is multi-sensory and one-to-one personal mentoring.

Denominations best help them by abandoning the theological fog that creates the appearance of inclusivity and the reality of exclusivity, and becoming unapologetically Christocentric themselves. This creates the appearance of exclusivity and the reality of inclusivity. Stop accepting seminary teaching goals to create theologians, and begin insisting that subsidized seminaries nurture pastors. Stop perpetuating the illusion that there is such a thing as “good worship”, and help “road runners” contextualize worship using the cultural forms of local people. The real “heritage” of the denomination is not their organizational origin from the 15^th to 20^th century, but their roots in the earliest church emerging from the pagan world.

 The Future Relevance of Denominations

                Generally speaking, in a bottom-up and pagan world, the top-down denominational processes that dictated mission agenda, imposed behavioral uniformity, and standardized curriculum are obsolete. The primary mission units are the congregations, not the agencies, divisions, or structures of the denomination. This means that much of the publishing, curriculum development, program promotion, social service advocacy, ecumenical dialogue, and government lobbying associated with denominational life is going to disappear. Is there a role for denominations in the future?

                Denominations do have a role to play in the future if they choose to accept it. Spiritual entrepreneurs desperately need capital pools for church development that can be readily accessed at the discretion of key leaders within the clarity of trust that is shaped by core values, beliefs, vision and mission. Culture will become increasingly hostile to organized religion, and local churches will lose many of the taxation privileges they once enjoyed. Moreover, denominations can help build networks for mutual mentoring among compatible organizations, and provide funding and opportunities for volunteer leadership training (especially in non-traditional ways outside institutional theological education).

                From the perspective of the spiritual entrepreneur, pension guarantees and health insurance plans are becoming secondary in importance to the need for protection from litigation. Denominations may not be able to guarantee pensions and health benefits in the future, but they can subsidize legal consultation for escalating litigation toward religious institutions. The financial benefit of the latter will eventually be greater than the financial benefits of the former.

                Lastly, denominations can provide support for holistic “family health” for the spiritual entrepreneur. Marital counseling, financial support for leisure and relaxation, and increased education for quality family life is crucial to the entrepreneur who is driven by mission. The more leadership credibility depends on the authenticity lifestyle and holistic health of leaders, the more help passionate spiritual entrepreneurs need in balancing family health against the compelling urgency of mission.

                Although there is a role for denominations to play in the future, and spiritual entrepreneurs desperately yearn for someone to fulfill this role, it is unclear whether denominations are willing to accept this change in calling. There are strong forces within denominations that want to deny the bottom-up world and impose uniformity of liturgy and curriculum, along with ideological or dogmatic agendas. They want to use coercive procedures around personnel certification and deployment, and financial subsidies for maintenance of ministries, as levers to impose conformity. These strategies will not work. Spiritual entrepreneurs have learned that they can secede from the denomination and not only survive, but thrive on the authenticity of their contextual leadership and the financial support of a public that is already alienated from ecclesiastical religion.

               There was a time when spiritual entrepreneurs needed the denomination. Today, it is the denomination that needs the spiritual entrepreneurs. Pagan America, like pagan Rome, is “on the move” in more ways than one. The “road runner” has replaced the “temple priest” as the key mission agent in the Christian movement. They will pursue the mission … with the denomination if the can … but without the denomination if they must.